North Young Traveller North

Day 5: San Diego to Mono Lake

I had every intention of sleeping in to avoid morning traffic trying to get out of San Diego. My mind and body had different ideas. So, I was up by 0630, and on the road by 0730 at the latest, and that was with walking Jasper around the hotel. Luckily, we were travelling in the direction opposite of the morning work traffic. We had clear, easy driving out to 395. 

The friend whom I was now traveling toward sent me a list of places to visit along 395, which was good because I had forgotten to check roadside america, and wasn't sure what I was going to see or do. The plan was to make a third of the distance today, and leaving at 0730 gave us plenty of time. 

First stop for the day was thanks to my wood rat tendencies...

Sign said historic ghost town, and so off I turned to check it out. Randsburg had a loop that eventually ended at Johannesburg. It had some neat views, but not really a ghost town...unless I missed the ghost town area. It definitely was an old mining town.

Back on 395 from that sidetrack, I was taken aback by the beauty of the eastern Sierra Scenic byway. The visitor center rest area off ca136 & 395 allowed for beautiful views of the sierras and the west side of death valley. 

From there, we stopped at Manzenar Japanese internment camp from WWII. I would have liked to do more of the inside learning, but the place was relatively busy, the weather was hot, and Jasper was not allowed inside. We did enjoy walking through the old gardens and learning from the various signs. It was an interesting and humbling educational visit. 

After Manzenar, we headed through Bishop, CA where my friend recommended we stop at Erik Schats Bakery for sheepherder bread, which one can only find there.

We bought 2 packages, some cookies, and some dog biscuits. Jasper was very happy for the dog biacuits, & my friend was happy for one of the packages of sheepherder bread. 

It was a brief stop before continuing north. The intention was to find someplace in Mammoth Lakes to camp; however, it was snowing when we got there. So, we decided to continue on after doing the scenic loop. We stopped for gas, and moved to the next location.

Next up was Mono Lake. My friend recommended the south tufa area, and I was NOT disappointed. 

Jasper & I walked to the shore, looked at the tufa, and kept Jasper from going in the water. The signs said it was saltier than the ocean and more alkalytic as well.

After Jasper's ocean experience, I wasn't going to mess him up with the waters at Mono Lake. 

As we wandered around, a couple from Orange County flagged us down to do a small photo shoot. They liked my Nightmare Before Christmas wrap and Jasper. So, we posed for a few photos, exchanged information, chatted about traveling, and then went on our merry way. My hope was to stay for sunset, so we sat by the lake until I got cold. Then, we went back to the car, where a guy in a camper van had parked next to us with the open side of his van on the driver's side of my car. He then set up his tripod basically right next to my car to get some moon photos. Jasper growled and death stared the guy. As I was getting ready to depart, he asked about camping in the area. I told him I was unsure...not that I would have shared since the thought of dispersed camping with this guy had even my hackles up. 

Upon leaving the viewing area, I decided to drive down another road to see the views, and maybe I would find a campsite. Eventually, the road came to a river crossing that looked too deep for me to cross, but right there was a beautiful campsite. So, we pulled in for the night, waited to see if anyone had followed (aka the weird camper van guy), and settled in.