Over the past year, I've been slowly accumulating more camping equipment in hopes of one day heading out to Mojave Road, where you have to bring everything. Some of the stuff I've purchased include a portable toilet, solar shower, Coleman Triton 2-burner stove, propane campfire ring, folding aluminum table, folding tripod chairs, 7-gallon water cube and a fold-up tailgate table for the Jeep. A couple of other electronic gadgets that I bought were a small handheld ham radio and a Garmin inReach Mini GPS/satellite communicator.
I recently checked the Overland Bound forum and found out there was a trip planned that was heading out to Laurel Lakes in the Mammoth area and to Funnel Lake near Bishop, CA. What a perfect opportunity to field test some of my equipment! I grabbed my good friend, Dave, and we were off to have a good time!
It was a small trip of 10 rigs (2 of them met us up at the lake). We mustered in Pleasanton at noon and convoyed from there. I turned on the Garmin inReach Mini to track our route and to give my wife access to our whereabouts. Since reservations are needed to enter Yosemite, we went North above the Park and took 108 Sonora Pass. We popped out on the other side in Bridgeport, then made our way down through Lee Vining, then the Mammoth area. The off-road drive to get to Laurel Lakes was only about 5 miles. I aired down the Jeep to about 20 psi, but didn't need to disconnect the front sway bar. The drive in was easy with only a couple of tight switchbacks nearer to the lake. King performed like a champ, as expected- nothing was a problem. Even the last switchback at the lake- some of the full sized trucks needed to make 5-point turns to negotiate the turn, but King did it with one :)
By the time we got to the camp sites, it was just about dark, probably around 7:30p. The wind was really starting to kick up, so I was searched for a more sheltered space that could help to avoid the wind a bit. I brought a couple of Durcell 600 lumen LED lights I picked up from Costco and strapped them to the safari rack via bungee cords, which helped immensely in setting up camp in the dark. Then I took a moment to message my wife from the inReach Mini to let her know that were arrived at the lake safe and sound.
I attached my Coleman Triton stove to my 20 lb. propane tank via a splitter that bought from Home Depot and positioned it on my tailgate table. I attached the Outland Premium Fire Pit to the other opening on the propane splitter. We were camping at nearly 10,000 feet and the stove had no problem putting out some serious heat, enough to heat up my new Lodge Cast Iron Reversible Griddle and grill up some paprika chicken legs I'd been marinating for a couple of days.
We deployed the new ALPS Mountaineering Aluminum Dining Table and accompanying Tri-Leg Stools, so we could eat. At 12 lbs., the table is very light yet sturdy! I was looking for a table that would be roughly the same height as a table used at home- this was exactly what I wanted! The design of this table is better than others I entertained in that the support structures don't get in your way as you sit at the table. The stools were light and sturdy, and just the right height to sit at the table with.
Dinner was fabulous! The grilled chicken legs married perfectly with the jalapeno salsa! I also grilled some vegetables and tied it together with corn chips. The fire pit was easy to use and working beautifully giving off a good amount of heat. I was also testing out some new canned beers- I don't usually drink from cans, but they're a better choice when you're camping in that cans are lighter than bottles and they don't break. I did a bit of research before making my purchases. Specifically two beers seemed to always make the list- Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale and Saint Archer Hazy IPA. Generally, I'm not a big hazy IPA fan, but I must say, this was a very tasty beer- a hint of grapefruit and not super hoppy. The Dale's was really foamy, even if they've been sitting for hours- a nice basic ale, good flavor and easy to drink. Both beers are at just a tad over 6% ABV.
We kept all the cold food in the Yeti Tundra 65 cooler. I also recently purchased some Cooler Shock Premium Ice Packs and was giving them a test spin. I put 4 of the large 10x14 inch ice packs in the cooler and they kept everything nice and cold for the entire trip! I packed them in the non-pre-chilled Yeti on Friday morning with no additional ice, and when I got home of Sunday evening, the leftover beers were still ice cold!
That night, the wind was ripping across the lake all night long! The weather forecasts predicted 33 mph winds and they were right! I couldn't quite tether my rain fly down tight enough, so I had the vestibule flapping all night next to my head! It was ridiculously noisy and very difficult to sleep. I probably got about 2 hours of sleep for the entire night.
The next morning, I cooked up a quick breakfast of pancakes and little smoky turkey sausages. I made coffee- Starbucks Via instant coffee, which is terrible!!! They taste like Folgers and they don't do shit to wake me up!! After that, we did a quick camp tear down and pack up. We had wheels up at 10am. All the garbage we had created thus far, we threw away in the Trasharoo, which was mounted on the spare tire of the Jeep.
