10/28 - After leaving Sequoia National Park yesterday, I rolled into Three Rivers Hideaway, a quiet little RV park tucked away in Three Rivers, California. The place was nearly empty except for a few long-term residents, and everyone I met was incredibly kind — the kind of small-town warmth that instantly makes you feel at home. I even managed to snag a long, hot shower (a rare luxury on the road!) and had my pick of campsites.
That evening, I met up with Alba and Guillem for dinner in town, and when I got back, the park was still wide open and peaceful — just me and the crickets. I ended up staying two nights, tempted to linger for a third, but decided to move on after a little exploring around Lake Kaweah. Thankfully, I’d planned ahead: one last shower, fresh water in the tank, and gray water dumped before hitting the road.
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| A very nice setup at Tony's Taverna on Wheels. Amazing and enormous Gyro! |
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| A whole bunch of wild turkeys made for some good entertainment at the campsite. |
Lake Kaweah. This is managed by a dam and it gets low in the summer and apparently fills up quickly after the spring thaw. You can see the lines of how high the water goes. I was expecting that this didn't fill up like so many reservoirs/lakes in the SW, but I'm glad it does.
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| Farmland at the start of 155, heading Easy towards Lake Isabella |
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| Free campsite walk on forest service roads. Beautiful sunset! |
10/29 - The spot I parked for the night turned out to be closer to the road (Highway 155) than I realized—but with so little traffic, it didn’t matter. The night was quiet, the kind of stillness that makes you pause just to appreciate it. The sunset painted the sky in soft blue, orange, and pink. It was just Zoe and me, soaking it in. Not a soul around until morning, when a man stopped to let his dog out, but he didn't stay long.
I thought about lingering—again—but curiosity won. I decided to brave the road ahead, which, as it turned out, dropped at a steep 11% grade for quite a stretch. I’ve said it before (and will probably say it again): steep descents are not my favorite. I downshift and brake as little as possible, all while muttering small prayers of mechanical cooperation. The first stretch was twisty but manageable; then it straightened—and steepened. Thankfully, no one was behind me, so I could take it slow without feeling pressured to go faster.
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| Bedroom window views |
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| Down, down, down |
By the time I reached Kernville, I was ready to relax. Zoe and I parked in the shade, wandered around the town and along the river trail, and later treated myself to a cold beer and a Mediterranean chicken sandwich at Kern River Brewing Co. (both were excellent). Afterwards, I started scouting for a place to spend the night. I’d planned to head toward Lake Isabella to park at the lake, but stumbled on an incredible boondocking spot right along the Kern River instead—and I’m so glad I did. Lake Isabella didn’t have much appeal, and this place was perfect. Desert lakes just aren't very pretty as they are basically a bowl with brown land surrounding. No mountains either.
At first, I parked up above the river, but after exploring a bit, I realized I could actually drive down closer to the water. The access road looked fine—until it didn’t. I hit a section where turning around wasn’t really an option, so I committed. A few deep ruts and big holes later, I made it through. Later on my walk, I scoped it out again and figured if I straddled the biggest crater just right, I might make it. 🤞🤞
That evening was lovely. We wandered along the riverbank, sat watching the light fade over the rushing water, and listened to the roar of the current. The water here is freezing—and fast. There are signs everywhere warning about hypothermia and the dangers of wading in without a life jacket. This is serious water, no joke.
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| All setup for Halloween |
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| Doesn't look so bad in the photo! |
10/31 - The next morning I stumbled upon a rock similar to the one at Hospital Rock in Sequoia NP. It’s always a thrill to find something like that unexpectedly—it feels like a secret meant just for you. Later, I struck up a conversation with Greg, a fellow traveler from LA, who gave me some great tips for Highway 395 and passionately encouraged me to head to Baja this winter. He described the wine trail and other aspects with such enthusiasm that I’m quite tempted. Apparently, the wines are fantastic. Greg was one of those people who make you feel lucky to have crossed paths.
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| Eastern Sierras. I've heard so many great things about this area along 395. |
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| Lovely views in Lone Pine |
I went into the Alabama Hills to park for the night. It was Friday afternoon and it was really busy, so I picked a less than ideal spot, but it worked out. This reminds me of City of Rocks in New Mexico, but on steroids. It's really incredible and I just love looking at the rocks as they seem so bizarre to me. I took lots of photos, but most don't do it justice.
