With the postponement of Rubithon 2011 due to snow still covering all things Rubicon the NorCal group asked about crossing Nevada instead. With 3 Frenchies and a German flying half way around the world to join in the fun how could I say no?!
The likes of Andy Pollock aka Cruiserdrew and his son Jeff in their 60-Series, Gary Kardum aka Mudrak in his 80-Series, Onur (aka beno from ABQ) in his 80-Series, Tom Ferrin aka TrickyT in his 80-Series, Duncane (President of the TLC Series 4 chapter in France), Peter Sadtler, a LC enthusiast from Germany, Andre and Jean Philippe both from France driving Andy's 40-Series and James Langan aka Redline in his 4R met up on Monday June 13th around noon at the intersection of Hwy 89 and 395. Ideally I wanted to route us over the top of the Sweetwater range but Mother Nature still had Mt. Patterson and all her flanks covered in deep snow. Instead we rolled up Risue Canyon trail and over to Hwy 338.
From there we headed down to Bridgeport for an expensive fuel-up before heading up Aurora Canyon to Bodie. Somehow the trail leader missed the "Road Closed" sign that was laying in the ditch at the beginning of Aurora Canyon. Like it mattered.
Having been denied getting up this route 2-weeks earlier with the Peeler's, due to still deep snow and mud, we plowed on. We ran into our first real snow field laid out across the trail just north of Bodie Mountain and Potato Peak up around 9,100 feet. With a bypass around the snow field we continued on only to see a couple miles ahead more snow fields crossing the trail...on off-camber sections to boot.
Eventually the group made it around the snow fields and dropped down into Bodie. Unfortunately, especially for our European contingency, we arrived too late in the day to take time out to explore Bodie State Park. Next time I guess.
Pressing on to find a good camp spot for the night for our group of 7 led us to the not-so-ghost town of Aurora. Gary spotted the perfect place perched high overlooking the mine and under a canopy of Pinyon Pines. The old but very large Aurora Cemetery in our 'back-yard' only meant possible ghosts from the past joining us around the campfire! For those that have not seen this cemetery its worth a day trip alone!
The town of Aurora represented a large mining presence back in the mid to late 1800's. With nearly 10,000 residents, huge at that time given the locale, the mines pulled out $27 million in gold by 1869! The cemetery and headstones paint quite the picture of what life might have been like back then. A cholera outbreak claimed many lives of young and old with tombstone dates back to the early 1800's.
Here are a few photos from day 1; first 3 were taken in Risue Canyon. For all the photos I took go here: MobileMe Gallery
The remaining 5-days will be forthcoming installments
The likes of Andy Pollock aka Cruiserdrew and his son Jeff in their 60-Series, Gary Kardum aka Mudrak in his 80-Series, Onur (aka beno from ABQ) in his 80-Series, Tom Ferrin aka TrickyT in his 80-Series, Duncane (President of the TLC Series 4 chapter in France), Peter Sadtler, a LC enthusiast from Germany, Andre and Jean Philippe both from France driving Andy's 40-Series and James Langan aka Redline in his 4R met up on Monday June 13th around noon at the intersection of Hwy 89 and 395. Ideally I wanted to route us over the top of the Sweetwater range but Mother Nature still had Mt. Patterson and all her flanks covered in deep snow. Instead we rolled up Risue Canyon trail and over to Hwy 338.
From there we headed down to Bridgeport for an expensive fuel-up before heading up Aurora Canyon to Bodie. Somehow the trail leader missed the "Road Closed" sign that was laying in the ditch at the beginning of Aurora Canyon. Like it mattered.
Having been denied getting up this route 2-weeks earlier with the Peeler's, due to still deep snow and mud, we plowed on. We ran into our first real snow field laid out across the trail just north of Bodie Mountain and Potato Peak up around 9,100 feet. With a bypass around the snow field we continued on only to see a couple miles ahead more snow fields crossing the trail...on off-camber sections to boot.
Eventually the group made it around the snow fields and dropped down into Bodie. Unfortunately, especially for our European contingency, we arrived too late in the day to take time out to explore Bodie State Park. Next time I guess.
Pressing on to find a good camp spot for the night for our group of 7 led us to the not-so-ghost town of Aurora. Gary spotted the perfect place perched high overlooking the mine and under a canopy of Pinyon Pines. The old but very large Aurora Cemetery in our 'back-yard' only meant possible ghosts from the past joining us around the campfire! For those that have not seen this cemetery its worth a day trip alone!
The town of Aurora represented a large mining presence back in the mid to late 1800's. With nearly 10,000 residents, huge at that time given the locale, the mines pulled out $27 million in gold by 1869! The cemetery and headstones paint quite the picture of what life might have been like back then. A cholera outbreak claimed many lives of young and old with tombstone dates back to the early 1800's.
Here are a few photos from day 1; first 3 were taken in Risue Canyon. For all the photos I took go here: MobileMe Gallery
The remaining 5-days will be forthcoming installments
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