The drive out was again easy. We took 395 down to Bishop where we topped off our tanks, then we were on the way to Funnel Lake. All the while, we kept in touch through ham radios. Some had installed units, but most of us were using BaoFeng handheld radios, since they're so inexpensive and they get the job done just fine.
King was holding up just fine, considering that most of the days so far have been near to 100°F and the outside air was very smokey from all the wildfires burning throughout California. Also with all the dust flying from the vehicles in front of us, we kept the windows closed and the air conditioner on almost all the time recirculating the air. Still, the Jeep had plenty of power at that high altitude and never even came close to overheating.
Saturday's drive out to Funnel Lake was a bit more technical. It started off with a few miles of washboard roads on the ascent out of Bishop. The trail was dusty with silt and had lots of rocks embedded along the way- rocks ranging from small chicken heads to suitcase sized rocks. With careful line selection, it wasn't very bad at all. Of course, having a little extra clearance and good tires goes a long way! There were a couple of small river crossings that made the day's route a little more interesting. As we neared the lake, there were some really nice technical drop-offs. Ooohh!! So much fun!
We got to Funnel Lake around 3:30p and there were plenty of nice camping spots left for us to stake our claims. We found some space about 40 yards from the lake with some good cleared areas free from rocks, so we could set up our tents and not worry so much about sleeping on rocks. This time, when we set up camp, we deployed my old Add-Awn Sport Shade. (I actually have a ARB awning on order, but the entire planet seems to be crazy about camping right now, so my awning is on [seemingly] infinite back order.) I bought this awning over a decade ago and only used it once for a motorcycle track day- the product was way ahead of its time, as I don't think anyone else was producing a product like this at the time. Since then, I believe the company has gone out of business. The awning is still functional, so I figured I'd just bring it. And lucky we did as it started to rain for about half an hour while we were chillin'.
Once we were all settled in, we had a chance to socialize a bit, something we didn't have the luxury to do the prior day. I got the fire pit going. There was very little wind, so the mosquitoes were out and about. That gave me a chance to test out the new Thermacell MR300 mosquito repeller device. As far as I could tell, it was working fine- I never got bit. Mark came over and joined us at our camp, while I started cooking some dinner. We had some beers, but once I put out the Jim Beam Apple Bourbon, he didn't want to wait till after dinner and insisted that we all take a drink! I had some skirt steak that's been marinating for a few days. I cut up some vegetables and I grilled them up to make steak fajitas. Paired with chili beans and some chips, it was a meal fit for a king!
After others were done with eating their dinners, they started coming over to our camp. Luckily, I had brought a couple other camp lounge chairs, so we had places for them to sit. Aaron came by and brought his 5-month-old Australian Shepherd puppy, Flynn. Thomas and his son, Lucas, sat with us at the fire- they brought their own 2-seat bench. Later, Chris dropped in after he tucked his son in bed. We all hung out taking shots of the apple bourbon, trading stories around the fire. It was perfect. This is how I imagined the trip should be.
Finally, we got a chance to sleep in a windless evening! The temperature outside was a bit cooler than the night before, but at least I was on a rockless flat surface (I use a big fat Thermarest, but it's still nice not to have an uneven rock surface underneath) and the wind wasn't beating on my tent all night long. Life was good.
The next morning, I got up at 6:30a. The sun was out and the weather was beautiful! I was a little groggy from the last night's activities and wasn't really very hungry. We skipped cooking breakfast and I simply opted for a banana and shitty instant coffee, so I could take my vitamins. It didn't take too long to pack up the Jeep. At 9a, we grouped up and hit the trail home-bound.
Leaving camp, we took a different loop out. It was less of an incline, but there were a few more obstacles to watch for. The trail seemed a little more busy this morning, as there were plenty of vehicles making their ways to the lake. By 11:30a, we were all at the trail head airing up again. We said our good-byes and parted our separate ways.
All-in-all, it was a fantastic trip! Small and intimate, so it didn't get too out of hand. All the people were quality and everybody got along wonderfully. In our small posse, we didn't have one single mechanical mishap and everyone was able to get through the trails without much incident. Chris, Mike and Justin were excellent in trailblazing ahead, guiding and spotting those of us who needed help.
It was really nice to spend some quality time with so many terrific people. It was a quick trip, but one that won't be soon forgotten.
