As a kid, I not only went across the country three times in my father's 1977 Wagoneer, he also took me on many other shorter camping trips. I am one of the lucky few to have been raised in Yosemite Valley. My father worked in the valley, so we actually lived there in employee housing.. During the summer he would load me up in the wagoneeer and cruise around exploring..
My buddy Kris and I planned to take our Wagons and our kids over the Rubicon this summer, (We both have 3 boys) but with Kris's waggy is kind of down for the count right now, so he suggested the eastern sierra with lighter wheeling where he could take his Ford... I jumped on it becuase I had not seen that part of the country since I lived in Yosemite Valley 30+ years ago..
PLUS: Kris and I will be competing in RALLY VENTURE in a couple of weeks.... (more info here:
http://www.rallyventure.com ) so we wanted to do a little pre-running beforehand.
The BAD part is that my wagon is a wagon....and is plagued with issues. As a Rubicon regular, i have lot of friends in THAT area that can help me out or trailer me out if I have issues....but in the Eastern Sierra...many miles from home..... I don't know anyone. This was going to be a REAL adventure. The COOL part is that my boys would be able to experience the exact same thing I did in a wagoneer, so I loaded up and drove from DiscoBay thru Yosemite to meet Kris in Mammoth.
Took 108, then kinda by Stuka's place, i turned onto 120 towards the park. I was stressed becuase I left later than I wanted to and it was going to be hot when i went up Priest grade.....which is steep. Normally I take a bypass called Old Priest grade....but in the wagon i took the longer route. Cruised up it in 2nd no problem....
and drove thru Groveland.
Here is Groveland when i am passing the oldest bar in California