Afton Canyon BLM Campground

 

Since we didn’t leave Ridgecrest until 11 yesterday, and didn’t want to drive 250 miles to Las Vegas, I found a BLM campground, Afton Canyon, about 37 miles northeast of Barstow, just about halfway.

It’s a very pretty area located only 4 miles off I-15, but none of the information I found about the campground mentioned that almost the entire 4 miles are on a very washboard dirt road. That wouldn't have been so bad, but after a couple miles the wide, straight two lane road became barely one and a half lanes, with steep curves and large rocks every so often. It said there was a 35’ RV length limit, so we were a little surprised by the road.

It was a slow drive, but we made it without any problems and there were only two other campers there last night. There is a water spigot near the entrance, trash cans next to almost every site, and vault toilets. We paid $3 with the senior pass, and had a fairly good 3G connection, surprising with the surrounding canyon walls.

 Besides the road, the one big downside is that these railroad tracks sit right across from the entrance to the campsites. We only saw a few trains go by after we arrived in the afternoon, but I heard three during the night, so close and loud it caused the rig to vibrate and wake up the cats. Luckily for Jim he slept through it all.

In the absence of trains, this is a very peaceful, quiet campground with hiking just out your door. We took a little walk through a wash into the canyon as the sun was going down. Being in the Mojave Desert, it rose to the upper 80s in the afternoon, but was only 42 when I got up this morning.

Debbie’s dogs like hanging close to Jim when we hike.

Our turn around point. No climbing up this wall for us!

Debbie left early this morning to get new batteries and get hooked up at an RV park in Vegas, and we are now on the way to Red Rock Canyon. We’re looking forward to seeing our former neighbors who don’t live far from there.

Ridgecrest, CA

 

We met Robin and Lydia last year at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and they kindly offered their driveway should we ever find ourselves in Ridgecrest, CA. Well, we found ourselves there Friday after an 80 mile drive from Lone Pine, and decided to take them up on their offer.

They have a 2006 50th Anniversary Edition 31’ Lazy Daze exactly like ours. Well, that is except for the fact that theirs looks a lot better on the outside having been kept in this fine covered garage, and on the inside, not having been subject to two wild kittens.

They do have a cute dog (an Alaskan Klee Kai) and a sedate older cat.

Meeka, the miniature Husky. He’s a sweetheart. We tried to swap him out for two cats, but they wouldn’t go for it.

 We’ve dropped to around 2,300’ and are definitely back in the desert. A couple of coyotes walked down the street in front of their house in broad daylight while we were there.

Nice that you can still see the Sierra Nevada from their yard.

The cats enjoyed watching pigeons on the nearby power lines.

Debbie’s been having some battery/converter issues, and since Lydia is an electronics engineer and loves working on things like that, she spent part of Saturday trying to diagnose the problem. Looks like she may just need a couple of new coach batteries.

Jim, Robin, and Lydia in Debbie’s kitchen, waiting for the burning smell to begin.

They handed us a map and some info about the Rademacher Hills Trail system just a block from their house and sent us on a hike. What great hosts!

This BLM land near Ridgecrest has miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking, some of which go to Andrew Peak, the highest point at 3200’. Of course that was our destination.

Cerro Coso Community College.

We lusted after their solar array. It supplies 50-60% of the school’s power.

Lydia and Jim played dueling cameras while taking photos of the full moon rising.

Yesterday Lydia helped Jim work on a problem we’ve been having with our auxiliary brake system while towing the Subaru. It’s not fixed, but she determined what wire is causing the problem, and hopefully Jim can repair it later.

We shared meals, stories, and lots of laughs. Coincidentally, Jim and Lydia share the same birthday, although more than a few years apart. And Robin made us huckleberry whole wheat pancakes with real maple syrup for Sunday brunch. They were excellent!

It’s been a fun weekend. If we ever have a driveway again, we will be happy to reciprocate. Thanks, guys!

Last Two Eastern Sierra Hikes

 

Wednesday was Jim’s birthday, and he wanted to go back to the Alabama Hills Café for whole wheat pancakes. They were even better the second time around, although our service was not so good this time.

We had invited Charlie and Marti to go on a hike that afternoon, so we drove about 5 miles to Tuttle Creek Canyon and the trail that leads to The Ashram. We got a brochure and map at the Chamber of Commerce in Lone Pine, which recommended a high clearance vehicle to get to the trail. We did fine for awhile, but the rutted, rocky dirt road began climbing steeply. Jim hesitated because I questioned whether we should continue in the Subaru, then he kept losing traction as he tried to go up. Finally he backed up into a turn around and we just parked there. Hiking up the road added a little more distance to our hike, but it was a short trail anyway, so I was happy to be out of the car and walking.

