It's About the (RV) Journey....: April 2016

Thursday we traveled up to Bishop from Lone Pine, which is only a 60 mile drive. Of course, we had another really windy day! 395 along the eastern Sierras seems to be a wind tunnel, and I'm not kidding. After setting up camp, and face-timing, we headed out to the Ranger Station to get some info on the area.

First stop the next morning was Erik Schat's Bakkery (thank you Peter and Karen!). It is one of the best bakeries we've ever been to. I thought I died and went to heaven, but managed to control myself...hahahah.

starting the morning off with a treat

yummmm

we bought bread too

Next up....a scenic drive up 168 through Bishop Creek Canyon to Sabrina Lake. The drive was just awesome. A drive through wilderness, it seemed. Very few other cars, and even less development. Just mountains, streams and lakes! Beautiful!

scenic 168

gorgeous

lots of snow in the upper elevations

a gorgeous ride

Lake Sabrina is at the end of the road, and we wanted to do some recon to find the trailhead for a hike we eventually want to do around the lake. Its pretty high elevation, so we wanted to acclimate too, before just jumping right in on a hike. It was very pretty, surrounded by snow-covered mountains.

Lake Sabrina

this is just gorgeous here!

bet the water is really cold

nearby stream

Lake Sabrina was the very end of Scenic Route 168. We stopped at a few scenic turnouts on the way to South Lake to take some pictures of waterfalls and snow-covered peaks. It was really beautiful. And cold! In the low 40's.

the views were incredible

roadside waterfall-part 1

waterfall-part 2

the whole thing

amazing views

guess they get a lot of snow here!

another lake along the way

driving through the canyon

Bishop Creek...

This is a big fishing area, and we stopped at a pullout to check it out. We didn't see any fisherman, but I think fishing season was starting the next day. Lots of the lodges and campgrounds were filling up with fishermen!

a fishing spot

wow...we can actually see the fish!

the water is very clear

another fishing spot

isn't that refreshingly beautiful....

We checked out some of the trailheads to see about parking, etc. We noticed bear-proof cabinets at one of the trailheads. Human food is a real problem here in the Sierras. The dry winters have affected their food source, and they are looking for another food source.

oop...bear-proof food locker

this is the start of a trail

so nice

just checking it out a little bit

looks like a good hike

We continued on our recon expedition, and scenic drive, and turned off for South Lake. The roads were clear, but there was a fair amount of snow, which I'm sure is on the trails as well. The elevation here is about 10,000 feet. South Lake was beautiful, but it was snow-covered and frozen over. HHmmmm. We were going to eat our lunch here, but it was really cold. Thankfully, the bathroom was open :)

the views were so nice

the South Fork of Bishop Creek area

there's a little snow here

hey now

the boat house

its pretty cold here now...let's wait up a bit for lunch :)

yeah....the bathroom was open! and nice and clean!

We stopped periodically to enjoy the mountain streams and the lakes we passed. Just beautiful. And so peaceful!

the mountain streams were awesome

another lake

its so peaceful here

heading back down the mountain

just so nice

another roadside waterfall

where's the water coming from?

There were a few lodges and cabins interspersed randomly throughout, and lots of campgrounds. This is an outdoorsman's paradise! It was Friday, and we noticed lots of fishermen arriving for a fun-filled weekend.

man weekend fishing....looks like fun!

no fancy hotels...just simple lodging

We headed back down the mountain on scenic 168 (and it WAS scenic!) and into the town of Bishop, which is about 4000 feet elevation.

heading back down

check out that view! (We are in the Sierra Nevada Mts. That is the Inyo/White Mts. across the valley)

gorgeous

After another trip to the Visitor Center to get more specific hiking info, we stopped and ate our picnic lunch in the park behind the VC....it was much warmer than the mountain-top lake we had our eyes on for lunch.

What an interesting volunteer in the Visitor Center. Its a small world. He was born in NJ, before moving out here to Bishop as a kid. He was telling us where some of the movies were filmed around here, and also told us a bit about the book/movie "The Other Side of the Mountain". For more information, click here. I read that book when I was young, and loved it. Its about the world-class skier Jill Kinmont, who took a terrible fall during a competition one year before the Olympics (1956), and was left paralyzed. She was an extraordinary person-very inspiring story how she built her new life. She is from Bishop! The book was made into a movie, some of which was filmed here in Bishop. Not only was the Visitor Center volunteer an extra in the movie, but he was telling us about her. He grew up here, so he knew her and actually went on one date with her back in the day. It was very interesting listening to him. Now I have to watch the movie:)