Papoose Flats
After spending months sheltered in place, we finally made it out to visit Papoose Flats again. Last year we experienced a snowstorm during the night and freezing temperatures and woke up to the flat covered in white. This years trip being later in the year, we enjoyed the fairly mild weather and moderate temperatures.
Once we got to the top of the mountain, we were once again greeted by the epic views of the Sierra Nevada peaks.
Setting up camp was a lot easier thanks to new gear I purchased right before the shut down. Camping has never been more comfortable.
After a good nights sleep I decided to hike south up to the tallest peak in the vicinity. You can see our camp in the center of the frame marked by a bright orange tent. At 9-10,000 ft this was extremely tiring. I took a long break perched on this rock.
After a while I decided to head back down. I decided going down the same way I came up would be too dangerous due to all the lose rock and scrambling I had to do to get to the top. So I hiked east thru wild terrain and came across these trees. They are gorgeous in their twisted and wind swept way.
After hiking east for a little while I came upon a Jeep trail that I saw earlier that eventually led back down to the flats.
Instead of returning to camp, I still felt pretty energetic. Coffee does great wonders. I decided to walk to trail to see some of the rock formations up close.
Eventually a friend found me and gave me a ride back to camp, but not before I snapped this photo.
The first night we were too busy setting up camp and prepping our food to truely enjoy the sunset. We had plenty of time the second night to sit and watch the sun slowly sail below the mountains.
The setting sun also cast really long shadows across the flats.
As the sun sets below the mountain range, the sky turned into a bright orange. I suddenly had a momentary craving for cheetos.
After another good nights sleep, we packed up early in the morning after a short breakfast and left the same way we came. Hoping to return sooner than later.
I bought the bike from a friend with 90 miles on it in 2016. Since then it’s been a constant evolving project. Originally I was building a salvaged bonneville, but this bike quickly took over as the main project. I happened upon a set of used ohlins for the bike and once I put it on, decided to do more with the bike. Adrian from canyon motorcycles was able to help me out with a set of wheels, and also helped me with installing the swing arm and cam work and getting everything tuned. The bike has gone through many iterations and is still not done. I like taking ideas across from other platforms/styles and putting it in my build, which is why the bike looks a bit mishmash. I plan on lowering the bike and finally cleaning up the exhaust in the immediate future. Then maybe getting some custom paint and powder coating down the road to complete the look that I’m going for.
Took a trip out to Carrizo Plains National Monument Over the weekend. It was a short trip but we made it a 2 nighter with a first night stop at Buena Bista Aquatic Recreational area.
The first night was a little miserable being surrounded by farms and camping right next to a man made lake. But once we got to the trail head for our destination it got way better. On the way to our intended site it turned out the road came to an abrupt end. The view however was gorgeous at this point. So we decided to break and setup camp here. I ended up not taking as much photos as I’d have liked during this trip, but did enjoy just being out there.
The shiftpod worked out awesome albeit a little bit of an overkill. What I found was that I really needed to consolidate my gear and get rid of the extra stuff that I don’t use to make room for stuff that I will use.
Heading east to Vegas on the 15 from LA one spends hours driving through the desert. What seems like a empty wasteland from the freeway is actually full of little hidden Gems a long the way. The Mojave National Preserve has tons of offroad trails, camping, ghost towns, mines and geological oddities to explore. However that’s for another post.
I’ve always wondered about Zzyzx. A sign on the 15 in the middle of the desert conveys its existence. This time around I finally had to initiative turn off the freeway and follow the sign. Zzyzx has a pretty colorful history but nowadays exists as a desert research center. Being that we were traveling during the Christmas break, the town was almost completely deserted, which made it all the more cool and eerie. We strolled down the boulevard of dreams and found a pool house, a salt flat and some abandoned housing in the back.
Getting closer to Vegas and Henderson, we stopped by Seven Magic Mountains. This place is blowing up on instagram and we wanted to check it out. Driving there you can see the glints of parked cars on the side of the road from a distance. As we got closer we found that it was pretty crowded with tourists. This happened a lot during our trip actually. Places that wouldn’t have gotten a lot of attention before are now filled and packed with people. We were among them also.
http://sevenmagicmountains.com/
Since we left for Vegas pretty early in the morning, it wasn’t long before we arrived. We spent the night there and left early next day to continue our journey.