Geology lesson: The geology is primarily a result of magma cooling into granite around 85 million years ago, which was followed by millions of years of uplift and erosion. Tectonic forces pushed the granite to the surface, where it cracked and was subsequently smoothing into rounded boulders by a process called spheroidal weathering. Wind, water, and ice also contributed to the carvings. that has been weathered and rounded by wind, water, and ice, creating the iconic arches and boulders. The area also contains older metamorphosed volcanic rock from 150-200 million years ago. While the main formations are granite, the bedrock is cut by joints and dikes, which are a type of vein-like intrusive rock that can contain mineral deposits, as evidenced by historical gold mining operations in the area.
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| View from my site |
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| Zoe and I took a walk through the rocks |
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| And enjoyed the moon |
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| Not much of a sunset. Maybe clouds would have helped. |
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| As soon as Zoe crawled in here, she started scratching the ground and circling, like she wanted to lie down. It definitely would be a great sleeping cave for her. |
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| No gold in this vein |
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| Thru my window, giving a bit more color |
11/1 - Morning in the Alabama Hills
We went to a .6 miles trail, which I thought that Zoe might be able to do. I think AllTrails said it was easy, but not for Zoe. It started down a steep (but short) trail, and then went back up. We weren't on the trail more than .1 mile and she was already overheated, so I took her back to the van and did the hike on my own.
I chatted with some people who had just come out of Death Valley in their truck, pulling their fairly large Airstream. They gave me some pointers and told me that the road from here is very steep, both up and down. They had to stop to allow their brakes to cool. Hopefully it will be easier with just the van. I didn't know that diesel engines do a better job slowing the vehicle down when downshifting (or so I was told).
I headed to Mammoth Lakes (north) and stopped at Manzanar National Historic Site, which was an encampment for unconstitutionally detained Japanese Americans during/after WWII. Sounds familiar... 😒 I didn't spend much time there as the visitor center was closed due to the shutdown and it was basically just outlines of building from that time. It was sunny and hot too...
In Mammoth Lakes, I headed right to the Scenic drive (not very scenic) to find a place to park for the night.
11/2 - After wandering around the area where we parked for the night, we headed to the Inyo Craters trail. AllTrails said it was easy, but I decided to leave Zoe behind. Good decision as it was quite steep (I went the steep way) on the way up and it would have been too hard on Zoe. It was a good cardio workout for me! There are two craters, though in only one can you see the water in the base. They are very young at only 550-650 years ago and were created by a series of steam blasts, occurring as rising magma encountered the water table under Deer Mountain. These blasts created these funnel shaped craters.
From there, we headed south to Convict Lake for a walk around the lake, which was beautiful. Unfortunately, it was past peak, but there was still enough yellow to add some color to my photos.
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| Too bad I wasn't here earlier in the day to have the sun on this mountain. The rock looked very interesting with areas of rusty colored rock. |
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| Poor moth in the water, but it made very cool ripples |
11/3 - After Convict Lake, we headed back to Mammoth Lakes with the intent of staying at the RV park there. I decided to just take a shower for $10 and go into town to do laundry. The woman didn't make the laundry at the RV park sound very good and the laundromat in town was great. The downside of this decision was that I now had to find a place to park for the night. I had planned to go out to dinner in town, but with the short days, I decided I better go find a place to park. Had I decided to stay at the RV park for $60+, I could have walked to a restaurant. Oh, well, it was definitely the more cost effective decision!
In the morning, we went to the Earthquake Fault (or fissure) where the fissure can be 10' wide by 60' feet deep in spots. Interesting, but not earth shattering. 😂😂😂
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| We drove further down the road to the Mammoth ski area, but the road was closed beyond that. |
Quick stop at June Lake for a walk on the beach.
Sherry, from Reno, came down to join me and we met at this lake, near June Lake. It was a good spot for the night, though not very level. I actually ended up using my blocks, which I've only done a couple of times in two years! I hung out for a few hours before Sherry arrived. She put up her screen tent and we enjoyed the propane fire pit in the tent. The tent does keep some warmth in. It was a bit breezy, but not too bad. Before bed, I looked at the Weather Channel predictions for the wind and it didn't appear that it was going to get more windy, so we left the tent up. Ooops! It got really windy overnight, shaking the van, and both Sherry and I had looked out and saw the tent lying on it's side, so figured it would be OK.
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| Typical Zoe, hanging out in someone else's van. Grass is always greener! |
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| Trying out Boone's bed again |
11/4 - When we got up in the morning, the tent was gone. Ultimately we found it in the lake. Thankfully it wasn't in very deep and I elected Sherry to be the one to rescue the tent because she has longer legs. 😁 She was a trooper and waded in to mid thigh in freezing cold water. The tent was perfectly fine, if a bit dirty with algae. Two sets of poles were still in the tent and the other was found on the beach. Phew! Lesson learned...
