Spring 08 Roadtrip - Day 2

Day 2 - May 23

Lee Vening - Moon Lake - June Lake Loop - Mammoth Town - 395 - 168 - BristleCone Forest - Death Valley Road [dirtroad]

Well, since i slept last night at 10 PM, i woke up pretty early ... 3 AM .. Wow !!!! Quickly opened my laptop, jotted down notes of the day's trip make some breakfast (canned beef lasagna) and all set to leave at 6 AM. It was kind of cloudy and not clear skies. was driving 395S and was a great view before me. The Sierra Mountains on the right covered with snow and the hillocks and cliffs of the east of Inyo National Forest to my left. The June Lake Loop entrance comes before the 120 (way to Mono Lake), so i figured i will take a loop across June Lake and then come back 395N into 120. Even though the skies were not clear, the loop was great. A great camping spot around the lake, kind of i liked the camping around Grant Lake better than June lake. The views to the Sierra was as usual great from the entry point. It took me almost an hour to complete the loop and i headed back 2 miles to 395N to get into Moon Lake Area. The Moon Lake is just about a mile off Hwy 120 entrypoint, but i saw the beautiful pine trees down 120 and decided to take a detour. The roads were going up and down and the breathtaking views across the both sides of the road of the pine trees was amazing. This road leads to Benton and i just wanted to view the scenery around so went ahead. Crossed the valley road around the Mono Mills area, drove for 20+ miles and took a U-turn back to take the Test Station Road into Mono Lake. Well, the actual beauty of Mono Lake is when you view the moon, across the blue sky. It is an ethereal view with the blue sky colour turning purple in a clear atmosphere. Silhouetted by the Tufas the lake is an awesome place. The tufas are limestone structure portruding out of the waters. They are fragile and brittle and look like rocks. I took the short 2 mile look hike around the lake and clicked on several pictures. A great start indeed.

Finally, the long awaiting trip to the Ancient Bristlecone Forest begins. Route was 395S, H168, White Mountain Road onto Schulman Grove Point and finally upto Patriarch Point. The second hike of the day was planned at Schulman Grove. On they way i took a loop to the Mammoth town and here is where i first got the snow showers. Weather was real bad and i was kind of upset that the day will not be clear at all. However, the snow showers smelt good and fresh and it was great to drive (cruise) around the snow showers. I did not go upto the lake, just took a 1/2 mile loop around the town and headed on. Passed Bishop which is a cool neat town and saw the sun shine on me finally ... Wow what a relief !!! My first time experience (in US) of a mirage. You can see water bodies in the mirage feeling, Amazing one to see on the highways. Here it comes, turn West to H168. It is one of the most windy roads with drops and ups to multiple elevations. A favourite road of the motorcyclists, it also presents you with single lane narrow roads just after Big Pine Road. roadtripamerica.com really helped me a lot to plan the trip. Veterans like Mark and Mike have done a great job putting all sorts of information on the site. Here is a snippet of the road ... http://www.roadtripamerica.com/GettingOutThere/White-Mountain-Road-Trip.htm .... Well, to my dismay, rains started again and when i entered the first post of White Mountain Road, it was written there that Patriarch Grove Road was closed and Schulman Grove visitor center was closed due to heavy snow. I started to debate, should i go or should i not go. If i go, it will be my first drive in the heavy snow showers .... Anyway, who cares, after this is the excitement i was looking for. So i headed out. As described in the link, yes, wow, superb, amazing .... tons of wow wow words i am uttering to my mind ... Just couple of miles off the Visitor Center, i saw the road full covered with snow. Started to feel the heart beat, (no snow tires, no tire chains), well if i drive slowly what is there to worry about ? So damn lets go ahead .... The snow inches became thicker and thickers, snow showers was continously poring down and i slowly and steadily made my way to the Visitor Center. Unfortunately the center was closed so the hike around the forest was cancelled. I got a glimpse of the amazing bristlecone trees. It is said that these trees are aged from 400 - 1000 years. Walked around the snow for sometime, fresh and white as it could be, capturing sweet memories and couple of frames on the 20D i started my descent down.

came back to 168 and thought, should i take the entire 168 onto 266 and finally to my next stop Beatty ? Well, i am cancelling 30% of the roadtrip and its only 1 PM so why not get into the Death Valley Road which i just saw on my way up. I was talking to an elderly American gentleman and i was pretty amazed when he started giving me overviews of his various roadtrips and experiences. He was also amazed, I being an Indian have ventured on such a trip alone. He said, he has never seen an India on such a planned, exciting, mountain driving roadtrip alone and wished me best of luck for my drive ahead. I finally descended down 168, saw the SUN again, and with a glimpse took a deviation into one of the Vista points, to munch on some of the noodles i cooked earlier today at the hotel. i took some self pictures facing the mountain range West of King Canyon National Park and ventured ahead. Till now i have no idea as to what I am getting into once i enter Death Valley Road. I had the Death Valley brochures and printouts from nps.gov and it was clearly mentioned there not to attempt this road in a car and only attempt in a high rise vehicle.

