NextStepDesigns

I recently led an SCLR trip up to Papoose Flats in the Inyo Mountains, just east of Big Pine, CA. We started the trip up the 395 by stopping at Fossil Falls to climb the lava flows, then we had fun driving up into the caldera of the Red Cone volcano. I love the geology of the 395 highway! We stopped in Olancha at the Roadhouse Café and had an awesome breakfast around 10am, then rolled into Big Pine right at noon and met up with the rest of the SCLR gang. We had a diverse group, from founding members, to the two newest families in the club. 10 trucks in all.

We headed up Harkness Flat, which climbs from around 6,000 feet up to 8,500 feet, and offers terrific views to the west of the Sierra Mountains. The trail is moderate, with one decently steep hill climb that posed some problems for my traction challenged friend in a 2wd Toyota Tacoma. We strapped him up and easily pulled him to the top, and the rest of the journey was uneventful. After about an hour and half of beautiful scenery on the trail, we started to drop down into Papoose Flats.

Papoose Flats is amazing. Immediately a sense of reverence is felt as you descend into the valley. It is a very special place. Everyone could feel it. Many people remarked out loud, that no matter what happened the rest of the trip, just absorbing the views and sense of the place was worth the journey.

With a large group, our camping options were limited, so after hunting around a bit, we found a good spot upslope offering dispersed camping among some trees, and a centralized fire ring. After camp was struck, and people had some food, a small group headed out to explore a trail marked on the map as “The Narrows”. We figured we’d be gone for about an hour.

We were wrong! The Narrows is a loonnngggg trail, taking use along the eastern side of the mountains, all the way back towards Death Valley Road again. It’s an interesting trail, portions of it along a sandy dry creek towards an old mining cabin and mine entrance. Here and there, trail heads were marked out as closed, due to “Cultural and Historic Significance”, assuming they led to Indian artifacts or points of interest. It annoys me to no end that this history is denied to our children now, for the sake of some future generation?

Anyway, my little group of intrepid explorers eventually found ourselves back in camp well after nightfall, with a warm campfire, clear skies, amazing stars, perfect evening temperatures and a healthy appetite!

Sunday we woke up to a significant increase of haze due to the fires to the north, and the Santa Barbara “gap” fire to the southwest. Several of our group went to explore the Narrows in the daylight, while the rest of us leisurely broke camp, cleaned up the area, and then headed down to the jumble rocks to let the kids play. The rocks were a big hit, with all the kids scrambling all over, giving the parents a proper worry for their safety.

Our group rejoined, and we headed south over Badger Flats, again pulling the Tacoma here and there, as we climbed up past ancient Bristlecones and knotty Pinyon pine trees along the rocky trail. We reached Mazourka Peak in time for a late lunch, and absorbed the views from 9,350 feet. The haze was still prevalent, but you could still see a remarkable distance. A truly beautiful spot.

We then dropped down into Mazourka Canyon, watching the temps climb from a pleasant 70 up to what felt like 100 degrees towards the bottom of the canyon. Along the way, I spotted dozens of mines dotting the canyon. This is a well worked area of the Inyos for sure. I’d like to explore the mining history in this area more thoroughly in the future.

Photos of Papoose Flats (and Fossil Falls): 44 images on SmugMug

There are several threads where some ingenious people have installed car computers with upgraded navigiation & audio capabilities into their Land Rover LR3’s.  Here are a few links:

• Dan Chapman via DWEB
• Arsi via Disco3.co.uk
• Christyler via Disco3.co.uk and part 2

Dan Chapman has done a tutorial on upgrading the factory subwoofer in the Land Rover LR3.  There are a couple of sub’s that will “drop-in” the OEM location, but that’s not Dan’s style..

Here is the link to DWEB.