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anutami's avatar
anutami
Explorer III
Jul 29, 2015

TR: Like it, Love it, Leavitt XTC style

Thanks to Jefe4x4 Trip Report this area has been on my list of Must do trips.

while heading out of so cal we were hammered with rain
here is the Doppler (the blue dot is me on the map), notice the red around the 395


and here is the 395 a short while later


Fighting all the rain took us a while to get out of so cal, we decided to call it a night and check out Fossil Falls


we took a short hike over to the dry falls


this place is amazing, it is a bit south of Lone Pine, CA and right off the 395, $6 a night




did they film lord of the rings here?








to Bodie we went..I have to give a shout out to Torklift for the SideKick generator platform. I usually store the gen in the cab of the truck but now can keep it locked outside, and it worked great for the whole trip.


pay the extra $2 for the map it is well worth it


some pics of the wild town










and then onward to Leavitt Lake:
Right off pavement road sign marker



a quick call to the ranger station and some PM's to a few on the forum here gave me the courage to tackle this trail, with a hardside basement model TC






Brett jumped out to scout it out
XTC Video 1 Clicky

and up we went






XTC Video 2 Clicky




XTC Video 3 Clicky

It took about an hour to go the 3.5 miles crawling in 4Low pretty much the entire time, but Victory was ours!!! Toughest part was negotiating while several vehicles were descending.



Our campsite for the next several days :)



from the roof top of Wolfy2



the lake seemed to be all fished out...no bites nothing



but everyone seemed to have neglected the creek, we didn't even need poles as brett bare handed this one!



and netted the others. We carefully returned them to the lake and hit the trails


There are several other lakes around only about a 20 minute hike away




Ski Lake










Brett braving the 32.5 degree water (or at least it felt like it)



we pretty much had the place to ourselves during the busy summer months, but many people go to the lake during the day.


all good things must come to an end, so we descended back home








and the DW freaking out :)...XTC Video 4

yes she walked a lot of the way



thanks again Jefe4x4 for the trail blazed ahead, and one of the most excellent places to park a Truck Camper, and in his words
"It will be a good adventure"... and it was

Favorite pic of the trip

20 Replies

  • dakonthemountain wrote:
    Were the videos of the truck the "worst" part of the road there? I would SO love to go there. Not with my 2wd dually and monster camper of course, but perhaps a tent and my Subaru Outback. I saw a Honda CRV in one video... was your wife driving separately from the truck, or someone waiting for you "get out of the way?" :)

    Dak


    Yeah those are the worst parts. Thats the nice thing with such a huge rig, everybody quickly makes room for me :) the crv in the pic is a guy who parked there and hiked in. There was another crv at the lake that made it. We saw a subaru up there, chevy tahoe, ford rangers, xterra, several jeeps and a bunch of full size trucks. I doubt you would have any issues.
  • Were the videos of the truck the "worst" part of the road there? I would SO love to go there. Not with my 2wd dually and monster camper of course, but perhaps a tent and my Subaru Outback. I saw a Honda CRV in one video... was your wife driving separately from the truck, or someone waiting for you "get out of the way?" :)

    Dak
  • Great report! How fantastic that you could drive that road -- I had a heck of a time just walking it! Those lucky, lucky kids -- and they are getting old enough that they will remember these adventures forever.
  • Fun trip and exciting too...

    Amazing volcanic formations, nice..

    Great pics, thanks for sharing...
    I'd have to wait a while before tackling something like that alone...
    Looked a little tricky...
    fun..
  • Wow! What fun!!.. and a great trip and final destination. Really enjoyed the videos. It's also nice to know how far sideways a truck can lean without the camper breaking the tie downs and falling off or taking the truck with it. ;) ;) Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!... you are more brave than I! (and my dually/camper is too fat for what you did!)

    Dak
  • brholt wrote:
    Great report.
    Great videos.

    So is your wife up for more or is this the "last time we are doing this?"


    LOL! the amazing solitude of boondocking, no camp fees, and most if not all of the campers up their had great etiquette was enough for her to absolutely love it, and ready for the next one, now If I was to put her in a tent up there it would be a different story.
  • Great report.
    Great videos.

    So is your wife up for more or is this the "last time we are doing this?"