Date:         Tue, 11 Jun 1996 14:17:58 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         busgirl@netcom.com (Martha)
Subject:      sherman pass not yet open


For those of you planning to attend this weekend's campout, coming
from the eastern part of the state:  word is, that Sherman pass
is STILL not open.  If Walker is your second alternative, PLEASE
call before you drive to make sure that it is open by now.

A significant number of you asked me to repost the directions
with the correction, so here goes:

At long last - the directions you've all been waiting 
for.  :)  Please print these out and take them with
you.  To orient you in general, this camp area is
approximately 23 miles NE of Calif. Hot Springs, which
is N and a little W of Isabella Lake, which is
basically E of Bakersfield.  I think you'll still need 
a good state map of California to supplement what
I've written.  

Note for those of you coming from eastern California:
_Please_ call the CHP before departing to make sure
Walker or Sherman passes have been opened up.

Note to everyone:  here's some numbers of various
divisions of the forest service, which may help if
you get stuck, since we are camping in the Sequoia
National Forest (= free, no fees, no attendents):

619.376.2171
805.548.6503
209.784.1500

General notes:  we'll be camping at about 5,000 foot
elevation.  It could be hot and/or cold.  There's
supposed to be a lot of mosquitoes.  There are NO
amenities.  Bring your high-powered porta-potties,
or whatever else makes you feel secure.  :)

Here's 4 ways to get to the town of Johnsondale,
from which the directions, below, apply:

1.  From SE Calif., take 395, to 14 W, to 178 W
    (which is Walker pass).  Go to the northern
    tip of Isabella Lake, then proceed N toward
    Johnsondale.

2.  From E Calif., but further north, take J41 over
    Sherman pass, proceed toward Johnsondale.

3.  From NW Calif., I STRONGLY recommend that
    you observe #4 below.  Otherwise, the alternative
    is to take 155 E thru Glenville to Isabella Lake.
    This may look more direct to you on the map, but
    I was on this road several months ago, and it
    nearly killed my air-cooled engine.  Schwarze
    tried to warn me, but I didnUt listen  :)  Anyway,
    from the Bay Area, my suggestion would be to
    go the extra leg to Bakersfield, then follow
    these directions:

4.  From SW California, from Bakersfield, go E to
    Isabella Lake, up the west side of the lake, then
    proceed N to Johnsondale.

All:  from Johnsondale:  turn N on forest service 
road 22S82, which is also called Lloyd Meadow Road, and 
drive up (I think it's about 8 miles or so, but I'm fuzzy 
on this).  We'll be about 1 mile below Lower Peppermint,
which should center you pretty well.  Up along the road,
you'll pass signs like "camp 1," "camp 2," etc.  We'll
be in Camp 5.  Exit for that is on the RIGHT side of
the road (earlier I told you left, sorry).  Once off
the highway, the pavement ends.  You'll meander down back
off-roads toward the river, which the ranger tells me
is called Lower Peppermint Creek (earlier I may
have told you it was the Kern River).  

I want to explain that this is not like the kind of
campspace numbering systems you my be used to.  It
is more of an "area."  Thus, Camp 5 may have several
sites in it, so you may have to hunt around a bit 
for us.  We plan to leave late Thursday evening, and
will try to arrive about 7 hours later, also will try
to put up some balloons, signs, whatever.  Anyway,
trek around on these backroads until you find yourself
at the bottom on the creek in a large, open flat space,
which I think contains a self-made fire-ring or two.
The ranger tells me there's 2 ways to get down there,
one steep, and the other more bland, but that both
end up basically at the same place, though you may have
to drive around a bit to find us.  

Special note:  I highly recommend investing in even the
cheapest CB radio, and setting it to channel 2.  

If anyone has any questions, and needs to phone me,
feel free:  510.376.4321  

Once at camp, I'm fairly certain we are so far out
in the wilderness that cellular phones (and maybe 
even pagers) will probably not work.

In addition to whatever else you might take camping
make sure to bring the following:

folding chairs
tables
firewood (LOTS, please)
ice
first aid-kit
water
drinks
food
stuff against bugs
fishing/swimming gear
homebrew! (this trip promises to be a homebrew orgy :)