TALES OF OUR TRAVELS AND OUR LOVE OF ADVENTURE

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A little exploring

Today the cold front moved in, and the clouds hung low over the mountains most of the day. We decided to do a little exploring and headed south to Big Pine Canyon. The road is an easy one, and takes you up into the snow pretty quickly.



Looking east down towards Big Pine and the Owens Valley. You can see some dust kicked up by the wind.




Looking northwest towards the Sierra Crest, much of which is obscured by the clouds.




This point is still 4-5 miles from Glacier Lodge, but we weren't about to go through the cones and into the snow.




Don checks out upper Big Pine Creek.

From here we thought we'd go look at Klondike Lake north of Big Pine, but we're greeted by this very odd entrance gate setup.



On the right is a locked gate that's open to trailers and vehicles with boats from Memorial Day to Labor Day. In the middle is the exit, with spikes to prevent anyone from entering.






On the left is a narrow, S-curved entrance that is designed to prevent anyone towing a trailer from entering. The curves looked even too tight for our truck, so we didn't go through.

From there we drove some of the dirt roads along the Owens back to Bishop, where we stopped at the Mountain Light Gallery. It's full of Galen Rowell's photography, and I like to go there whenever I'm in Bishop. Galen Rowell was a rock and mountain climber, who has climbed some of the most famous climbs in the world--Yosemite, Patagonia, Everest, Whitney--and became just as well-known for his photography.

We stayed there about an hour, and then the river began calling Don again. It was getting cold, but he stayed out there until dinner time. Insewed all afternoon, and when Don came back, we walked across the street to the Petite Pantry. I had the beef birria--marinated beef, shredded and served in soft tacos, and Don had a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and some of the best beef gravy I've ever tasted.

Now we're enjoying "Criminal Minds," one of our favorite shows.

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