Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 19:58:26 -0700
Reply-To: Leon Korkin <korkwood@SURFREE.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Leon Korkin <korkwood@SURFREE.COM>
Subject: Lundy Canyon Backpack
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Thought it would be of interest to someone...
4th of July Lundy Canyon Backpack.
After several hiking trips to Lundy Canyon i made plan to backpack in
the area. On 2 previous occasions we came close to Lundy Canyon
trailcrest but turned back, last year due to snow covering approach. We
also hiked up to May Lundy Mine before. The plan was to connect those
hiking routes making a loop and spending 3 days doing it. Weather forced
us to cut it to 2 days.
Driving our 85 Subwagen Westy we left LA on tuesday afternoon and
surviving traffic, heat and humidity of San Fernando and Owens valley
arrived in Lundy canyon ab. 10:30pm. It was nice and cool there.
Went to sleep under clear sky full of stars.
Early in the morning our Alaska-bound friends visited us and i helped
them find problem of alternator and Oxi idiot lights lighting up.
Cleaned up ground strap screwhole(rust) and spliced alt. sensor wire and
soon they were on the road going north.By then the storm began moving in
and soon rain started to fall. Had to postpone our plan to backpack.
Went to Mono Lake instead and showed our friends incredible South Tufa
where we saw
nesting Osprey with little chick, bunch of Violet-green swallows and
lots of gulls; Navy beach and Panum Crater. It rained all day and there
was lightning all around. By the evening the storm subsided and night
sky was clear of clouds and black.
Next morning we decided to get going even though weather news promised
another storm.
It was sunny, warm and very pleasant to go thru familiar beautiful
canyon listening to roar of numerous waterfalls and long cascades,
smelling aroma of rich ecosystem with hundreds of flowers of all colors
and shades of blue, red and yellow, great looking aspen trees, large
ponds dammed by local beaver familys and views of hi ridges all around
with green grass at lower elevation, loose rocks and solid walls of
variety of colors higher up and patches of snow close to the tops.
We were moving at pretty good speed and were up on top of steep
trailcrest around noon.
Dropping into valley we passed Lake Hellen when weather began to
change.Ther were ominous black clouds moving across the sky.
By the time we were going by Odell Lake it was realy raining and we
heared roar of thunder and streaks of lightning not far from us. We kept
going hoping to get to Saddlebag Lake without getting too close to
lightning strikes. When we
passed by Hummingbird Lake it was pouring and we again saw lightning
strikes
illuminating dark sky with background of glacier-laden high mountains.
Magnificient views!
Finaly whole Saddlebag lake was in front of us in all it's beauty. There
was ferry crossing the lake moving our direction and far side of the
lake had several buildings and parking lot with vehicles.
We hurried up thru the pouring rain and it even hailed for few minutes.
After going around half of the lake it was great relief to walk into
local restaurant and fishing supply store. Being penniless we managed to
get 2 cups of coffe thanks to generocity of waitress named Anna. Spent 3
hours by the very nice and rustic-looking fireplace built out of local
stones just after WWII. Dried our soaking wet clothing and shoes but
packs were outside and rain was still going strong.There was crowd of
wet and cold people pouring in and happy to be inside. Soon it was
getting close
to closing time and we needed a place to pitch our tent. There was
campground nearby. We just couldn't afford it. So, i went to talk to
Campground manager and he turned out to be very nice and friendly. He
was called "Torch" due to his very close encounter with lighting fluid
and burning 35% of his body...Not only he survived it but recovered
quickly and was back to work in 3 weeks!
Torch suggested to pitch our tent next to his camper and we couldn't
refuse such generous offer.
Tne bad part was that all our stuff in backpacks was soaking wet
including tent, sleeping bags(dripping).Pitched tent and went in
anticipating sleepless night. At least made it warm inside lighting
lantern and cooking "army meal" for dinner.