The sign said 73 miles to Scotty's Castle which is what i planned to. I intended to do a short trail on Scotty's castle but who knew what was coming ahead ... Around 20 miles went by with the wonderous views of Death Valley, mix of paved roads and good gravel roads and finally i could see the Joshua Flats .... Haa haa, reminds me of the country movies. Finally at last .... now i just thought that the stretch on Joshua flats was the only bad gravel road that i have to go on (5 miles max ? ) ... AFTER ALL, THE ENTIRE DEATH VALLEY STRETCH IS LIKE THATTTTTT, GRAVELS, DIRT, POTHOLES, WHAT NOTTTTTTTT ... AAAAAAAHHHH !!!!

i was kind of enacting like Client Eastwood clan. Windows rolled down, facing all dust, loud hiphop music ... stopping by to take pictures, my dream come true. I so so wanted to go in these road stretches since my childhood. Suddenly, i forgot that i took a deviation into N Eureka Road, GPS was not working, Phone was not working, the map i had was not descriptive, but i was heading North .... i should be heading West / South-West ... OMG i deviated , ok dude , back on track so i came back onto Big Pine Road, and got upto the mountain and saw good gravel road. Ok, so thats it ? Well, ya its fun !!!! slowly driving and starting to take those steep turns, i saw remnants of an old quary but hold on, man, the road is horrible. I was bumping bad, with my head touching the ceiling, The axle may pop out anytime. Tires can become flat anytime ..... Wow !!! what the heck is this ... Is the entire death valley stretch like this ? I crossed the area around Last Chance Mtn with downhills on red dirt road and what i was presented before me i cant describe. I still have to go around 40+ miles into that horrible dirtroad again. Holy moly, son of satan, i am screweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed !!!!!!! What happens if the car breaks down ? What happens if the vultures pop out my eyes, No wonder why people have named it Death Valley. At least the left hand side of the road was good with tire tracks, the right hand side was not drive'able at all. I opened the other maps and brochures and there you go, 27 miles of dirt road TO BE ATTEMPTED ONLY ON HIGH RISE VEHICLES ... DAAAAAARNNNN !!!!! i banged my head on the steering wheel. With 5-10 mph speed i estimated atleast 4 more hours to get onto the paved road. Ok dude, you are completely screwed. So thinking of my fate, and wondering that the car may breakdown anytime, i started. The entire stretch i drove on the left hand side because the previous tire marks at least provided good traction. If i ever attempt right hand side, the car just wobbles and goes sideways and what not !!! I was feeling like son of satan was laughing at me and saying ..... "Come to me, Come to me, MUUHAAAAAH MUUUHHAAAA !!!" Ta na na na, Ta na na, bumptitty bump, bumpitty bump, here you go on. bumpitty bump, bumpitty bump, bumpttiy here you go on. Time went by 1hr / 2 hr and finally signs of Ubehebe Crater .... AAAAAAAH what a relief another 30 mins to 1 hour .... And, as i proceeded i saw the Racetrack Road on east. Should i go ?? BANG BANG BANG !!! i hit my head. Dude want to get f***d up again. Dont do that. Be on track , be good with the car. I got a glimpse and feel of the Racektrack Road while i turned towards the paved road to Scotty's Castle. Its all nature made, can you believe it? The same elevated turns to maintain gravity. Amaziiiiiiiiiiiiing ... On the last stretch of 3-4 miles the gravel road became good. The white car was yellow with all sand covered. Finally when i saw the paved road, i was so happy, so happy that i cant express. I came out of the car, bowed down to the car and kissed the ground. I am aliveeeeeeeeeeee and safe and the car is good and working and she rescued me from Son of Satan's wrath. An elderly lady driving a car on the paved road saw me and stopped. She thought something happened to me. She came by and asked me "Are you OK ? " I siad, "Yes, I am fine, cant be much better" .. I just survived driving a car out of Death Valley Road. She rolled her eyes and looked at me for sometime and went on. She must be thinking "Morooon, Mad, Wierdo ..... "

Paved road finally, so i sing along and go towards Scotty's castle. Memoirs of what i went thru was still haunting me and i was remembering and enjoying and laughing to myself. Scotty's Castle is just like a regular castle built but has no history to kings. Here is the story about Scotty's Castle ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty ... Took a quick 15 min nap in the car, took some pictures of the castle, and called it end of day to head down to Beatty, NV (Motel6 booked). via 267NE and 95S .. Beatty is cute little small town, with only 3/4 cross streets. Checked in, had a good beef lasagna and pack noodles, munched onto some Pringles, watched 300 and Knocked that on HBO and off to bed. Wow, what a day ... and what an experience !!! everlasting and will always be with me.

Here is the google map layout for the day

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