First trip of the year. Lakes Basin, CA

[Dr. Marneaus]

Well. One of my sayings is "use your BEEP". Wednesday rolled around, wife and I were talking.


"We should go camping this weekend"
"Sure"
"Where do you want to go?"
"Up around gold lake?"
"Sounds good, but will we be able to get a camp site?"
"We'll find out, there are 9 campgrounds up there"
"Wanna take the camper?"
"Sure"
"Okay, i'll pack the gear and ready the rig, you do the meal planning and shopping?"
"Sure"
"Lets try to leave at 3 on Friday"
"Okay"


And, well, you know where it goes from there. I drug the camper out, aired it out for a day, loaded it with bedding, a gas can, and fire wood, loaded the camp chairs and coolers into the jeep, and off we went. Left right around 3pm on Friday.


Headed up towards Graeagle, CA.
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


Now, once we hit Gold Lake Highway, we started trying campgrounds. We hit a total of 7 campgrounds, and had to head down the 49 towards Loyalton, before we could find a single spot. We landed at Chapman Creek Campground, which was our 8th stop.
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Let the weekend begin!
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Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/29duYsK by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr
Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Saturday we headed out to for some exploration. I turned the wrong way out of our campground, and we ended up driving out towards Weber Lake, and down to Lincoln Valley which is hidden in the mountains several miles from the main road. I think this will be our first camping spot once we finish the trailer build, we were all alone.

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr



We drove the jeep up to Packer Saddle, the trail head for Sierra Buttes Lookout is at about 7000'. We headed up the old jeep trail, which probably any modern 4wd vehicle could take. It's quire steep, but overall pretty tame.

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


That little trail is the PCT.

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


The jeep was running warm as we were climbing in 4 low at a few mph. It didnt overheat, but I dont like seeing the temp gauge hit 220, so I parked a few times and allowed it to cool.

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We intended to hike the final half mile or so up to the fire lookout, but it was super hot even at about 8000', and the dog is supposed to be on bed rest due to an injured shoulder, so the heat for him as well as his injury meant we didnt think it was a good plan, so we just hung out for a bit.

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


After that, we cruised down the mountain, which was some of the steepest trail AND steepest pavement I have ever driven on, and went back to the campground to relax. It was still in the 90's, but we went for a little walk in the woods along Chapman Creek with the doge.

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


View from the campground:

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr


Packed up in the AM and headed home. Jeep ran 100% awesome the entire time, i feel like it runs BETTER when towing. Nearly 200 miles,. and got 10mpg with towing, and a bunch of 4 low, idling, etc. I'll take it. Need to do some extended highway driving though without towing to see how efficient it is.


It was a good trip, but it made both the Wife and I remember exactly why we are building the expedition trailer. The campground was nice, but it was busy. we were located right next to a bathroom out of lack of spaces, and everybody kept just walking through our campsite. Not to mention the constant oompa oompa music playing from some peoples truck speakers, the nonstop SCREECHING, not even screaming or yelling, but SCREECHING children, the idiots with their off leash dogs, so on and so forth. Typical campground stuff.


That being said, we drove home, unpacked, I IMMEDIATELY called up a fella on craigslist, drove over to his house, and came home with this:


Shiz is about to get real on the trailer build.

Untitled by Marn, on Flickr

[Stuka]

Great story and photos as always. This last weekend was really warm, and really humid where I am a bit south, even rained on us a bit. A few weeks ago we went to Bodie, then out a back road down to mono. And then the next day came home through Yosemite. Was a good trip, but all in the JK, so didn't post it up here.

[Dr. Marneaus]

Great story and photos as always. This last weekend was really warm, and really humid where I am a bit south, even rained on us a bit. A few weeks ago we went to Bodie, then out a back road down to mono. And then the next day came home through Yosemite. Was a good trip, but all in the JK, so didn't post it up here.

Nice. We did a Bodie trip last fall when I took my parents up to Virginia Lakes. I was down in June Lake for Memorial Day, and will be back again for Labor Day. I head out that way 2-3 times a year.

Proably take the ford next time though.

[melford72]

Just got back from the central Sierras myself (Sequoia Natl Park) and these photos make me wanna load everything back into the car, turn around, and head back. Nice.

[letank]

Nice picts.
Lots of good spots between 49 and 20, but not very trailer friendly. Before I broke my ankle (cast removed today, I will posting less) I checked some of my favorite spots with the motorbike at the end of May, the fire roads in the good spots are in terrible shape. At least some maintenance was done, most of the scattered rocks are gone which made for a less rocking ride, sometimes the bridge is missing



or the road is gone



or a tree gets in the way

[Stuka]

Yeah, the spring of '17 screwed up a LOT of forest roads in the sierras. I have had to pull trees out of the way, or drive through washouts that were not there in years prior.

[Dr. Marneaus]

Nice picts.
Lots of good spots between 49 and 20, but not very trailer friendly. Before I broke my ankle (cast removed today, I will posting less) I checked some of my favorite spots with the motorbike at the end of May, the fire roads in the good spots are in terrible shape. At least some maintenance was done, most of the scattered rocks are gone which made for a less rocking ride, sometimes the bridge is missing



or the road is gone



or a tree gets in the way

Luckily the trailer I am building will go anywhere my Jeep, or even a more capable 4x4, will go

[deckroid]

You know... it's posts like this that remind me why I have a Wagoneer in the first place. I am keeping an eye on the local auction places looking for a trailer. The guy at the somewhat local military vehicle motor pool want way, WAY too much for the the M101 trailers. I have the pop up tent to go on it, but not the trailer. yet.

Unfortunately, mine is still in repair limbo after the accident 2 months ago. I had to source the parts because they couldn't find this or that and I had to move my scheduled paint job to September. This year, it's going back to original color, next year the wood grain. Maybe. I found a guy who paints wood grain and you can't tell a difference... it's really cool.

Anyway, great post and I feel your pain about campsites.

[dodgerammit]

Nice Marn. Love the matching paint theme and the trailer plate. Wife and I are planning a Nantahala adventure in the fall with Radio Flyer. Time to put the Waggy to work as the official vacation rig.