While we were outside i saw familiar car driving by. I couldn't believe
it. It turned out our Lundy Canyon camping friends heared of all the
rain and storms
and came to visit us. They offered to take us back to our campground. It
was
very tempting to take the offer not knowing what lie ahead of us. But we
decided to stick to the plan and stayed.
Just when we were about to go to sleep we heared Torch talking to us
asking how we were doing and if we needed anything dry. We said dry
sleeping
bags would be nice. He said he had few in "other" storage area and drove
there to get them.
Soon he returned with 3 old fish-smelling bags and we were extatic to
get into dry bags for the night.
Next morning sky was totaly overcast and started to rain again. Spent
some dry time in same restaurant drinking coffe and getting advised to
hitch a ride down to our camp by Lundy lake.
Stubbornly, we decided to get going and packed with wet gear started
toward Dore pass. Had to choose a route carefully as there is no trail.
It was
steep but not very hard going up.
Made it in less than 2 hours(local experienced hiker predicted 4 hours)
to Dore pass. When we came up to the top there was grand panorama and
shear cleaff with ab. half a mile plunge down to Lake canyon. The view
was fantastic but we saw no way of getting down to the valley below with
3 jewel-like lakes.
There was just one small "break" in the wall and reluctantly we started
going(sliding) down. It was monumental problem being wet and still
hammered by
rain carrying backpacks with soaking wet gear, wearing slightly more
than sneakers, hot inside waterproof jacket and pants going down almost
vertical slope...We were very careful but almost every step caused a
small rockslide(it was all rock and all loose)Very steep!
Thanks to our hiking/ski poles and some experience we made it down to
the lake without killing ourselves. Saw trail on the other side of the
lake but my wife insisted on taking "other trail". Eventualy had to
cross gully to take real trail and took small break to
eat some snack while being attacked by an army of mosquitos. By then we
were pretty tired. Soon we were standing on another vista looking down
at remnants
of old shacks and rusted mining equipment. This was May Lundy mine. We
walked by it again and wandered how in the world all this super-heavy
cast-iron stuff was hauled up such inaccessible place...Still
raining...Started going again and briefly saw mule deer doe with cub
quickly going their way... There was still 3 miles to our destination
and we were very tired and wet. Trail was very steep in some places,
creek running
the width of the trail. Didn't matter, we were wet from head to our
shoes.
Arrived at the dam ar. 4PM and took off our "rock-heavy" packs. I
hitched a ride to our campsite and drove Westy back to pick up my wife
and we were very happy to be back
"down on earth", with few sore spots where pack straps were contacting
our bodies.
The goal was accomplished and one more blank spot in our plans was
filled!
Went inside our Westy and slept few hours...
Next day we enjoyed splashing in Owens hot creek while it was still
raining. After very relaxing soak we headed toward Bishop and loaded on
mexican food in Taco Bell.
With plenty of daytime left drove north toward Fish Slough. There were
very interesting lava rocks and forms including couple of great-looking
"mushrooms". One hidden wall of petroglyphs and one large pile of rocks
covered with petroglyphs. This area is known for great birding but we
didn't see much wildlife out there in the rain except one coyote.
Turned back on hwy 6 and started driving back south. There was still
little time before sunset and we "discovered" couple of nice canyons in
Owens Peak wilderness. Went to spend the night in our favorite Sand
canyon in our favorite and very nice campsite. There was nobody in the
whole canyon(rarely anyone is) and just before going to sleep spooked
some mountain sheep and they took off leaving few rocks rolling down...
Next morning explored old black riveted iron aqueduct pipe wandering at
such monumental piece of engineering that is still working well(with
small patches). Stood next to it and placed hand on cool black metal and
felt it moving and vibrating under the flow of water. Thought came
across, what if this pipe would burst in some place
leaving lots of San Fernando Valley homes without water...Naaaaa...
Back to reality and it was time to finaly go home into LA traffic...
Leon, Aleksandra
85 Subwagen westy
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