Wheeling in the Sierras

What a way to celebrate my birthday! We took and extended weekend and drove to Bishop for some offroad goodness! It took me a week and a half to gather the pics, edit the videos and write this summary!

Friday
We got a late start, but it all worked out. Little bit of traffic on the 405 heading out, but smooth sailing the rest of the way. We checked into the hotel and went for a traditional Bishop meal at Bar-B-Q Bills. The plate of meat was perfect!


We drove up to June Lake Loop after dinner to take in some more of nature. I was just beautiful up there.




Saturday
We stopped by Mahogany Farms and got some sandwiches for the trip up Wheeler Ridge. The view up that way was awesome!




We bumped in a few people from Ridgecrest on the way up and swapped a few stories. We made it about another mile up the trail when it became a little too much for Ellen to handle. We turned around and went back down to the meadow for a bite to eat.


The evening was wrapped up with a quick drive up Pine Creek Canyon where we found elderberries ready to be picked.


Sunday
We picked up a good friend, Chris, to go on a trip over the White Mountains. Ellen finally got to see the big horn sheep in Silver Canyon.


We got about halfway up the switchbacks when the transfer case in the Hummer started to make some loud popping noises. Yep, blew it again! Fortunately, I was able to make it to the top to White Mountain Road, designed for regular cars. Once I put the t-case in high, the popping disappeared. We stopped to eat lunch before heading back out.


On the way down, we stopped to see the bristlecone pine trees, oldest living things in the world.




Monday
We drove back home, taking our sweet time to enjoy the views. We got to see elk just south of Big Pine.


As usual, all the pics from the trip can be found here: LINKY

Here are the YouTube clips of the trip up Wheeler Ridge:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV