We'd hoped all summer to go backpacking before dear daughter started college. My work prevented backpacking before mid-August. And current fires prevented backpacking in the state of California. So it was time for a road trip. The goal was to just see what we could see and try to get to blue skies. Somewhere.
We started our trip September 11th and drove south. The tentative plan was to camp at Owl Canyon campground (part of the Bureau of Land Management) north of Barstow. As we drove, We discussed the “El Camino de Real“ shepherd staffs along Highway 101 marking where Junipero Serra and his companions created a north-south path dotted by missions. Sometime, I’d like to walk large swaths of El Camino - certainly not the parts along the highway, though. As we drove past sights of significance, I’d point them out (such as Camp Hunter Liggett where her dad had helped run National Guard training).
Our first major stop was San Luis Obispo where we stopped to find lunch and stretch our legs. The best part was a succulent store that seemed to simply use the alley between two buildings. We had never seen such well cared for plants and it was a delight to see them all. We were in the old town area and there were lots of families sight-seeing after having dropped off their college students. Of course, I had to see what I could of the mission (which wasn’t much). No tours or going inside the buildings (or gift shop!) was allowed.
Somewhere along this drive, we started listening to podcasts, including Spanish news in the slow (in which I might get the gist of the article, but certainly not the details). We also stopped along the way to soak in views of the Pacific. The water was calm and the kelp beds gently rose and fell with the slowly rolling waves. Our view was from an old bridge - the remains of the original highway.
Due to a late lunch in SLO, we set our sights on camping in Santa Barbara. We were still north of Santa Barbara when I saw the sign for Mission Santa Ynez. Having never been there, I suggested we go. As we drove east on Highway 246, we spotted a field of ostriches. That was curious. And then we saw the sign for “Ostrichland”. It took all of 2 seconds to agree to stop. For $5 each, we paid our entrance fee and an extra dollar bought us the ability to feed the birds. They had ostriches and emus and it was absolutely delightful. It was fun to hear the emus hollow-sounding “don, don” sound. And yes, their poop is just really big bird poop. Thank goodness they can’t fly! If we had wanted, we could have bought an ostrich egg for $60. We were told its the equivalent of about 32 chicken eggs. I bought a patch instead.
After leaving behind the tall birds, which despite the times, had a fair number of visitors, we continued east to the mission. We were pleasantly surprised by the town of Solvang. Every building along the main stretch of road reflected Dutch architecture and there were quite a few windmills interspersed. And bakeries! We avoided stopping for food or drink and enjoyed the view. When we finally got to the mission with its typical stucco-mission styling and looked back towards the town, it was odd to see the two architectural styles - one in the foreground and one in the background. Mission Ynez (Ines) also sports an outdoor stations of the cross path. The sign at the entrance read “calvary” and the sign at the end was “the resurrection”. This mission at one time had a large reservoir for water for crops and a long structure for clothes washing (still standing). I hadn’t seen that at previous missions.
The rest of the drive to Santa Barbara was uneventful. While nibbling on a fast food restaurant snack, we searched for nearby campgrounds. Surprisingly, the one on the beach (and the only one that looked suitable for tent camping) turned out to be full. Hyatt Place in Santa Barbara was *not* full, so that’s where we ended up. We had a new backpacking meal to try and even though we “cooked” it according to instructions (using boiling water from the hotel’s coffee pot), it was less than ideal. We think it would have been much better if we had preceded eating it with miles of hiking (at which point many things taste a lot better).
Though desperate to turn east and find blue sky, i insisted on one more mission stop: this time Mission Santa Barbara. She was really pleased to see the large succulents thriving along the grounds. This mission had a similar clothes washing structure (basically, a pool with slightly slopes sides for scrubbing clothes against).
After a brief stop in Lancaster for gas, we continued on to Manzanar, the WWII Japanese internment camp along 395. The interpretive center was not open, but we had a map and drove the suggested route - stopping frequently to read the signs and tour what’s left. While a shameful part of American history, I marveled at the resilience and creativity of those who had to live there. They created gardens, resurrected an abandoned apple orchard, made a koi pond and otherwise turned an arid area with mountain views into a much more habitable and beautiful place.
Our next stop was a little campground in Independence, California. A tiny town that as we discovered now boasts an ice cream shop! As the sign on the shop said, they serve ice cream Friday through Monday and make ice cream Tuesday-Thursday. But I’m getting ahead of myself. It was mid-afternoon when we arrived and we carefully scouted for a spot that would afford *some* shade. After setting up our tent and paying the iron ranger, we headed back into town to get some ice cream. The Eastern Sierra Ice Cream shop is a beautiful new shop for really good, fun flavors. We sat on a bench in the shade facing 395 and enjoyed our pre-dinner dessert. The owners really love their craft and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was their retirement hobby - they enjoyed it so much!