An ostrich farm on the way to Zion.
Before entering Zion, we made a quick detour to Grafton. Grafton is often cited as the most photographed ghost town in the west, its not hard to see why. Sitting at the edge of Zion you can see the towering cliffs all around the town. One can also imagine the kind of life people had here in this bewitchingly beautiful and desolate place.
A few of the buildings were restored in Grafton, some were also open to visit. We spent some time walking around in and out of the buildings.
It seemed like some of the graves are still being maintained by the locals around the area.
Finally we got to Zion National Park. However, there was a lot of traffic due to road construction. So we got to spend some extra time viewing the majestic cliffs from the comfort of the car. After a while we finally got to the visitor center and decided to do a short hike, as we were only passing through. A quick browse on the Alltrails app (excellent btw) netted the watchman trail.
The watchman trail is a short 3 mile out and back hike up the side of the canyon and puts you on top of a plateau. We set out a little bit late because of the traffic, by the time we got to the top the sun was already setting. We took our pictures and watched the sun set from the edge of the plateau.
To close out the particularly tumultuous year on a higher note, I decided to go on a trip. One of our destinations is the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument. From the town of Escalante, go south for 26 miles on Hole in the Rock Road, and you’ll find a side trail to get to the Peek-A-Boo and Spooky Gulch, popular slot canyons in the area. We hiked down from the parking lot to the floor of the Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch and proceeded to the entrance of the Peek-A-Boo slot. The entrance to Peek-A-Boo is up a 12 foot slick wall, with hand holds carved out of the rock and some pockets to support your foot. After a little bit of struggling to find a decent feet, and throwing our backpacks over the entrance first, we made it in. Once inside, we were immediately wowed by the beautiful rock formations. Slot canyons are beautiful and mysterious places. As we wound our way through the undulating walls, we were greeted with none stop surprises and wonder around each curve of the canyon walls.
The start of peek-a-boo features some really beautiful waved shape walls.
In Spooky Canyon the soft Navajo sand stone features a really interesting knobby texture.
To get to the lower part of Spooky Canyon, we had to drop down into a hole in a pile of rocks. While precarious, once inside, it was quite worth the effort.
The walls form really dramatic and fluid shapes.
Parts of Spooky Canyon were so narrow that it was hard to squeeze through even with the backpack off.
Spooky earns its name in the southern part where it gets so deep that barely any sunlight gets in.
Eventually the canyon widens and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
All through out the trail, we were guided by footsteps of other people and Cairns placed along the path. We did however get lost for a little while when we were crossing over to get to the top of Spooky Canyon from the end of Peek-A-Boo. A handheld GPS helped a lot in this instance.
The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument is truely a beautiful and majestic place.
Took a trip with to Lake Tahoe over the weekend to avoid the heat wave in the bay over the weekend. This is my 2nd visit to Tahoe during the summer, even without the snow its such a nice place. Of course the town was super crowded over the weekend with vacationers from everywhere.
The water is so clear! We spend the first day driving around the lake, since my parents have never been here, I wanted to show them all the sights.
People swimming in the shallows and chilling by the beach on the Nevada side.
We took a break in Tahoe city and ran into a Shelby Cobra convoy!
Emerald bay! Standing on the side of the road that overlooks the bay and watching the boats sail around in circles.
The next morning we rented a boat to go on the lake. Approaching Emerald Bay. Its hard to spot from the middle of the lake but we eventually found it.
The little island in the middle of the bay. There’s even a castle on top! As we circled around, we could see kayakers and paddleboarders making it to the island and climbing up to the structure.
Rental time is up, heading back to the shore. You can see the ski passes of Heavenly in the background.
Parasailing boat barreling towards us, looks much closer in real life.
and finally, my parents! My dad’s never driven a boat before. First time for everything =D