Ashram Hike....................

We had another hike we wanted to do in this area, the meadow hike up Horseshoe Meadow Rd (the very steep squiggly road that goes up to 10,000 ft) right across from our campground. Unfortunately, the road was still closed due to snow, so we asked the ranger if she could recommend another hike for us. She recommended a beauty! The Tuttle Creek Trail, that leads to an old historic Ashram. To learn more, click here and here.

beautiful drive to start our hike

every turn is gorgeous

we parked on the road, and walked to the "dirt road"-we walked up the entire dirt road-didn't want to drive on it at all

The only problem, and we've faced this throughout the west-we did not have the right car to travel the road so we had to walk in. The "dirt" roads here are sandy and steep, and travel is recommended only for 4WD or high clearance vehicles, or both! Otherwise, you run the real risk of getting stuck.

Sooooo, we had our hike cut out for us. We needed to go 2.5 miles up the sandy road to the trailhead. From there, it would be another steep mile up to the Ashram. We enjoyed the scenery on this hike through the high desert, with lots of flowers in bloom. We were lucky with the weather. It was in the 60's and a little breezy, and thankfully, the skies started clouding up so the sun wasn't as intense as it could have been. Still intense though! That horrible hat has been my savior!!

the road to the parking area starts here

some parts are drivable in our car....other parts would have been a big problem!

so pretty

sweet

lots of blooms as we walked through the high desert

It may not look it in the photos, but the road goes steadily up, with NO level, flat area at all. Just up. Wow! It was intense, to say the least. Tom has an app on his phone, and the stats from this hike we did up to the Ashram trail (not even to the Ashram!) was 5.5 miles round trip, with an altitude gain of 1672 feet. The maximum grade we hiked up was 35%. Our average moving speed was 2.75 mph-not bad for uphill! Hahah! Anyway, we took a ton of breathing breaks, and photo ops, so it took us a couple of hours to get up to the trailhead.

the road goes steadily up

my fitbit registered 154 flights on this hike!

hmmm....hat off! Its hot!

so pretty!

more

we are going up the entire way-2.5 miles!

are we there yet??

heading up and up

pretty views as we stop and catch our breath!

As we entered the canyon, it got noticeably colder-which felt great! The landscape changed dramatically too! Lots of green, and trees and the scrub brush was much higher. The pine smell was refreshing too. And the view....wow! The canyon was gorgeous.

the Lone Pine River must be down there in the canyon....look at all that green!

still heading up

another new one!

I guess this is what they mean when they say the road is "maintained"? The branches have been cut (but the road is awful!)

still have a ways to go Susie....the trail goes up to the left there (up and up and up!)

check out this road!

stunning view up the canyon

here come our friends in the jeep....they passed up a long time ago and have already hiked to the Ashram!

that looks pretty scary to me....I'd so much rather walk!!!

new to us....this pretty pink flower

more uphill!! Its grueling!

I think we're getting closer

I'll tell ya, we really enjoyed this hike and we only went to the trailhead. We started up the trailhead, but we turned around after a bit because it was getting late, and more importantly, we didn't want to overdo it! It was pretty steep, and quite frankly, we were satisfied. My fitbit already registered over 150 flights, and getting up to the Ashram was another 1700 feet or so. Looking at the Ashram from across the valley was fine with us.

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Whew!! Made it to the upper parking lot and the trailhead to the Ashram

can you see the Ashram?

close up

the views are fantastic either way I look!!!

towards the valley.......or.......

Looking across to the Ashram....can you see it?

the trail up to the Ashram doesn't start out too badly...or does it??

soon it becomes much steeper

the views across the canyon were beautiful

still going up (this trail has 1700 ft elevation gain in one mile)

that big boulder in the trail was our turning point

we turned around here....we weren't too far into the hike but decided we were good.....had enough

The views heading back down were gorgeous the whole way. We did not stop at all to "catch our breath", so we got down the trail in less than half the time it took us to walk up!

going back down the Ashram trail back to the top parking lot was a breeze! 

a little meditation in front of the Ashram before we head back

the views are astounding!

this is a scary road, right along the canyon edge (I'd be scared silly to drive this!!!)

the road goes down for as far as we can see, and then some (see it curved up to the left?)

This was a fun hike....even though we didn't make it too much up the actual trailhead! Too bad we don't have a jeep. Honestly though, I'm not cut out for that kind of adventure....driving on these rutted, sandy roads alongside a canyon. Not for me. Hmmmm.....I'm very satisfied with what we are able to see and do walking. So is Tom!!

we were way back there,  where the snow is

worked up a thirst!!!