So Sandy, Rhone, Sieg and I decided to do a one day little mountain tour today; we thought about taking the KK and making a night of it...but decided to go simple 
Left home about 7:30AM for Wellington where we had the typical wonderful breakfast at the Sweetwater Cafe. Homemade Banana Bread French Toast was one of the specials! And you know what special I had !
Sat on the patio eating our breakfast and chatted with a few local ranchers: Nice folks there! I never get tired of being in Smith Valley.
From Wellington we cruised down Hwy 338 up and over Sweetwater Summit and down to the Sweetwater Ranch where we picked up the FS 198 that climbs, eventually, up to Mt. Patterson at 11,673'! Other than maybe the White Mountains I'm fairly certain its one of if not the highest motorized vehicle accessible mountaintops around here!
We stopped to let the dogs out of the Land Cruiser...we all stretched our legs at just over 10,000' at the old township mining town of Belfort. What life must have been like back in the day here!
We continued along the trail up through the Frying Pan Creek drainage and eventually up to Mt. Patterson. The wind was howling pretty good so we didn't dally too long atop that high and incredibly scenic perch.
We ran across just a few folks on ATVs but that was it. It never ceases to amaze me how few people know about this place...not that I'm complaining.
We continued down the switchbacks all the way down to Lobdell Lake, which was constructed in the early 1940's, and saw a few late summer beach goers having fun lakeside.
Eventually the trail leads down to Burcham Flats Road that connects to Hwy 395 at Walker CA. Of course stopping for BBQ was more than a coincidence...it, just like breakfast, was apart of the day's itinerary. Its darn near impossible to pass Jeff Hinds' Mountain View BBQ when driving North or South through Walker! Needless to say we stuffed ourselves full of smoked pork, the best french fries anywhere in the west and of course a Mammoth Brewery Amber Ale on draught!
We were back home around 5:30PM; Sandy just rolled her eyes when I dared to ask "what's for dinner"
A few photos taken along the way. Sorry I was so enthralled with eating my delicio breakfast I forgot to get a photo of it! I guess we'll just have to do it again in a few weeks when the high country quakies have turned from green to magic gold!
Left home about 7:30AM for Wellington where we had the typical wonderful breakfast at the Sweetwater Cafe. Homemade Banana Bread French Toast was one of the specials! And you know what special I had !Sat on the patio eating our breakfast and chatted with a few local ranchers: Nice folks there! I never get tired of being in Smith Valley.
From Wellington we cruised down Hwy 338 up and over Sweetwater Summit and down to the Sweetwater Ranch where we picked up the FS 198 that climbs, eventually, up to Mt. Patterson at 11,673'! Other than maybe the White Mountains I'm fairly certain its one of if not the highest motorized vehicle accessible mountaintops around here!
We stopped to let the dogs out of the Land Cruiser...we all stretched our legs at just over 10,000' at the old township mining town of Belfort. What life must have been like back in the day here!
We continued along the trail up through the Frying Pan Creek drainage and eventually up to Mt. Patterson. The wind was howling pretty good so we didn't dally too long atop that high and incredibly scenic perch.
We ran across just a few folks on ATVs but that was it. It never ceases to amaze me how few people know about this place...not that I'm complaining
.We continued down the switchbacks all the way down to Lobdell Lake, which was constructed in the early 1940's, and saw a few late summer beach goers having fun lakeside.
Eventually the trail leads down to Burcham Flats Road that connects to Hwy 395 at Walker CA. Of course stopping for BBQ was more than a coincidence...it, just like breakfast, was apart of the day's itinerary. Its darn near impossible to pass Jeff Hinds' Mountain View BBQ when driving North or South through Walker! Needless to say we stuffed ourselves full of smoked pork, the best french fries anywhere in the west and of course a Mammoth Brewery Amber Ale on draught!
We were back home around 5:30PM; Sandy just rolled her eyes when I dared to ask "what's for dinner"
A few photos taken along the way. Sorry I was so enthralled with eating my delicio breakfast I forgot to get a photo of it! I guess we'll just have to do it again in a few weeks when the high country quakies have turned from green to magic gold!
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) open 5-days a week. Cooler months he's open Thursday through Sunday. Cold months he's down to weekends. And they usually close up January and February.
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