4lowlance
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2022
- Messages
- 115
Lonely Pinos 250
I do alot of camping and wheeling and this was easily a top 5 trip for me.
It started as a “bring the kids” “PG13” “let’s rack up some dirt miles” open invite and it couldn’t have gone any better. The quality of people (and children) on this trip was stellar.
The “optional Wednesday night meetup” at Tuttle creek CG west of lone pine at 5000’ turned out to be Ken and Shane, myself and Brandon Miller.
I texted Ken from the road around 6pm
“ETA 730, how about you?”
Ken responded “got here a beer and a 1/2 ago”
I rolled in with a full tank of fuel about 7:30 and Brandon rolled in before I had any gear setup. It was a beautiful evening but Ken said I was lucky enough to mis the mosquitoes.
We sat around the fire and drank lightly until 11pm with MT Whitney prominently behind us.
My son Walker and I slept out on cots and the temp dropped well below 32 and we were chilli all night.
Thursday AM was beautiful.
As soon as the sun hit the ground the temps quickly hit 50* and the mosquitoes were out by 7:30am.
We were packed and ready to roll out by 8 when we realized we told Brian we would be at camp until “9-10am”.
I had a carefully chosen route that would keep us off 395 so chances of bumping into each other were zero
We aired down at camp Thursday 8am.
Brandon made contact with Brian and arranged to meet us at our 395 crossing south of Lone Pine at Boulder creek CG.
I though we had time to kill before meeting Brian so I turned us down a bonus line, it was a muddy dead end and a waste of time and ironically was the only time all weekend I used 4x4.
I ran into the Boulder Creek Campground store for ice and nail clippers then awkwardly clipped my nails while meeting Brian and his son Seth.
I asked if he was aired down and he replied “sure”.
Not sure if he drove 395 at 15 psi or did the whole 250 miles of dirt at 30PSI
Ive spent some time at boulder creek and always remembered a gate right where we started. There are new “interpretive signs” that imply the roads around Owens lake are newly accessible. We took a cool road that cuts about 8 miles right across the middle of the newly filling Owens lake.
Short <1mile jaunt on the pavement back toward Keeler and we hit the dirt road to Cerro Gordo. There was a big sign on the road that told us the town was closed.
The road is in great shape but very steep, we stopped once to enjoy the view. Walker and I with Owens lake with water in the background.
As we drove into Cerro Gordo the owners truck was onsite and some construction was going on but with the “town closed” sign posted at the bottom we didn’t feel right stopping and poking around. We drove through slowing and continued down the backside (east). We slid through a few patches of snow and finally we cleared the “Cerro Gordo Private Property” signs. Ken's son Shane found us a nice side road to an old mine site that was flat and perfect for lunch.
Brian had deleted a front shock on his WJ grand Cherokee and had to remove it at lunch.
Weather was perfect as we continued down the canyon.
There was one tight spot where Brandons wide raptor took a few minutes to pick through but otherwise the road was in great shape.
We hit the bottom, White Mountain Talc road and turned south. The road opened up to a nice 30-40mph canyon, devoid of any razor burn it was a beautiful road. I was my birthday, 68 degrees and sunny, beautiful desert road, I rolled the windows down, put some Stick Figure on the radio and just thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Here is a pic of Brandon as we got close to the intersection with Saline Valley rd
With Cerro Gordo being closed, we were way ahead of schedule. We landed at Box Car Cabin about 1PM and I was relieved to find it vacant. We were all content to crack a cold one and just relax. Brian decided to jet to lone pine to source a new shock for his jeep. This is where the camaraderie of the boys started to take shape. Brandons son Wesley is a bruiser and was entertaining himself picking up the biggest rocks he could find. I reached into my tool bag and handed the boys (Walker 11, Seth 12, Wesley 6) a 2.5lb single jack and that was enough to entertain them all day.
We lit an early fire and just relaxed. I grilled a couple birthday Ribeyes for walker and I while he made instant mashed spuds.
About 10PM we finally got the company of Brad and son Wyatt (Tiny) in his 4x4 caged Toyota. I got into the moonshine and the evening is hazy but Spencer and Courtney rolled in ( supercharged linked 4x4 explorer) along with Kevin and his wife Chelsea in his TTB 6.0L s10 on 37s.
Brandon has a few cool nighttime pics of our rock lights aka camp lights aka pimpin lights aka underflow.
The fleet was certainly filing out with badass rigs.
Campfire smoke went straight up all night was it was probably mid 50s…..perfect night.
Rig count was up to 8 Thursday night
I believe I fell sleep around the fire early. Walker and I slept on cots in the cabin.
