East of the Eastern Sierra- Feb 11-13, 2022

[Harlen]

This trip began when I bailed out of a Sierra snowshoe route due to over-deep and hard crusted snow.  Tolerable for me, but hell for my dog friend Bearzy.  I've toyed with the idea of creating snowshoes for dog paws, but he dislikes even the soft new dog booties I tried on him this trip, so I don't think it would work.  Anyhow, we tried to turn our misfortune into another sort of adventure; so after considering a wide range of possible trips, I decided to head into Nevada's Basin and Range province.  

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Waking up to scenes like this one from the Mono Basin has taught me that it is also beautiful to spend time gazing up at mountain ranges from the plains or valleys, and sometimes the high desert can give the same experience of quiet wilderness that I feel inside the range.


Our original goal was to enjoy the views on both sides of the White Mountains, and then keep going east and northeast till we reached the fabled beauty of the Ruby Mountains.  After spending some time hiking around in the snowy rocks on the west side of the Whites, and the sandy high desert scrub land on the east side of the range, we reached the colorful desert landscape around the town of Tonopah.  Here I obtained a Nevada map and considered the long miles to reach the Rubys.  From Bear's perspective this was too many car miles for too few days.  I decided to save the Ruby Mts. for our long summer road-trip to Vermont. I found a shorter circle we could make, up to Walker Lake (which is the final destination of West Walker Creek of Leavitt Meadows), and then back to Mono Lake.  
We reached Walker Lake in the afternoon, and it was so still that there were reflections on all sides of the big lake.  I met a local who told me that her neighbor sees the Bighorn sheep almost every morning at dawn, drinking at the lakeside.  I saw some sheep sign, but that was all.  Bearzy and I spent a nice afternoon walking along a very different lake margin compared to the icy brilliance of frozen Ruby Lake in the Sierra.  Walker Lake was smooth liquid water, and Bearzy swam for sticks, and I collected enough driftwood for a nice fire.  We left in the predawn in hopes of seeing sunrise on the eastern Sierra, and we got our wish.  Mono Lake is just 70 miles from Walker Lake.  The new trip we created turned out just fine after all.

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After opting out of our Sierra trip, we found ourselves in a beautiful stretch of High Desert. We traded Lodgepole and Whitebark pines for Juniper-Pinyon forest, and the Great Basin Sage scrub. The orange colored rock around us was rhyolite.

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It was still snowy and cold there, but we weren't sinking in it anymore. We hiked in just a quarter mile from a snow and dirt road off Hwy. 120, and stuck our tent in the sage-- upper left.

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We scrambled up a granite rock hill for the sunset; here we are looking east to the White Mts.

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From the same hill we looked back westward at the Sierra peaks from Mammoth to the Minarets, to Ritter and Banner, and maybe the next big peak is Lyell?

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Boundary Peak on the Nevada border, far left.

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The weathered granite glowed in the morning light. The peaks of Convict and McGee Creeks in the background.

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The Sierra again, with Mt. Tom on the left, then Pine Creek- Wheeler Crest- Rock Creek, and then I'm not sure what that big white wall is on the far right.

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We found the car pretty iced up, and barely managed to drive it back out of the snow.

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On the way to Benton we crossed this small range of ancient granite. It looked like Alabama Hills set in a forest.

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West of Benton Hot Springs.

[Harlen]

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Bear was loving the soft dirt. The eastern slope of the White Mountains is our new background, with Boundary Peak now on the right.

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Pointing at some rodent.

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Dig, dig, dig!

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Nothing.

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This is an abandoned junction on the way to Tonopah. The road we're now on is the combined Highways 6 and 95.

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Colorful desert west of Tonopah.

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We've been in and out of the the brewery, and the bookstore of Tonopah, and this was our first view of Walker Lake.

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Look at the difference between the two lakes Bearzy and I hiked around on this trip-- salty Walker Lake above, and icy Ruby Lake below:

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[Harlen]

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Leaving Nevada at dawn.

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Heading toward Mono Lake on Hwy. 167.

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We're aimed right at Lundy Canyon.

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We found this interesting landmark on the side of Hwy. 167. I guess it was worth a million bucks to freight logs to Bodie, rather than hauling them with mules and bullocks. Seems like there is better wood to be had in Buckeye Canyon, but maybe that would be a harder route to build?

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This plaque is fixed to the side of the ore cart.

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Mono Lake in the distance, dried Rabbit brush flowers everywhere! What a colorful plant, with its bluish stems, and yellow, then golden flowers.

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The Sawtooth Ridge back of Bridgeport is a fine last sight of the High Sierra. The next fine sight was the Coachwhip Cafe, north of the town of Walker, where we had lunch and played with our new High Sierra friends, including the dog Banjo. East of the Eastern Sierra is a pretty nice place to be.

[rlown]

Bearzy has a great life! Nice report!

[balzaccom]

Really nice, Harlan. Thanks for posting this. I look forward to exploring that area a bit more.

The Ruby Mts are well worth the wait, BTW...