11/5 - There was a big storm to the W/NW and very strong winds were predicted for the June Lake area, so we headed south to Bishop and ultimately Big Pine where the winds were not predicted to be as strong. We stopped in Bishop and went to the Mountain Rambler Brewery for a beer and some tacos for Taco Tuesday. We both had the tri-tip tacos, which had really yummy meat and a huge quantity of it. I had to get some gas and then we headed south to Big Pine where we had found a couple of possible spots to park on iOverlander. It was getting dark and the first spot seemed like it would be really dirty, so we headed up the hill and found a spot with views in every direction. Oddly, it seemed less windy up here, but still windy, so we had a movie night in the van.
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| View from our parking spot. You can see the dust being kicked up in the valley. |
We decided to head up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, which was at 10000-11000 feet and has some of the oldest trees in the world (4000 years old!!!), which was a 6000+ foot elevation gain. I so appreciated Sherry being willing to drive. We dropped Big Bertha in town and drove up the hill. It was really nice to be a passenger and not to have to drive BB up and down that road. Sherry kept saying how fun it would be to bicycle this road and I just think she's a bit loony! 😂
Some info on the Bristlecone pines: Sculpted and stunted by thousands of years of exposure to barren soil, drought, and wind-whipped sand and ice, the oldest living trees in the world survive where few other plants put down roots. Great Basin Bristlecone Pines grow only in cold, dry, windswept locations high in the mountains for NV, UT, and eastern CA. They attain great age not in spite of their harsh environment, but because of it! These trees growing in the harshest conditions have the best chance of becoming ancient trees. They produce only tiny amounts of new growth each year, but that wood is hard, resin-filled and very resistant to insects, disease, and decay. The Bristlecones that take root in better soils with more moisture, often grow faster and taller, but die at much younger ages.
- They conserve energy by keeping thie needles longer than other trees. They keep the same needles for 40 nearly 40 years, while other trees replace their needles every 4-6 years.
- Grow slowly for pest-resistant wood
- Stay alive with almost no bark - they can continue to grow with only 10% of their bark
- Grow where fire can't spread - rocky, low nutrient soil means trees grow farther apart. (Many of these trees were burn scarred)
- Tolerate soil that other plants can't
I find it interesting that the Sequoias, which grow super fast and tall, grow so close to these that are just the opposite, yet both species can get really old.
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| Amazing views from such high elevation |
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| Sherry and Boone |
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| This tree was over 3200 years old when it died around 1676! The growth rings are so close together, indicating the very slow growth. Over 100 years of rings can be contained in only 1". |
A bit about Zoe and her limping: Next door to the brewery in Bishop was a veterinary office, and since I was running out of carprofen for Zoe, I went in and asked if they could fill the prescription I had from Port Townsend, WA. They denied me because it didn't have dosage info on it. I can't blame them and thought it was odd when I got it filled in Valdez. I ended up getting the Port Townsend vet to update the prescription as well as give me a new one for gabapentin. She seems to be doing a bit better on both. The vet in Reno wants her to have the Librela shot (which I'd like too), but apparently they can't give me a prescription for it to have it administered elsewhere. She didn't want her on Carprofen because it's hard on the liver and I get that, but since I can't seem to get the Librela shot, I need another option, at least for now. At some point, I'll probably take her to a vet again and get the Librela shot, but for now, this seems to help, though not as much as I'd like. I have been cutting back on her Apoquel since that is hard on the liver too. So far, so good.
After the long steep, winding drive from the forest, it was still quite windy in the valley. Sherry found Baker Creek Campground, that she thought might give us some protection and after driving around for a while, we found two sites close together on the creek and tucked in. It was perfect! We could even have a fire (propane fire only!). I cooked up some black bean and corn nachos for dinner.
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| A toast with Alaskan beer in honor of where we met! |
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| supermoon |
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| It is really nice to have the propane firepit. No sparks, no smoke, no fire danger! If I can figure where to store it, I might have to get one! |
11/6 -
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| Bed swap |
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| A little disconcerted with the small bed |
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| Sherry cooked up some yummy banana pancakes and eggs. Lucky me! |
Sherry headed home today. It was great to have company and such fun and easy company! I ended up deciding to stay here and see if I could figure out Zoe's meds. I was only about 15 miles south of Bishop, where the vet's office was (there were none in the direction I was heading that I could find). The campground was so nice, so why not?! I ended up getting the prescriptions squared away, confirmed that the vet would fill them, so headed back to Bishop in the afternoon.
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| View from my lunch spot at Copper Top BBQ. Yummy BBQ too! |
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