Weekend Offroad™ Bishop July 2018
Summer times takes us to higher elevation to escape the heat at the valley floor. The forecast said it was to hit 105! Our team sat down and mapped out a route that would take us to over 12500 ft elevation where it was supposed to be in the mid 70’s during the day with a low of 40 at night.
We met at a convenient location for all that were joining us before hitting the trail. We had rigs from Orange County, LA, Riverside and Reno. The first leg of our trip would take us through the Buttermilks. The Buttermilk Country Loop trail is situated below the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains. The trail is composed of a loop with several legal side roads to explore both on foot and in your 4WD vehicle. There are also a variety of primitive camp sites on the marked national forest side roads. The loop is approximately 16 miles long and runs through terrain which varies from desert boulder strewn geography to pine forest glades.
Our group stopped a couple of times for some photos and lunch before heading up the mountain to our camp location for night number one.
After lunch and a quick trail brief we headed to camp. Camp would be at Coyote Lake. Most of the trail is near 10,000 feet with the final leg climbing over 11,000 to the lake. The views of the Palisade Group, the second highest cluster of glaciated peaks in the Sierra Nevada was incredible. Much of this route is easy but narrow and very steep in places. Snow can block the trail well into July.
We arrived and set up camp. Some rigs deployed roof top tents, others ground tents and a couple even deployed hammocks to sleep under the stars. Fathers, took their kids hiking, one broke out the Red Rider BB Gun and did some target practice with his son. We cooked up dinner and gathered around the camp fire for some story time and a few drinks.
Day two I did what I always do on our expeditions, I cooked bacon, eggs and hash browns for the group. Wheels up was at 10am and we were back on the trail. Our plan was to climb over 1200ft to find some snow for the kids and our ultimate goal to make to a spot overlooking Green Lake.
About an hour in, we found snow. We stopped to play, take some photos and teach some snow recovery methods. The trail to Green Lake was rough, narrow and extremely steep at times. We took it slow and made it without incident. The views were simply amazing and well worth the trip. What an amazing place. We highly recommend you visit Green Lake. We decided this would be our spot to have lunch.
After lunch we head to a spot that we will call camp for the remainder of the day and night. We like to keep this spot our little secret (I am sure several people know of it) but if you want to see it you will have to join us on our next trip back :)
