Coyote Flats / Plateau trip (1 Viewer)

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Will a stock 100 with rear locker be able to make it to the campground?

I'm guessing you have done this trip before? How far is the hike to fishing?

Maybe I will have an 80 or 100 by then and my wife and I would love to join if we can get the stuff together.
 
Will a stock 100 with rear locker be able to make it to the campground?

I'm guessing you have done this trip before? How far is the hike to fishing?

Maybe I will have an 80 or 100 by then and my wife and I would love to join if we can get the stuff together.

I have not done this trail before. But I have researched it quite a bit and any stock 4x4 should be able to make it just fine. This is just a rough road going out. That being said I would not bring a lowered range rover, but any landcruiser should be just fine. Your 100 series will do great and you are welcome to come along. My brother in law is driving his stock 4x4 tacoma.

I believe we will be camping by a stream and the hike to the lakes is a couple miles.

Noah
 
I will be going with you on this run. Thanks for setting it up. Will watch for the details (meet up location, etc.) as we get closer to leaving...

Anne
Beach n Toys; Geared for Fun
 
So I am in and will be bringing a friend along to get him to expand his horizons a little. ;)

My son will be in school so not sure he will be coming along.
 
So I am in and will be bringing a friend along to get him to expand his horizons a little. ;)

My son will be in school so not sure he will be coming along.

Cool! looks like we have 5 cars for sure right now, which is a good group.
 
Noah,
Thinking of joining if possible, have to check the schedule. I saw this notice, not sure if it has any affect on where the camping will be.

This is what the Inyo National Forest AND The BLM have issued.

BLM Bishop Field Office & Inyo National Forest Announce Fire
Restrictions
Effective Friday, June 28, the Bureau of Land Management- Bishop Field Office and the Inyo National Forest
are implementing fire restrictions.
The restrictions are in effect on all BLM public lands managed by the Bishop Field Office and all Inyo National
Forest lands, including wilderness areas.
“Ongoing drought conditions, well below average rain and snowfall this past winter and warmer than average
temperatures have led to very dry conditions for this time of year,” said Inyo National Forest Supervisor, Ed
Armenta. “We are experiencing very high fire danger and continued hot and dry weather patterns here in the
eastern Sierra.”
Beginning June 28, and until further notice, the following restrictions will be in effect:
NO CAMPFIRES, briquette barbeques, or stove fires are allowed outside of designated developed
recreation sites and specifically posted campsites or areas. A list of designated campgrounds and
recreation sites is available at local Ranger Stations and Visitor Centers, and on the Inyo National
Forest website, Inyo National Forest - Home.
Persons with a valid California Campfire Permit (available free of charge at any Ranger Station or
Visitor Center) are not exempt from the prohibitions but are allowed to use portable stoves or lanterns
using gas, jellied petroleum, or pressurized liquid fuel.
NO FIREWORKS. It is prohibited to possess or discharge any fireworks.
NO SMOKING, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while
stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable material.
NO WELDING or operating an acetylene torch with open flames, except by permit.
NO USE OF EXPLOSIVES, except by permit.
Resorts, pack stations, recreation residences and other sites operated under special use permit from the U.S.
Forest Service or BLM may be exempt from the special orders, as long as any fire activity is conducted in
compliance with their permit. Special use permit holders should contact their permit administrator to make
sure they are on the list of exempt sites, or check the information for special use permit exemptions on the Inyo
National Forest Website, Inyo National Forest - Home.
Steve Nelson, Acting BLM Bishop Field Manager and Ed Armenta urge the public’s cooperation in helping to
prevent wildfires in this year of very high fire danger, and they remind both residents and visitors that fireworks,
even “Safe and Sane” are not allowed at any time on public lands.
For further information, please call Debra Hein at (760) 872-5057 or Deb Schweizer at (760) 873-2427.
 
Fire restrictions in Sequoia and San Bernardino National Forests as well.
 
Hi Noah,

This is still in my crosshairs!

Question to you or anyone monitoring: Due to wife's work requirement (Online college Prof), I will need to spend the night prior to and the night after in a hotel/motel (or no-tell) with broadband access. Anyone have any recommendations at or near the trail head?
 
Hi Noah,

This is still in my crosshairs!

Question to you or anyone monitoring: Due to wife's work requirement (Online college Prof), I will need to spend the night prior to and the night after in a hotel/motel (or no-tell) with broadband access. Anyone have any recommendations at or near the trail head?

you should be able to find something easy in bishop, the trail head should lead out from here.

Noah
 
I would love to get in on this. I'll confirm when I can.
 
Guys, hate to do this but I have to cancel my attendance on this trip. School has really ramped up and I have little time for anything other than studying. I have asked Adam to take over the lead on this so please refer to him for any updates. Have fun!
 
A small conditions report for you guys heading up in a few weeks. I was up there this last week with five trucks, including a stock Grand Cherokee. All did fine with the road. The road is rocky and washed out in places from heavy rains, but easily passable with 4wd and hi/lo range.

It rained every day we were there. There were almost no mosquitoes. The campfire ban is in effect and posted, even though the area is super wet. We saw some fire crews on quads. Temps ranged from low 70s in the day to high 30s at night.

It sounds like you are headed to the very end of Baker Meadow, which is where this photo is from. It can easily handle 5-8 vehicles. The outhouse up the trail is full, but there is a makeshift pit toilet nearby.

Bishop has a load of hotels/motels. They are kind of expensive for what you get. It's a very heavily traveled area, so tourist prices are the norm.

