A Stormy Sierra Weekend: One Summit, Buckets of Rain, One Fish, and a Mosquito Invasion

Friday night storms
Friday night storms

With our longer Sierra trip coming up soon, we wanted to head out last weekend and get in some hiking and sleeping at altitude. I always feel better when I get some time above 10k before hauling a heavy pack up there. Our intended trip was to head out to Laurel Lakes (just south of Mammoth), climb Laurel and Bloody Mountains, followed by camping and fishing at Laurel Lakes. Sunday would be another ~10k peak with a short hike. It sounded perfect, at least until we looked at the weather forecast.
The thing about the Eastern Sierra is that even if your original plans fall through there is always something else equally fun to do. So we headed out despite the forecast, figuring that we’d find something to do no matter what.
As we drove out on Friday night we watched the enormous storm clouds hovering over the mountains. They were beautiful as the sun set and they glowed bright pink. By the time we made it through the mountains the clouds had cleared and we pulled into a dispersed campsite outside of June Lake where we slept under the stars in the back of the truck.
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Masonic, Potato Peak, Bodie Peak, Aurora, and Tioga Pass Opening Weekend (better late than never)

Tundra in the Bodie Hills
Tundra in the Bodie Hills

Hi guys! I’m still here!
While gearing up for the summer backpacking season I realized I’d never posted about an early season visit to the Bodie Hills. I’ve visited Bodie State Park many times in the past, but I’ve never really explored beyond the park boundaries. Given the snow conditions this year, on a mid-June weekend that would typically be spent backpacking in the Sierra mid-country we instead decided to play around the Bodie Hills between Bridgeport and Lee Vining.
Starting out from Bridgeport on Saturday morning, we headed out through the Northern part of the Bodie Hills  to the ruins of the old mining towns of Chemung and Masonic. The roads through here are pretty good at the start but to get anywhere you’ll need a high-clearance 4WD vehicle and the ability to use it. There is a maze of old mining roads through the hills and it’s easy to get in trouble if you turn down one without the proper equipment or map.
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Memorial Day in the Eastern Sierra: Cerro Gordo, Centennial Canyon, Boxcar Cabin, Jack Gunn Peak, Mono Basin and Sonora Pass

I've been so busy lately I've had to neglect calipidder.com a bit. But we were able to squeeze out to 395 to pay a visit to some of our favorite…

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Minietta Mine

After Saturday's visit to Fossil Falls, Cerro Gordo, and the U2 tree we didn't have a lot of light to find our campsite outside of Death Valley. We like to…

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9 Days in the Desert: Canyons, Fossils, Petroglyphs, Phone Booths, Red Rocks, Las Vegas, and More

Dave and I regularly head for the desert over Thanksgiving week. Aside from the crowds, it is a great time to visit due to the mild weather. This year’s trip was a mishmash of a lot of places: Rainbow Basin, Mojave National Preserve, Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, and Death Valley. Rather than throw everything into one photo album, I tried to break it down by area or hike.  Trip report and photos after the jump.
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