Losing My Mind and Lower Rock Creek Hike

 

Thursday afternoon I went to Bishop to do a little shopping and laundry and got home around 6, Jim helped put the clothes away, (I was aggravated that I was missing one sock and a pillowcase), then I got in the shower. Put on a t-shirt and looked for my sweatpants, which I couldn’t find. I asked Jim if he accidently put them away with his, and he said his were not there, either. Yes, I left an entire load of clothes in a washing machine.

Luckily we’re only 6 miles from town, so after going back to dry the other load we were starving. We stopped by Taqueria Las Palmas (on Wheeling It’s recommendation) and split a huge veggie burrito and had an excellent margarita, which I really needed. Realized it was Cinco de Mayo, so it was an appropriate place to eat, and my blunder didn’t seem so bad.

I hope other people have done something just as stupid as It has me a little worried about my sanity!

Friday we took a lovely hike in Lower Rock Creek Canyon north of Bishop. We were looking for a lower elevation hike since it was snowing up in the mountains and found this one starting at just 7,800’. The trail is popular with mountain bikers but we only saw one biker. Some of the portion we hiked (the first 2.6 miles) was very rocky so not the kind of biking we enjoy, but the upper part of the 8 mile trail is not supposed to be as technical. It did make for a nice hike, rising very gently just 700’ along our route.

We started at the cute little community of Paradise, where most of the houses have fantastic views.

Near the beginning of the trail, with Jeanne, Riley, Mary, David, and Jim.

The trail followed the rushing waters of the creek closely the entire time.

Columnar rock similar to Devil’s Postpile.

Although there were nice wooden bridges over all the creek crossings, we came to few places where there was a side stream running right down the trail.

And the wildflowers were blooming everywhere. There were lots of wild roses, penstemon, paintbrush, thistle and others.

We turned back when the sky began to look very threatening behind us but it turned out it was all just over the mountains.

A young couple in the parking lot asked us about the trail conditions for biking, and we ended up giving them a ride eight miles up the road so they could start the trail there and ride the entire way back to their car. She designs and builds green properties, and they’re on their way to her next job in Harlem, after finishing her last project in Bluff, Utah. He is going to lead bike tours through Central Park. It was surprising to talk with a 20-something woman who was interested in our RV solar.

On Saturday morning David and Mary headed for Mono Lake, and we decided to hang around Bishop another day since the weather wasn’t looking good. I had been corresponding with a blog reader, Debra, (TBIVangirl) since we were in Alabama Hills, but we kept missing each other. A couple days prior she had moved about a mile and a half away from us in the Volcanic Tablelands, so Jim and I took a walk to meet her and her two very sweet older dogs. We had a lovely conversation and hope to meet up again one of these days. Forgot the camera so a selfie with the phone was as good as it gets.

Unfortunately I started having stomach cramps and just wasn’t feeling good by the time we left for our walk home. Ended up with nausea and fever the rest of the day and most of yesterday. I can’t remember the last time I slept so much. I felt somewhat better for a few hours yesterday so we packed up and joined everyone at Mono Lake, after a quick stop at Von’s, propane and gas at the Paiute casino, and free dump and water fill at Convict Lake. Then after we got settled in the fever returned and I was in bed the rest of the day. Jim has been enjoying the bachelor life, having only eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cereal the past two days. I’m feeling much better today so he doesn’t get away without a salad!

Our new view of Mono Lake.

And a shot I didn’t publish from our boondock site in Bishop. As long as we’ve been doing this now it still amazes me to be able to park for free in such scenic locations.