If you want coordinates, let me know. Nothing up there is hard to find if you have studied a map (Bing maps has very good coverage of the area, better than Google).

It's one of the coolest areas you can reach by truck. Have a blast.

Baker-7381.jpg
 
Noah, I'm bummed you may not be able to make the trip, but I'm willing to step in to lead the trip so we can keep it going. We just got back from Sedona, so I'll look at maps and such this week and post up the game plan. I still plan to follow your itinerary for the weekend trip, and then extend it to Bodie (ghost town) on Mon/Tue if anyone wishes to join us there. I'm open to any suggestions/recommendations along the way too. My wife and I will have our two kids with us (9 and 5).

Adam
 
Noah-
I've been monitoring the threads and sorry to hear you won't be making the trip but I'm glad car-car stepped in.

I still plan to go-and now that there's a side trip to Bodie on Monday/Tuesday, I will also plan on that side trip UNLESS something I can't get out of comes up. But I don't aniticipate anything.

While I'm thinking of it, here's my cell car-car...just in case: 760-473-8576.

BTW, I'll be driving an FJ Cruiser 80% rigged (so far) for expeditions. (Ladies-I even have it set up for morning Zumba excercise-in privacy! Care to join me?):bounce:

I'll continue to monitor the site and watch for the meetup time and location.

Thanks, car-car!

Anne
 
Hi All,

My wife and I are still in the line-up. Our hope is to meet all at the trail head as we are headed up Thursday am. Also, we will not be making the post-side trip due to internet requirments (Thus holing up at the no-tell-hotel thurs night/sun night).

Cell is 858-273-5809

Please advise to trail head location/time/cb channel...yada yada yada.

Likewise, we will be monitoring this thread for any news....

Noah, also sorry to see you miss this, but thanks for organizational effort.

Yours truly!:popcorn:
 
Hey guys, I'm glad to hear there is still some positive interest in this trip. I've been looking at more details and such, and I'm getting excited for this. I will post up my plan for the trip (basically just an extension of the groundwork Noah already laid out) later this evening when I get home.

Stay tuned! :popcorn:

Adam
 
Alright, I've got a few details here, with a few more to figure out between now and then, so check back here once and a while for updates. Also, I know the original plan was to go for the weekend, but I have additional time off the following week, so we will be extending the trip to see more up in the area. Anyone is more than welcome to join us for part or all of the extra time we are spending up there. I'm looking forward to this trip, as I really haven't explored much of this area, but its been on my list.


Fri, 8/16
• Meetup in Bishop near trailhead, fuel up, get any last minute supplies
o Time: 2:00 p.m. (be ready to roll out at this time)
o Place: Bishop City Park, 688 N Main St, Bishop, CA
o Comm:
• CB channel: 19
• HAM frequency: 146.47 Simplex, monitoring Silver Peak/Bishop repeater 146.94 (PL 103.5)
• Drive trail to Coyote Flats for either Sanger Meadow or Baker Creek to set up camp (approximately 26 mi. offroad)
o I don’t have GPS coordinates for the campsites at this time, but it sounds half-way straightforward (one way in, one way out). Ideally, we can all meet up at the trailhead though to ensure everyone arrives together safely.

Sat, 8/17
• Open day to explore / leisure. Go in groups to ensure safety. A couple suggestions for activities:
o Coyote Ridge: Overlook of John Muir Wilderness and South Lake is supposed to be a “can’t miss”
o Fishing / Hiking at nearby Baker Lake and Hidden Lake
o Other?

Sun, 8/18
• Break camp and drive back to trailhead (same way out). Open to exploring side spurs along the trail if desired.
• Make sure all rigs heading home are ready to go for the drive back

Sun, 8/18 continued (optional)
• Option to continue on for those that wish to go to Mammoth / Bodie
o I plan to head north to Mammoth (approx. 1 hour) and stay the night in the area in prep for the next day trip to Bodie. Open to camp or hotel that night, based on consensus.

Mon, 8/19 (optional)
• Set out early from Mammoth for Bridgeport (approx.. 1 hour) and take the scenic Backroad to Bodie (approx. 26 mi of easy offroad trail, time unknown)
o Explore old mines and other points of interest along the route
o Trail eventually meets back up with Bodie Ghost Town
o Explore Bodie State Historical Park
o Head back towards Bridgeport and 395 Hwy via paved road (approx.. 40 min.)
• Option to head home at that point or continue on
o I plan to continue on to Yosemite National Park
• It is approximately 1 hour to Yosemite from Bridgeport
• I plan to arrive there late afternoon / early evening and set up camp on Monday night

Tue, 8/20 (optional)
• Explore Yosemite NP

Wed, 8/21 (optional)
• Pack up camp and drive home from Yosemite


A couple notes:
• As noted above, campfires seem to be blackballed in Inyo right now, which is disappointing, but we’ll have to play by the rules on this one. And the evenings will get chilly, so pack accordingly.
• This is bear country, so common sense rules and precautions apply to food storage and disposal and such. I believe these are primitive sites, so no facilities mean pack it in / pack it out.
• I’m completely open to making any modifications or any suggested changes to the itinerary above
• I will attempt to create an estimated GPS path in Google Earth to share and upload to your GPS prior to going on the trip so everyone has that ahead of time.
• I will make updates to this post as we hammer out more details. Again, any feedback / suggestions is more than welcome. My goal is for this to be an enjoyable trip for everyone.

Adam
 
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Man, that sounds like a great outing!
I'm out for this trip. I'm only about 10% expedition ready. No gonna get it together by "D" day. Looking forward to the report and pics!
 

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