Well, those who were not able to make this trip should put this place on your "bucket list" for a future trip. This area, about 10 to 20 miles southwest of Bishop, CA has such varied terrain and so much to see. Our group consisted of 5 vehicles: Bill Ruttan, Alex and Blanca, Moe and Bettina, Chris Baldwin and Colin, and me.
A link to photos is here :
Click Here I hope we will see more photos, as I was only able to get a few to share.
Day 1 - We met in Bishop on Saturday, and due to usual reasons, we were an hour late leaving town for the camp site. I had already checked in that day with the Forest Service and confirmed that fire restrictions were in place so we would not be able to have an open campfire. As we pulled out of town, the temperature was around 98 degrees, and we were all hoping to get up to higher altitude and cooler temps. But Murphy always accompanies trips like these, so before we started the steep ascent, Alex started to overheat his P38. After letting the truck cool, and adding a gallon of coolant, we kept going. We had to stop a few more times along the trail, and due to the time it took to let the truck cool each time it overheated, we were running way behind schedule. Around 6:00 p.m. an executive decision was made to abandon Baker Flats and find a place for the night. Fortunately, we found an excellent site just after we crossed Coyote Creek, and it turned out that this would be our permanent camp for 3 nights.
Our Camp Site
Day 2 - After breakfast, we thought it best to leave Alex's Rover parked at the site and go exploring with them in other vehicles. Alex drove my LR3, due to his motion sickness, and Blanca drove Bill's Defender. We climbed up the rest of the hill, then decended to cross Coyote Creek again, before the drive down to Baker Creek area. Along the way we saw a coyote crossing the Sanger Meadow, before pressing on toward Baker Creek and the trail to Baker Lakes. As we decended down the end of the trail that dead ended into the Baker Creek Meadow, we came across a campfire that someone had failed to put out earlier that morning, smoldering and smoking and about to start flaming, with the wind that had come up. Bill and I brought a 5 gallon bucket of water up to douse the fire and we enjoyed a peaceful lunch lounging in the sun on the edge of the meadow. After lunch, we headed back north, and stopped by the end of an abandoned runway, which was formerly used for high altitude air force training. It was covered over a few years ago, and Bill noticed that from his last trip, all buildings were gone, and the runway has been covered over and replanted. Continuing on, we tried to get to Funnel Lake via the south road to do some fishing. All was well, except the last mile of road, which was a bit too much for Moe's Range Rover without offroad tires. So we turned around before getting to the lake, but when we were almost back to the main road, he took a rock in the sidewall. Taking a chance, we tried some plugs, and...4 plugs later, it held. We were able to make a side trip up to the Salty Peterson Tungsten Mine, before heading back to camp for dinner.
Day 3 - Due to the impending holiday, it was felt that we need to get Alex back down the hill to get his cooling issue resolved. I followed him down the hill, with Moe and Bettina as my passengers. Alex and Blanca made it no problem to a radiator shop, and shortly thereafter, we said our good byes and I headed back up the hill to try and meet up with Bill and Chris, who had gone exploring toward the Schober mine. We eventually met up with them as they were coming out of the valley where the mine sits to the Northwest of where we were camping. Another beautiful evening of visiting that night, which was later topped off later that night with a search for a nearby geocache in the dark, about 3/10 of a mile north. We bushwacked our way to find a crossing of the creek, and then shortly thereafter, Moe and Chris located the cache, which was a patriotic themed cache, with flags, and other similar items. We left a couple of stamps with the Liberty Bell, and a Land Rover 60th Anniversary Pin. Back to camp then off to bed.
Day 4 - After packing up, we headed down the hill. Along the way, Bill's Defender had his gremlins, with a brake system trouble light flickering on and off. We stopped to make sure he was going to safely make it back down. No brakes would not be fun on that road. The tire plug in Moe's tire held all the way down the hill, and only let go when we hit the soft sand of the main road up from the valley floor. Once again 4 plugs did the trick long enough to get to town. We stopped finally at Bishop Park, which is along side Bishop Creek off Line Avenue. Bettina called AAA to come and put their spare tire on their Rover for the trip home. After hugs etc. we headed home.
I want to thank everyone for their participation, wisdom, great attitude, and help with this trip. For me, this was an adventure I have always wanted to do and explore. I only wish we had more time to explore the area, so......