It was a steep climb, starting at 6,500’ and ending at 7,700’ in about 1.6 miles.

Our goal was to get to this stone house, which began construction in 1930 by Franklin and Sharifa Wolff. Due to their beliefs in Eastern Indian mysticism and philosophy, the Wolffs wanted to build a spiritual center near the highest point in the country. Unable to lease land from the Forest Service near Mt. Whitney, they settled for the next best thing, a lovely spot on a cliff overlooking Tuttle Creek Canyon and the Owen’s Valley. You have to look hard to see the house on the other side of the creek. Our hiking group was a bit concerned that we had that much farther to go at this point.

After some more climbing we finally reached an easy creek crossing, and shortly arrived at the ashram. Sadly it was not finished after 20 years of summer work, never getting windows or doors put in. It’s a very interesting story, which you can read more about here if interested.  

The house was constructed in the form of a balanced cross to symbolize the principle of equilibrium. It must have been quite a feat just to get supplies up to the building site. The trail we hiked on was a road at one time, but is now just a steep, narrow trail on a ridge over the canyon.

We didn’t get good pictures because of the light, so you’ll just have to make the hike up if you want to get a closer look. It truly is in a beautiful setting and worth the hike.

Charlie and Marti left for Bishop yesterday, but we are so glad they hunted us down in the Alabama Hills. They’re also planning to go to Quartzsite in January so we hope to see them there.

Jim and I wanted to take one last hike in the high country at 10,000’, so we decided to make the 20 mile drive up Horseshoe Meadows Road and hike part of the Cottonwood Pass trail. The road up to the meadows is steep, full of switchbacks, and is one lane for a short while, but like Whitney Portal Rd it is also paved. We had to stop and take a few photos from the overlooks.

We were the only car at the trailhead parking lot, and it was 51 degrees when we started our hike. We walked 2.5 fairly easy miles before the trail really started to climb, so we decided to head back as it was getting colder, down to 46 by the time we got back to the car at 4 o’clock.

The first mile or so was like walking on a wide, flat boulevard. We saw no one else the entire time. Shouldn’t we have seen a bear or something?

There was a little bit of snow left in places, but we were surprised when we had to cross this icy creek.

Dead trees made for some interesting natural artwork.

It was a nice ending to our almost three month stay in the Eastern Sierra. We will definitely come back.

Busy Week in Lone Pine

 

The Lone Pine Film Festival came to a close on Sunday, which ended with a downtown parade. David, Mary, Debbie, Jim and I squeezed in our Subaru and went to check it out. Definitely a small town!

But Hopalong Cassidy stopped by.

Along with John Wayne.

This old hearse sounded like it was about to die, but he made it down the street.

Cute little guy.

Beginning on October 18th, 100 mules and people from Eastern Sierra pack stations will gather at the intake of the Los Angeles Aqueduct to begin a 240-mile march to LA. The event marks the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power aqueduct. Some of the  mules marched in the parade.

This mule with the solar panel on its back will supply the power for the march. Interesting.

It was a great place to do some people watching.

That cowboy Debbie is talking to sure looks familiar….

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, there was also an arts and crafts show at the town park, so we wandered around there after the parade. Mary even bought a couple things.

Later that afternoon we shared one last happy hour with David and Mary. They left for Bishop Monday morning, after David set up his tripod for a group photo. We really enjoyed their company and hope to meet up again in Quartzsite in January.

Debbie, Dave, Mary, Jim, Gayle.

Debbie and I decided to check out the Lone Pine Film History Museum on Tuesday. Jim was busy working on balancing our bank accounts, so I left him alone for a few hours. It’s a suggested $5 donation to enter the museum, but there is a woman working at the desk who tells you admission is $5 and takes your money. Not being a movie buff, and since most of the movies filmed around Lone Pine were old westerns, long before my time, I’m not sure it was worth the admission, but I know some people are more interested in that kind of thing than I am.

There are lots of old movie posters, some costumes, cars, stagecoaches. saddles, etc, and we did enjoy the 15 minute film.

When we got back from the museum, we noticed a new Lazy Daze parked down the road from our campsite. A short time later we were visited by Charlie and Marti from Seattle. We had never met them before, but Marti follows our blog and took her computer into the local outfitters store and showed the guy working there the picture of our campsite. He was able to give them directions and they found us!

I took them for a walk around the Alabama Hills to show them the famous Mobius Arch. You can see Mount Whitney through it, so it is a very much photographed arch.

Yesterday we took them on a hike, but I’ll save that for the next post. It’s been a fun week so far.