I do alot of camping and wheeling and this was easily a top 5 trip for me.
It started as a “bring the kids” “PG13” “let’s rack up some dirt miles” open invite and it couldn’t have gone any better. The quality of people (and children) on this trip was stellar.
The “optional Wednesday night meetup” at Tuttle creek CG west of lone pine at 5000’ turned out to be Ken and Shane, myself and Brandon Miller.
I texted Ken from the road around 6pm
“ETA 730, how about you?”
Ken responded “got here a beer and a 1/2 ago”
I rolled in with a full tank of fuel about 7:30 and Brandon rolled in before I had any gear setup. It was a beautiful evening but Ken said I was lucky enough to mis the mosquitoes.
We sat around the fire and drank lightly until 11pm with MT Whitney prominently behind us.
My son Walker and I slept out on cots and the temp dropped well below 32 and we were chilli all night.
Thursday AM was beautiful.
As soon as the sun hit the ground the temps quickly hit 50* and the mosquitoes were out by 7:30am.
We were packed and ready to roll out by 8 when we realized we told Brian we would be at camp until “9-10am”.
I had a carefully chosen route that would keep us off 395 so chances of bumping into each other were zero
We aired down at camp Thursday 8am.
Brandon made contact with Brian and arranged to meet us at our 395 crossing south of Lone Pine at Boulder creek CG.
I though we had time to kill before meeting Brian so I turned us down a bonus line, it was a muddy dead end and a waste of time and ironically was the only time all weekend I used 4x4.
I ran into the Boulder Creek Campground store for ice and nail clippers then awkwardly clipped my nails while meeting Brian and his son Seth.
I asked if he was aired down and he replied “sure”.
Not sure if he drove 395 at 15 psi or did the whole 250 miles of dirt at 30PSI
Ive spent some time at boulder creek and always remembered a gate right where we started. There are new “interpretive signs” that imply the roads around Owens lake are newly accessible. We took a cool road that cuts about 8 miles right across the middle of the newly filling Owens lake.
Short <1mile jaunt on the pavement back toward Keeler and we hit the dirt road to Cerro Gordo. There was a big sign on the road that told us the town was closed.
The road is in great shape but very steep, we stopped once to enjoy the view. Walker and I with Owens lake with water in the background.
As we drove into Cerro Gordo the owners truck was onsite and some construction was going on but with the “town closed” sign posted at the bottom we didn’t feel right stopping and poking around. We drove through slowing and continued down the backside (east). We slid through a few patches of snow and finally we cleared the “Cerro Gordo Private Property” signs. Ken's son Shane found us a nice side road to an old mine site that was flat and perfect for lunch.
Brian had deleted a front shock on his WJ grand Cherokee and had to remove it at lunch.
Weather was perfect as we continued down the canyon.
There was one tight spot where Brandons wide raptor took a few minutes to pick through but otherwise the road was in great shape.
We hit the bottom, White Mountain Talc road and turned south. The road opened up to a nice 30-40mph canyon, devoid of any razor burn it was a beautiful road. I was my birthday, 68 degrees and sunny, beautiful desert road, I rolled the windows down, put some Stick Figure on the radio and just thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Here is a pic of Brandon as we got close to the intersection with Saline Valley rd
With Cerro Gordo being closed, we were way ahead of schedule. We landed at Box Car Cabin about 1PM and I was relieved to find it vacant. We were all content to crack a cold one and just relax. Brian decided to jet to lone pine to source a new shock for his jeep. This is where the camaraderie of the boys started to take shape. Brandons son Wesley is a bruiser and was entertaining himself picking up the biggest rocks he could find. I reached into my tool bag and handed the boys (Walker 11, Seth 12, Wesley 6) a 2.5lb single jack and that was enough to entertain them all day.
We lit an early fire and just relaxed. I grilled a couple birthday Ribeyes for walker and I while he made instant mashed spuds.
About 10PM we finally got the company of Brad and son Wyatt (Tiny) in his 4x4 caged Toyota. I got into the moonshine and the evening is hazy but Spencer and Courtney rolled in ( supercharged linked 4x4 explorer) along with Kevin and his wife Chelsea in his TTB 6.0L s10 on 37s.
Brandon has a few cool nighttime pics of our rock lights aka camp lights aka pimpin lights aka underflow.
The fleet was certainly filing out with badass rigs.
Campfire smoke went straight up all night was it was probably mid 50s…..perfect night.
Rig count was up to 8 Thursday night
I believe I fell sleep around the fire early. Walker and I slept on cots in the cabin.
