Whipped By Wilderness

Finally cruising on 395 South after the summit, a gas stop in Bridgeport set the tone: smoke and heat prevailed. At altitude you really feel the exposure to the sun. Continuing to the first stop in Mammoth I peeled off on a recommended dirt shortcut. The trail rigs coming down the other way should have been a sign, and the looks their driver’s gave should have been the flashing lights: No place for a Porsche, buddy. After a few punishing, washboarded, crab-walking miles I turned the car back, wishing I still had my Volvo 142 rally car. With that car poor roads, dirt and gravel smoothed out with more speed. Not the case with the 944. This car would tripod on an acorn. It was no good in dirt.

Dropping off some gear and grabbing a meal in Mammoth, the light started to get good as the sun headed for the horizon and with it a comfortable temperature arrived. For a photographer, the smoke lent an advantage. A surreal, saturated golden hour started early and lingered on for hours. I hit the road back north to make sunset at Mono Lake.

It didn’t take long to realize once there that 1) There are two South Trufa areas of Mono and unless you like to breathe bugs and not get pictures, I was at the wrong one, and 2) If I came back the next day there would be a full moon rising right at sunset. I called it a good scout, a family travelling in an RV from Germany freaked out about the car, I found a BBQ, a beer and an outside table in Lee Vining and sat to observe another Eastern Sierra phenomenon. Car after car came limping in to town from the pass, a victim of the deer migration; oozing coolant and getting ditched until morning. A note was made: Fear the Deer.

Getting out early the next day bought a few hours without smoke and the provided the energy to go smoke-mask shopping. A figure-eight course around Old Mammoth and down to Hot Creek was set for the day. First stop was the Devil’s Postpile, which turned out the rangers had closed due to the air quality conditions. This was less of an issue to them than what I thought I was doing with “that car out here”. A lap around the lakes followed and by then vacationers had begun to slow the roads. North on Mammoth Scenic Loop was a great run, and the June Lake Loop followed. The map steered me wrong en route to Hot Creek, or rather, I got whipped for bringing the wrong tool to the wilderness. Owens River Road was a blast until abruptly turning to gravel, giving me plenty of time to consider buying a paper map that identified if a road was paved or not as I crawled along at 12 MPH getting passed by very amused ATV riders.

What is on the way, is Manzanar. This is one of the internment camps Japanese- American citizens were sent to during WWII. And seeing it in 110 degree heat should be mandatory. It’s a short run from Manzanar to Lone Pine with not a lot of time to reflect, so I caught last light with a little run to the Alabama Hills in order to preview the next day’s explorations. This turned out to be the place.

Used as a setting for movies since the 1930s and spurring the development of Lone Pine, it’s been the backdrop for Westerns and Sci-Fi films as well for all sorts of photographers. With decent dirt roads, bouldering and plenty of camping, it’s another place you could easily lose a day. Lone Pine being as far south as I wanted to go on 395, the next day aimed the car back at Bridgeport for one last overnight. I considered that the car had already done about 600 miles to get here and after having some time with the map; one last pass looked like a promising drive. The Ghost Town of Bodie has its own highway, and to preserve the town the last several miles of it are unpaved. This town also has visiting hours and it closes a couple hours before sunset this time of year. Being at 9,000 ft and 150 miles north it was significantly cooler temperature as well, especially in evening.

It was shaping up to look like I’d have 10-plus miles of twisty mountain road 100% to myself for two hours, right at sunset. And that, thankfully, is exactly how it worked out. The road was in great shape, undulating, had sweeping wide turns, chicanes, drops into compression zones right before a climb… Cramped shale rock corridors opened in to huge meadows with light beaming right on apexes. It was absolutely perfect and I was perfectly alone with the car.