Sequoia National Forest and Inyo NF

[expatoz]

Some pix of a family wheeling trip over the Memorial Day weekend. Despite the popularity of this weekend for SoCal residents to get away, we had a very quiet and peaceful camping experience. :clap:

First day (Saturday) stayed at Camp 3 by the Kern River. This campsite is disappointing becuase there is dense bush growth by the river which makes access very limited. If I had booked earlier, I would again recommend the Fairview camp grounds. The best site there is #15 I believe - right next to the river.
As for Camp 3 we stayed at site 22 which was reasonablely large compared to others.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07019.jpg

We got a fire going

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07001.jpg

and played charades (Daughter who didn't bring a warm sweater - dad froze of course!)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07002.jpg

And some time in the am for dad/daughter time

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And dad/son time by the river

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beautiful river scenery

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07026.jpg

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[expatoz]

On Sunday we moved onto Sherman Pass Road/Trail

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07036.jpg

lots of small water crossings

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07038.jpg

and fun articulation

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07052.jpg

stopping at North Meadow for lunch (did not see another person the whole 1.5 hrs we were there).

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07043.jpg

Finally arriving at Monache Meadow campsite late afternoon

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http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07075.jpg

and grabbed a prefect site right by the river (20ft away)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07065.jpg

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We had a visitor come along at 2 Rivers Crossing which made us a little concerned about our campsite at night!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07064.jpg


And of course I went back to one of the river cxrossings I had lost my licence plate at the year before...but couldn't find it:cry: :P

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/expatozzie/Monache%20Meadows%2007/MonacheMeadows07083.jpg


We drove tons of offroad trails with varying levels of difficulty and naturally the 4Runner just did its stuff the whole time with barely a second thought.

I nearly rolled the truck at one stage by taking a bad line. Nose down rear passnger tire about three feet in the air. My daughter shifted her weight (in back seat) because she was sliding down the seat and we thought we were going to topple over. What seemed liked ages, I stopped and considered my options for a few minutes, not daring to even think about getting out and looking at the situation.

I finally decided to try steering into the direction the truck might flop to, while giving it the gas. This worked out but I gotta tell ya, I was very close to destroying the drivers side of my pristine paint work :shocked:

Everyone was kinda cool in the truck afterward but I could feel the tension each time we articulated.

Great trip.

Mark

[expatoz]

A few other incidentals...

When traveling the Sherman Pass we could see smoke down an open meadow, but no signs of life. We swung around and headed down past some snow, and sure enough a camp fire was still alight (flames) and not a single person to be seen. I got out the shovel and dug up some snow, followed by dirt and then more snow and more dirt. Finally had the thing completely out. Took the GPS co-ords and headed on our way. As we returned to the main road I decided to airup a bit. I saw a Sherriff 4x4 drive by then he returned. At first I was thinking, "Ok, he wants to see if we are ok." Je gets out of the truck and says "About the bullbar, who made it?" I was thinking, "He's going to tell me its not legal..." He then proceeds to tell me he has a XTerra and would love one just like mine. A reach in the glovebox for a business card and 15 minutes later he knew everything I knew about Shrockworks. He was so happy and kept of talking about this and that.

We passed on the GPS co-ords and trail map reference regarding the fire and he repoted it to the forest service who arrived before I'd finished putting my air hose away. They thanksed me for the report and headed off to check on the fire I had put out. They said they believed they could track down who it was by the permits issued and the daily visits the fire service were putting in on this weekend.

We also told him we were heading up to Monache Meadow. He said he loved it there but to be careful. Bears and cats were pretty numerous this year :eek: Well thant went down well with the missus didn't it! He asked if we had a dog. (NO) He said a dog on a leash will keep bears away but not to let it run because if it chased the bear, the bear would run a bit then trun and run on the dog. He said several dogs had been attached by bears in the past year, mostly hunters dogs.

Other than that, I ran out of CO2 on this trip so I figure I got around 15-20 airups for the bottle. I'll get another one in the next week or two (hopefully they'll have an aluminium one (weight saving). Then I'll record more carefully the weight of the bottle and the details of each use so i have a better idea of how long a 15lb bottle lasts. Lucky I still carry the air compressors to air up the last two tires before I ran out.


I also cracked my HDPE skid sheet (freaky, within a week of myo4runner doing the same) so not sure what I'll do yet. I like the steel skids but the weight on a DD is a bit of a distractor. I was also hoping to have enough money later this year for the roof rack and replace my bumper and get new wheels and tires. There was no budget for steel skids. I think I'll go the HDPE route again for now and just be ultra careful about my lines.


Finally I am continually surprised by the lack of CB use in SoCal and I certainly hear more on the Ham locally than I did on this trip. No issue, just an observation. I am thinking about changing my antenna mounts to the bumper tho. Hitting the trees with both antenna and the resultant driving slowly was a real drag (pun intended!). Mounting them on the bullbar might not get as good comms. but will save the headache of dodging tree limbs. I can still use the roof mount for desert stuff.

[expatoz]

Resources

1. Forums - Sherman Pass trail maps by Andries (Bulldog) http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?p=20982#post20982
2. Forest Service Map - Sequoia National Forest & the Giant Sequoia National Monument ISBN 1-59351-426-3
3. Various local maps of Kernville
4. Garmin City Selects V7 and Topo Maps (West) on CD

Reservations for Kernville Campgrounds are required at busy times - now thru Oct. (Sept is hunting season start). Bookings made thru ReservUSA, www.recreation.gov (http://www.recreation.gov), National Recreation Reservation Service.

