Off The 395

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Lance_Snider

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It has been a couple weeks since I'v been back to city life, but the call of the trail is already luring me back...

I am a member of the Cucamonga Crawlers, a small group of guys from work that have been bit by the Overland Bug. This July we took our first 4 day trip up the 395 to the mountain around Bishop. Being a little antsy, I headed up a day early and made camp at Red Rock Canyon just south of Ridge Crest.

I arrived just before sunset and had time to for a little sightseeing before setting up camp.


This was my first track out with my new roof-top tent and it proved its self to be a good investment. Easy to put up and being off the ground I was able to leave the windows open at night witch made for a beautiful view of the nights sky. The next morning I got up made coffee and enjoyed a hike before catching up with the rest of the guys out on the highway.

From here we made our way up the 395 to Big Pine where we caught the 168 east. Continue east on the 168 for approximately 28 miles to Wyman Canyon Road.

This is where the adventure begins.

This is a great trail, winding in and out of canyons and thought a couple of water crossings to where we made camp for the first night at Dead Horse Meadow. We circled the rigs and set up camp like the early settlers making their way west. After dinner and some good fellowship around a campfire I was off to bed. It had been a long day on the trail.
Dead Horse Medow




The next morning after taking the boys on a hike to the top of a huge rock pile, we were off to reach the summit by noon.

The switchbacks were the most difficult section of the trip but it wasn't anything that a stock 4X4 with a little ground clearance couldn't handle.



Switchbacks
After making our way to the top we were above the tree line and the views went on forever. As we started our decent we made a slight detour to check out some old hunting cabins.
Old Cabins



After stopping in Bishop for fuel and supplies we headed north on the 6 and eventually ended up on the north side of Crawly where we stayed the second night.

The next day we continued on our way to Little Hot Creek and then into Mammoth for some pizza and cold beer.
Little Hot Creek


At this point the group headed home and I decided to stay for a couple days longer.
I continued up the 395 to June Lake Loop and met up with another buddy.

There are some good trails up above the lake with great views of the valley below.
Above Grant Lake



This is when I found the leak in my radiator... the next day I drove back down to Bishop. $245 and three hours later I was back on the trail. Up to Coyote Flats.
Coyote Flats


I could have spent a couple of days easy here. This would be a good place to setup camp and take trail rides out from there. I didn't get to see them but there is a couple lakes and an old mine. I guess that will give me a good reason to return.

This trail continues out the south end down into Big Pine. It wasn't to bad going down but I wouldn't recommend trying to go up that way.

Six day from start to finish... It was a good trip.
 

maktruk

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We do a lot of exploring out of Bridgeport, Lee Vining, and Mammoth. Our favorite trail is the switchback up the Sweetwater Mountain range to Kentuck Mine, also Belfort
 

SLO Rob

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@lance Great post! Thanks for putting in the time, photos and map to share. I think I'll be using all your info for a trip of my own.
 
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Lance_Snider

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Yeah, I  was able to past in a couple of links to  Google Maps. Pretty cool that it will let you navigate straight off the post.
 

deeker

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Thanks for sharing the trip with us. Looks like a great area to spend more time in.
Continue to post more of your trips for us all.
 

Kevin_Morrison

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awesome i would love the map info we just finished the #offgrid trip wow had a blast, met some of the coolest peeps around we are planing a trip to the desert to meet up and hang with our new friends, of course you would be welcomebut i would love your imput in planing a weekend trip thanks Kev
 

Michael

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Thank you for posting your trip! I've made a few trips around Lone Pine and Bishop, but you pointed out trails I have never seen. Thank you!

M
 

Overland-Indiana

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Looking through older posts and ran across this one..I am VERY jealous haha.. Would love to take a trip like this one. It looked absolutely beautiful there. Thanks for taking us along by sharing your pictures.