Honoring Presidents In The Eastern Sierra

[WoodsChick]

Eric and I had 4 days off for Presidents/Valentines Day so we loaded up the trailer and headed east over the Sierra. I wanted to do some scouting for a ride I had in mind for the following month and this was a good time to do it. We left the Bay Area kind of late and spent the night in the van in Walker.

Woke up to a winter wonderland the next morning...

Of course we had to stop and check out some hot water on the way...

Pulled into our campsite about 11am and this is what we found...

Yes, I think this will do...

After a quick soak we took the bikes out for a spin to an old mining area...

Beautiful views of the White Mountains to the east...

It got a little rocky at the top, then petered out entirely around the bend...

Eric going back down...

This is how you do it when you're 5'1" and can barely touch the ground...

Lots more on the way...


WoodsChick

 

[Butch]

Omg

 

[WoodsChick]

Omg

WoodsChick

 

[Smokey94086]

Where be this awesome camp site?

 

[WoodsChick]

Where be this awesome camp site?

Benton Hot Springs. They say they are not a campground and they don't rent campsites. They rent hot springs tubs by the hour or for overnight. Ok. Works for me!




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

The roads out here were way fun and we saw not one other person all day...

Lots of cool mining stuff, too...

Oops...a little too sandy and scritchy for my bald rear tire...

Pfft...whatever

Back to camp in time for wine, soaking and a sunset...

The sun kisses Mount Montgomery good-night...

Hit the hay pretty early, as we had a big plans for the following day.



WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

The start of the next day's ride was cold and early...

Mmm...polarfleece balaclava...

We headed south towards Death Valley and did a little exploring along the way...

We hit Jack's in Bishop for fuel for the long day ahead...

Then headed down into Death Valley...

Saline Valley Road went on forever. For. Ever.

Finally! 75 degrees and the layers were coming off...

Ooh! Racetrack! Let's go there!

But first, we need to go up Lippincott Pass...

It was a long rocky climb...

Followed by more rocks on the way...




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

Lippincott Pass is kinda rocky...

And steep in spots...

So this just kind of goes on and on up the pass. I continued up while Eric followed. I saw some riders coming down the pass and one of them shouted, "Hey! I know you! You're WoodsChick!" Turns out is was Hooli and another BARFer (I can no longer remember your username, fellow BARFer! I remembered when I got home, even looked it up to see if either of you were doing ride reports, but now it's gone...sorry I think it starts with an S)

I took photos of you and your party going down the pass if you're interested!

Here comes Eric...now can you tell it's steep?

Where we came from...

Topping out on Lippincott Pass...

We hit the Racetrack but inexplicably did not get any photos of the mysterious moving rocks! I fixed that on my next ride...

We were running out of daylight and Eric's headlight wasn't working so we didn't stop for too many more photos...

Lots of these at Crankshaft Crossing...

We were racing the sun and the sun was winning, but that's ok. The sky just kept getting more and more spectacular as time went on and it was absolutely magical out there...

We ate a scrumptious dinner at Astorga's in Bishop, then bombed our way back to camp in the complete blackness with one headlight. 14 hours and 300 miles later, it was nice to soak into the wee hours of the morning under spectacularly starry skies.




WoodsChick

 

[vkb]

I was in the group you met on Lippincott - I was the KTM 690 Enduro R. The dude on the XR650R in the first pic is Hoologan here on BARF. The dude on the DR650 in the 2nd pic goes by Stiffler. We all kind of lurk on BARF, but are from the Sacramento area. If ya got pics of us post 'em up or send them.

 

[WoodsChick]

I was in the group you met on Lippincott - I was the KTM 690 Enduro R. The dude on the XR650R in the first pic is Hoologan here on BARF. The dude on the DR650 in the 2nd pic goes by Stiffler. We all kind of lurk on BARF, but are from the Sacramento area. If ya got pics of us post 'em up or send them.

Yes! Stiffler! Damn it! I knew that
Well, it was fun running into you guys! Hope the rest of your ride went well.
Did any of you post up a report anywhere? I'd love to see it! Where did you go from Lippincott?




WoodsChick

 

[simplyCOOK]

Cool. Ultra Cool.

 

[WoodsChick]

Cool. Ultra Cool.

Hi, Kevin!
Did you ever replace your cam chain?




WoodsChick

 

[vkb]

Yes! Stiffler! Damn it! I knew that
Well, it was fun running into you guys! Hope the rest of your ride went well.
Did any of you post up a report anywhere? I'd love to see it! Where did you go from Lippincott?

WoodsChick

We basically did a two day loop through the park. Spent Friday night camping in Alabama hills. Saturday we unloaded and left trucks in Lone Pine and day 1 was Cerro Gordo, Hunter Mountain, Hidden Valley, Tea Kettle, Racetrack, Lippincott, and then on to Saline Valley warm springs were we camped for the night. Day 2 was Steele Pass, some canyon whose name I can't recall, Eureka Dunes, and then on out to 395 for the drone back to Lone Pine to get the trucks and spend Sunday night camping in Alabama Hills.

We're active members of the local SCR forum here in Sacramento and that's where the ride report is. I think you may have to register to view.

 

[budman]

Awesome WC that sundown is AMAZING !!!!