Directions:
Off of Highway 99 in Bakersfield, take Highway 178 East, to Lake Isabella. From Lake Isabella take Highway 155 around the west side of the lake to the town of Kernville. From Kernville go north on Sierra Way (Mountain 99) 5 miles to the campground.

Reservations for Monache Meadows not required. First in, best dressed, Open camping.

Directions:

From campgrounds, travel north on Sierra Way (Mtn.99) to Sherman Pass Hwy (right turn that truns to dirt road after a few miles). Several offroad trails to experience including the one to North Meadow. Back on to Sherman Pass north east towards Monache. Take off road trail to Monache Meadow follow Kern River to campsites.

Fire permits required throughout Sierras - Sequoia National Forest, Inyo Forest and can be purchased at many locations in local SoCal or at Kernville Ranger Station or Blackrock Ranger Station.

Kern River is outstanding white water rafting location. There were hundreds of rafts this weekend.

Here's a good website for Kernville campgrounds http://www.totalescape.com/destin/rivers/kern.html and shows the National Forst Map I referenced above.

I recommend Fairview campground and site number 15

Some good reading and writeups.. http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=691

[slosurfer]

Mark, looked like a fun trip. Nice writeup and thanks for the info links. I will have to add this to my "trips I want to take" list. How hot was it during the day?

[expatoz]

Wow...someone actually replied :D

The hottest it got was around 85 degrees except when we came back down to the plains and Hwy 395 which then had the temps up around 100 but with the a/c on, who cared. The day temp. up high (Monache Meadow) was around 75.

[slosurfer]

That isn't bad at all. I actually looked at going through there if I had a couple days after the DV trip. Now I have some reference of what it is like. Thanks

[Mossyrocks]

beautiful.

thats about all I have to say

[Bob98SR5]

hey mark,

my first comment is damn dude, your son is HUGE compared to the last time i saw him! he even gots the long haired look going on too! :)

great post-trip writeup. i hope to do it now too. when we've been up in the sequoias in the past, it was all car camping. i mean its beautiful, but it didn't utilize the truck to go where you've gone. nice that you documented everything so nicely in this thread.

bob

[expatoz]

LOL..yes he's growing up too quick. Plays a mean guitar, loves John Lennon and Led Zepplin. Played lead guitar at the end of year school performance. I'm prtty proud of him.

[expatoz]

For those who asked by pm, here's the trails I used - I think I got the numbers all correct although my GPS a few times said a different number which got me really confused.

Basically you can do the whole Sherman Pass ROAD nearly to Monache Meadow in 2WD as its all graded dirt road. However you can take several offroad bypasses that mostly do loops and vary in degree of difficulty.

Here's a way that might help

****22S05 - Sherman Pass Road - all graded dirt and bitumen road

****Just after the Burton Camp turn off (to your right) is the SHERMAN PASS JEEP TRAIL (4WD) that leads to the NORTH MEADOW. Air down tires before you start the climb on this trail which gets steep and narrow in parts but is wonderful for scenery all the way back to Lake Isabella. Travelling thru the burnt areas is quite amazing - one big arse fire!! As you climb higher you'll notice the change in terrain from dry burn to green lush forest and the smell of pine trees. It also takes you to the RADIO TOWER and SHERMAN LOOKOUT. This trail I would rate a 7/10 for a stock 4Runner because you have a few boulders you have to take care navigating to avoid rock damage. If you have a lift, then I would rate it a 5/10. This whole trip I did not lock the centre diff once. The truck just climbed nice and easy. I was surprised at how little use the trails had recieved. Much of the trail was quite overgrown. Be aware its windy and has some steep cliff faces which my wife white knuckled with the "pack death" grab handle a couple of times.

**** 33E35 33E29 33E48 33E28 21S28I all roam around BONITA MEADOWS and I would rate 6/10 for a stock runner based solely on squeezing between trees and some moderate articulation and a few side slopes.

**** 22S14 is a graded dirt road I used to get back to 22S05.

So those trails I took about three and half hours navigating with a stopover for lunch at North Meadow.

From there, travel 22S05 all the way up to Black Rock where 22S05 turns into 21S03 that goes mostly north to Blackrock Ranger Station where you turn right towards Bull Meadow. Again this is mostly 2WD stuff on dirt.

You have to watch out for the MONACHE JEEP TRAIL (4WD) track to Summer Ridge and Monache Meadow. This trail is easy, bar a few minor items. There is a rock slide to go down or a bypass on the left. Take the bypass if in a stock rig. There are lots of woopdeedos as you travel along this trail requiring fairly slow speeds less that 20mph. You'll also come to a gate at some stage that I don't remember being there last year. It's just a warning to keep on the trails and not camp within 20ft of the waterways. You'll have a few minor water crossings before you finally arrive at Monache Meadow. It's kinda complicated getting to the campsite we stayed at because the signage is rather confusing. A few times I was sure I had never been on those trails before but every once in a while I saw familiar locations that told me I was on the right (or wrong) track. There's certainly more trails than those shown on the maps I have. You will pass several campsites mostly used by ATV's. Most of those guys know the direction to Monache Meadow if you get stuck. They don't camp at Monache Meadow because a) they couldn't get their big arse trucks/motorhomes/trailers in there and b) there are very few challenging bike trails near the MM river. Travelling this part of the trail is about 1.5 hrs due to the slow speed over the humps and stopping to look at the water/views.

To get home, we took KENNEDY MEADOWS Rd east then south back to the 395.

PS - You do need a map!


Cheers
Mark