We headed back to the campground and decided to ‘check out’ the “Lower Grays Meadow” (part of Inyo forest) campground that was 6 miles closer to the mountains. It wasn’t open due to being a forest service campground, and all the rangers were dealing with fires, no matter whether their forest was affected. It was a deceptively gentle slope where we probably rose 500-1000 feet over the 6 miles. The campground, like ours, had a creek running through it, only it was much wider there. By now, the sun had dipped behind the Sierras and we headed back to make some dinner and do some stargazing. Dinner this night was our own ramen concoction (made with ‘plain’ ramen found at Costco, some seasoning and mixed dried veggies). The night skies did not disappoint. We toured the campground and discovered 3 level concrete slabs designed for personal telescopes. These had the cardinal points marked and the area was called a star park. And once it was dark enough, oh wow! The Milky Way was our playground. I enjoyed pointing out some of my favorite summertime constellations and I hope to take the family back there with a telescope. Truly incredible with no light pollution whatsoever.
The next morning, we hiked the rock-lined trails near the campground and took photos of the sun changing the color of the mountains. We were uncertain as to where we’d spend the night. We hoped to find a place in the general vicinity of 395/88 & 89. After the requisite camping oatmeal, she started off driving that day.
We zipped through Big Pine and Bishop and by the time we hit Bishop were looking for a restroom. Those are harder to find these days. *sigh* We also looked for places to sight-see. Finally, we turned west to go to Mammoth in the hopes of a restroom. We found a bakery/deli where we gladly bought a fresh macaroon as entrance price to the bathroom. Half of it was dipped in chocolate, so we figured it was worthwhile. Unfortunately, the rest of Mammoth was fairly closed to activities - no camping to be found and without renting bikes, there wasn’t much to explore. So we continued on northward.
Our next excursion was to take 120 westward towards Yosemite and Tioga pass. We found a little trail to hike up briefly and later stopped to touch the clear, deep blue water of a reservoir. It was sooo cold! The drive was stunning, but at one point, we rounded a corner and saw a wall of smoke. At which point, we turned around and headed back to 395. We didn’t have reservations for Yosemite anyway, and wouldn’t have gotten much further.
Just to the north of 120 is the tiny town of Lee Vining. We stopped at an ice cream shop (yes, its a theme), where we bought lunch and shared a milkshake. The shop proudly displayed the graduating class of Lee Vining high school: all 7 students. After a thoroughly enjoyable lunch in the car as we quietly chatted about the differences in opportunities those 7 students had versus those at a larger school, we drove through town trying to avoid retracing our steps. The Upside Down house - a one bedroom house built to look like one in a children’s book - caught our attention. When we discovered it was next to a little museum, we had to stop. The museum had lots of artifacts and was itself the original school house. The town of Lee Vining overlooks Mono Lake and so the museum included a lot of information about the lake -including an essay Mark Twain wrote.
Now, it was time to get serious about where we would spend the night. We started looking for campgrounds and set our sights on several - all of which were closed except for an RV park. The park offered tent camping, but no views and no shade. We continued north on 395 as it wound into Nevada where gas was unsurprisingly cheaper. We’d passed highway 89 at this point and figured if we didn’t see anything by 88, we’d turn west and start heading home. And that’s just what we did. As we headed west it grew smokier and less likely that we would enjoy camping anywhere if we did find a site. We did stop near “our” camp and walked down the road a ways. However, it being forest service land, it was decidedly not open and so after stretching our legs, continued on. Soon, it was time for another bathroom break, but we had to wait until we were west of Jackson at the local Walmart for relief. So Amy’s rules of travel are expanding: Starbucks is the place to go for internet and Target/Walmart the places for bathrooms (& preferably Target). We waited until 88 hit 99 (Waterloo) before getting “dinner” from Taco Bell and continued on. Home was only two hours away at that point.
Our trip ended up being 3 days instead of 4, but enjoyable nonetheless. Exploring while backpacking is enjoyable, and a driving trip can also be fun. We drove about 1000 miles in those 3 days and met our goal of seeing clear, blue skies. Once again, I was graced/awed/delighted to see the desolate, beautiful part of this country known as the Eastern Sierras. It seems as if my mind can’t help expanding while along the ribbon of highway through that wilderness. I am grateful and blessed for the time spent with our daughter prior to her starting college.
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