Wish you lurking guys would share your reports with us here too.
We need more of the coolness

 

[WoodsChick]

We basically did a two day loop through the park. Spent Friday night camping in Alabama hills. Saturday we unloaded and left trucks in Lone Pine and day 1 was Cerro Gordo, Hunter Mountain, Hidden Valley, Tea Kettle, Racetrack, Lippincott, and then on to Saline Valley warm springs were we camped for the night. Day 2 was Steele Pass, some canyon whose name I can't recall, Eureka Dunes, and then on out to 395 for the drone back to Lone Pine to get the trucks and spend Sunday night camping in Alabama Hills.

We're active members of the local SCR forum here in Sacramento and that's where the ride report is. I think you may have to register to view.

Wow! Sounds like you guys did it up right! We need to stage down in Panamint or something so we have ready access to fuel. That seems to be the limiting factor down there since the distances are so vast. I could spend the next lifetime exploring all the nooks and crannies down there and still not see it all.
And, yeah, I need to sign up to see the report. I'll probably do that when I finish this one and before I start the next one from last weekend's ride
Thanks for the link!

Awesome WC that sundown is AMAZING !!!!

Wish you lurking guys would share your reports with us here too.
We need more of the coolness

Thanks, budman! And, yeah! Cut-and-paste, dudes! We want to see all the good stuff here, too! That's how I do it. Some forums are different and the cut-and-paste won't work properly, but BARF works great! I post it here, cut-and-copy it and then I can post it for my Husky peeps over on CafeHusky. Share the love,
vkb!




WoodsChick

 

[DukeD]

WOW T! Once again another awesome ride! And once again, where was my invite??? I see you added "Valentine's Day" to the President's Day title to subtly say "couples only" but we all know what that really meant. No strange, needy, whiney riders welcome

That rocky uphill where you managed to crawl off the bike, turn it around, and ride it back down without falling gives credence to your skill set. I would have given up, fallen down, then just sat there waiting for Eric to come help me before all my gas drained out of my tank

 

[vkb]

Wow! Sounds like you guys did it up right! We need to stage down in Panamint or something so we have ready access to fuel. That seems to be the limiting factor down there since the distances are so vast. I could spend the next lifetime exploring all the nooks and crannies down there and still not see it all.
WoodsChick

Yeah, we all have our bikes equipped with larger fuel tanks and did the 200+ mile loop on one load of fuel, though there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room for exploring or wrong turns. Of course we were also carrying two days worth of food and water and liquor, camping gear, layers and camp clothes, and tools and spares. I think for our next DV outing we are going to setup a base camp somewhere in the park so we can run the bikes lighter and have fun doing day-loops to explore some of those nooks and crannies.

 

[WoodsChick]

WOW T! Once again another awesome ride! And once again, where was my invite??? I see you added "Valentine's Day" to the President's Day title to subtly say "couples only" but we all know what that really meant. No strange, needy, whiney riders welcome

That rocky uphill where you managed to crawl off the bike, turn it around, and ride it back down without falling gives credence to your skill set. I would have given up, fallen down, then just sat there waiting for Eric to come help me before all my gas drained out of my tank

Pfft...if I had any skills (and inseam) at all I would have planted a foot, lofted the front wheel, wheeled it around and continued on my way without ever having to get off in the first place! And waiting for Eric to return is a lost cause. You (and I) are on your own, baby! Good motivation to not put it on the floor in the first place


As far as your invite, um, gee...I dunno...it musta got lost in the mail, I'm guessing? Cuz, you know, I sent one...

(note to self: do not let DukeD see your next ride report or he's really gonna be mad!)




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

Yeah, we all have our bikes equipped with larger fuel tanks and did the 200+ mile loop on one load of fuel, though there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room for exploring or wrong turns. Of course we were also carrying two days worth of food and water and liquor, camping gear, layers and camp clothes, and tools and spares. I think for our next DV outing we are going to setup a base camp somewhere in the park so we can run the bikes lighter and have fun doing day-loops to explore some of those nooks and crannies.

Yeah, that's the way we usually do it (lots of ride reports here) but this was just a day trip. We will be doing that very thing in the future, I'm sure! We had a 200-mile range and managed to make the loop from gas in Big Pine (after 50 dirt miles from camp) back to Big Pine with no issues. We, too, wanted to make some side trips to the springs and such, but we knew we were pushing it with gas and daylight. It was basically just a pre-running trip, anyway, just to see what was what. I wanted to ride there for my upcoming birthday and wanted to make sure it was do-able for Super Tenere's and such



WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

We awoke with the sun the next morning and took a chilly walk around the "town." We wanted the temps to rise before heading east into Nevada. This rustic 1870's farm house is for rent ($300/nt for up to 6 people) and it has its own hot springs tub in back. Totally cool Victorian furnishings, too...

The original Benton Hot Springs Inn...

The jailhouse...

Looking through the window to the jail cell doors. I'm sure those lovely windows provided quite adequate ventilation in the heat of the high desert summer...

This used to be the church, but now a highway engineer lives there. Note the hot springs creek that runs in front...

High up on the hill behind the springs lies a fantastic graveyard...

Love the skull and crossbones...

Hmm...temps seem to be above freezing now. Time to suit up and head east!




WoodsChick