High Sierra Topix

My new SAV (Sierra Adventure Vehicle)


Mini in the morning at Reds Meadow Campground

My undercover bivi.

For years, drove in a Toyota Corolla to the eastern Sierra trailheads and the desert for off-road camping and hiking, It's amazing where that vehicle can go. That car finally gasped its last in 2013. I then bought a Subaru Outback, my first new car in a long time. I love it. I bought it in part because I'd heard it's great to sleep in and has fairly high clearance. Outbacks have the same clearance as Foresters, but they have a bigger area for sleeping. The tinted windows make me feel safer as well. I love how it hugs the road, and the all wheel drive is great in inclement weather. I still haven't taken it off road to camp in the desert (not used to doing that solo and as KathyW says, I'm concerned about being stuck out there alone) but maybe this spring.

Yeah you have to be careful in the desert, I have a toyota tacoma that I take out there, with modified suspension. I have had many mishaps with getting stuck, or breaking parts....it is all a part of it. Big heavy machine and soft sand or mud, big whoops, washouts, and rocks....you will run into trouble eventually. I have some pretty wacky stories I have fun just cruising around and camping. There are so many awesome places to go.

I traveled around in the desert in my ex husband's Toyota Tacoma and felt very secure about its reliability. It was fun to ride in and great for breaking out the camping gear in the middle of some beautiful desert spot.
I looked into a Tacoma but it was out of my price range. I know when you cruise around those desert back roads you have to be prepared should unfortunate vehicle situations occur. I've seen the worst looking buckets on deep sandy roads with dips and boulders miles and miles from a paved road and in one instance the occupants looked like they didn't have a care in the world (somewhere in Arizona). Brave souls, braver than I.

Toyota Tacoma, Not 4WD but more than capable to get where I need to go and sleeps two (cozy) in the back. My fourth Toyota truck - always reliable. A little disappointed with the mileage (19-21 on freeway) after my old 4 bangers but the most luxurious vehicle I have ever owned and my son (pictured) really loves to drive it on trips

We bought a 2014 AWD CR-V early this year for our mountain/road trips. Gets great gas mileage and does real well on some of the older roads such as Kaiser Pass, the areas around Bass Lake (not sure what the routes are exactly), and even in the snow.

Took this picture a few weeks ago on a trip to Shaver Lake. This is actually a bit further up near the Dinkey Creek area. Can't remember which road I went off of to adventure on (really wanted to see if it could handle well in the snow and it was one of the few roads open), but it had 5 inches of snow in some parts and I don't even remember spinning/sliding.

Still would feel safer in the Excursion, but that thing was a diesel drinker: