I'd now been on the road for over 3 months. My friends on Facebook, where I was posting trip updates and links to this blog, were asking when I'd be back home; I replied that I didn't know. As long as both the truck and trailer -- and me -- were doing fine, and the weather didn't turn ugly, I was quite happy to stay on the road. And I really wanted to spend what was left of autumn in the eastern Sierra, where I'd stayed the 3 previous autumns and was one of the "fall color spotters" for the online website California Fall Color. So instead of heading east and be closer to Faranuf and Portal, I went south then west.
I drove down the eastern side of the Toiyabe Range and saw Golden Eagles (skittish of course, so no photos) and Pronghorn antelope --
The Toiyabes are part of the Basin and Range section of the West. Nevada is the most mountainous state in the lower 48, with over 150 individual mountain ranges that are named. No wonder it's been called "The Poor Man's Alaska" --
I reached the Sierra Nevada 2 days after leaving Carlin. I'd read on freecampsites.net about off-the-grid spots overlooking Mono Lake, but the one I wanted was occupied. It turned out she was a full-time RVer, pulling a Mini-Cooper behind her motor home. She also had a dog named "Mick Wagger; I gave her brownie points for creativity. As she said she'd be leaving in 2 days, I decided to give the campground in Lundy Canyon a try. It was perfect -- I was the only one.
Lundy Canyon is one of my favorite spots in the eastern Sierra. The scenery is spectacular and made even more so with clouds, a dusting of snow, Lundy Lake, and fall colors, which are some of the best in the area.
It rained on the first night, and with the overcast skies and leafless aspen the landscape took on an austere look --
A rainbow breaks through the clouds.
I was walking back down the paved road when I saw this marker inside a fenced-in area. It was a grave marker. The original marker was illegible, so a plaque had been put up --
I'd walked down that road many times in the past and had never noticed it. A forlorn pioneer grave...I'd arrived in the eastern Sierra just in time for the last of the fall colors.
I looked down the canyon towards Mono Lake, and after seeing this dust storm I realized it was still The Trip Of Serendipity as I would have been buffeted about if I'd stayed at Mono Lake. When I went there the next day, the wind had died down and the spot was unoccupied.
I dropped the trailer and took the June Lake Loop road, looking for more fall color. I found this spot with the Inyo Craters as a backdrop.
Here's Discovery at the off-the-grid spot overlooking Mono Lake.
A dry cold front was coming through on the morning I left, and while it wasn't windy on the ground, it was above --
I spent the next 3 days at Highlands RV Park in Bishop, the largest town in the Owens Valley. While the fall colors were pretty much gone in the higher elevations, the cottonwoods were ablaze and still full of leaves, especially in Round Valley to the north of Bishop.
I've always been attracted to this particular landscape, with its fenceline of wood poles angling off in the distance --
A Red-shouldered Hawk was perched along the same road --
While still in Bishop I decided to go visit some old friends. I bought some carrots at Von's, headed south down Hwy 395 --
Turned onto the road to the tiny community of Aberdeen -- and saw them .
Whenever I'm in the Owens Valley I drop by and say hello to "The Aberdeen Donkeys". They are pack donkeys, used in the summer by young adults as pack animals into the Sierra backcountry. They're friendly, inquisitive and a bit insistent at times, especially when they know you have carrots.
I always find it hard to say goodbye when I look in the rear-view mirror and see them following me --
The next day I was heading for one more off-the-grid camping spot -- the Alabama Hills. And though it was a chore to park there, I found the perfect spot --
Mount Whitney is nearby, and it provided a beautiful sight to see in the early morning. Whitney is the tallest peak to the right of center.
A Red-tailed hawk was making its signature cry on a rock formation above my campsite --
I stayed 2 days in the Alabama Hills, then stopped for the night at the house of friends in Cartago, just north of Olancha. Cartago may be one of the few communities I've been to that has a smaller population than Portal. Here's yours truly, in front of the camera for one of the few times during the trip. The truck and trailer look pretty good for having gone about 10,000 miles in almost 4 months.
NOW it was finally time to head east in the direction of home. For the last campsite I'd chosen Gilbert Ray, outside Tucson in Tucson Mountain Park with its saguaro landscape --
The last sunset on the road...
And I was back home on November 10. After over 4 months the yard was a bit overgrown --
Especially when compared to the morning of July 6, the day I headed out on North To Alaska.
It was the trip of a lifetime. And I plan to do it again in 2018...And now back to Faranuf And I: Adventures in the Chiricahua Mountains.
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