This trip was quite a bit different than expected. First off we arrived at Goodale Creek Campground and were greeted by wind. The first day wasn't bad but it got worse very quickly. As a matter of fact it started blowing that afternoon and didn't let up for a week. The average was around 20 mph I would guess. Gusts to 40 in some places. On top of Silver Peak it was blowing so hard that it made it dangerous to get out of the truck. So I didn't get any pictures of Silver Peak.

However we didn't let the wind bother us much. We just found it difficult if not impossible to have a camp fire. The trailer made it easy for me to cook though. So I became "Cook Man". Jeff, who was making his first trip with us became "Fire Man" just because he volunteered for the job. Tim Farnum, (Farny) was "Power Man" because he had the solar generator along for it's maiden voyage. It worked quite well and never ran out of juice no matter how stupid we got with it. We even plugged a bug zapper into it. Not a real good idea in the woods though. Seems it attracts more and bigger bugs than it can handle. Some even started to smoke and burn. Very entertaining but the dog hated it.

While at Goodale Creek a few of our internet friends popped in. I'm glad I posted my trip plans before I left. Lepidium and his wife stopped in on our first day. Lucky Pabst Stopped by on the second day of the trip. He spent the night in the next campsite over in his new to him VW camper bus. Later in the week Snow Nymph stopped by to say hello.

Our agenda was not planned untill each day arrived. We would go to Reward mine first. Just had to show that one to these guys. They have never driven into a mine before. While there, we climbed up to the top of the upper ore bin in the canyon. There we found a narrow trail etched out of the mountain that goes all the way around to the other side. We also revisited the lower Mazourka Canyon. Every time I've been to the top I've made a mental note to take a look up some of the side roads at the bottom. We did that this time. We also did the White Mountain Traverse. Up Wyman Canyon on the east side of the Whites and down Silver Canyon from Silver Peak on the west side. This was an all day trip and untill we reached the peak we experienced very little wind.

Heading into the canyons was the only way to beat the wind. This worked very well during the daytime but the nights were spent in the tents and trailer watching movies. We did the Eastside Road and although it runs along the foothills of the Inyos between Mazourka Canyon road and Aberdeen Station Road, there are quite a few places where it goes up into the canyons taking us out of the wind. It includes a visit to Crystal Ridge where many large crystals have been found and some strip mines. Along the way we found a very nice arrastre. Unfortunately the drag stones were missing. The Eastside Road trip concluded with a visit to the Black Jack Mine which goes all the way through the mountain.

The last exploring trip in the area would be the Mollie Gibson Mine up Mollie Gibson Canyon off Highway 168. Roger Mitchell said that it was very easy to miss the most important right turn in the trip and we missed it for sure. However all it really did was postpone the best for the last. Once found we really enjoyed the hike to the main adit and I got the same photo of the tailings pile that Roger has in his book. As we were getting ready to head back to the trucks I temporarily lost track of Tabby the Wonder Dog. This really gave me a scare at first as the area was heavilly wooded and the terrain was very hilly. I finally found her sitting in the shade under a pinion tree with a pretty big thorn in her foot. I immagine this was the reason whe stopped following me. I found her by standing very still and listening for her breathing or any other noise she might be making. It was her breathing that I heard and followed. This has given me an idea to build a little beeper to put on her collar. It would be activated with a remote much like a garage door opener. I'll train her to bark when she hears the beeper go off.

We ended our stay at Goodale Creek with a trip up Onion Valley to do some fishing and compete in the Independence Fishing Derby. Just my luck I wasn't feeling well so we took a few pictures of the water falls at the top and then headed back to the camp ground to rest up for the following day's move to Pine Creek just north of Bishop. As I told Nate, I don't do well in competition anyways and in some cases get completely skunked when I compete. As we passed the weigh-in area at the local park we noticed that they had quite a nice turnout. Good job Nate!

Sunday we packed up the camp and moved it to Pine Creek We spent the rest of the day just enjoying the new camp ground. We had our second evening fire of the trip and the winds had died. All was well. The creek was running high due to the run off but it posed no threat to our campsite. The sound of the rushing water was better than a sleeping pill. And unlike the last time there were fish to be caught. I caught a nice brown on the first cast not ten feet from the trailer. Sorry I didn't have my camera ready.

Monday we went back to the Buena Vista Mining District. It was my third trip to the area and the more I see the more I find that I haven't seen. I think I could spend a whole summer there mapping and cataloging the mines. But as I found out on this trip, the Nevada Divison of Minerals has already been there and done that. While there, they blocked off every adit and shaft in the area with barbed wire and signs that said "Stay Out & Stay Alive". One had another sign that said "For Your Protection" and someone etched into the sign, "We can protect ourselves thanks". Click Here for my first trip and to compare photos of mines now closed.

The adventure starts at Highway 6 in Nevada at an old abandonned building that was once a brothel. The class 1 dirt road heads up into the north end of the White Mountains called Queen Canyon and climbs to an altitude of about 9500 feet. Once at the crest it drops down into a canyon known as Trail Canyon and very quickly turns to class 4. Once at the bottom it turns back to class 1 and II.There are pinion trees gallore. A spring-fed lake is abundant with trout and while I had my fishing pole with me I didn't have a Nevada license. Next time maybe. On the way out of the canyon, Jeff noticed a rock and sod building in the distance. We explored the area and determined that it was either a horse or cattle ranch at one time due to the barbed wire fencing and the size of the corral gate. Too big for sheep. We also stumbled upon an entire ghost mining camp that we later determined to be the Redrock Mercury Mine and Camp. Well named as the whole area is covered with red dirt and rock. With about a dozen or so buildings and a huge mill this little surprise caused us to spend quite a bit of time there. I have seen buildings shot up before but one building in this place looked like swiss cheese! Later I learned that the local police use this place for training. So in this case, I guess the cops are the bad guys. This was an all day event and we didn't return untill 10:00 that evening. Of course we stopped in Dyer at the hot springs after which we stopped by the Dyer Bar to say hi to owner Richard Woods and his wife. Richard spent 23 years of his life in the Tungsten Mine up Pine Creek. We wanted to explore the tungsten mine but time just did not allow for it. I'll save that one for another trip.

For me, the rest of the week was spent on business. The others spent their time at camp or in town. Jeff had used this trip in order to try out all the camping gear he was planning to use on a hike up the Pacific Crest Trail next summer. This was an excellent opportunity for just such a thing. He broke down his tent every morning and set it back up in the evenings, always in a different place. While Tim and I cooked our meals from scratch, Jeff was eating freeze dried foods to see which ones he liked the best and which ones gave him the most nourishment for size and weight. Everything that Jeff used on this trip would come out of his backpack. Quite a contrast to Tim and I with our comparatively huge sleeping quarters, solar generator, bug zapper, propane bar-b-ques and TVs.

This is by far the biggest trip report I have done. I took way too many photos but then again, every one has a meaning. Out of the 217 photos I shot, only 3 were deleted. Many of the trips we did on this outing can be found in Roger Mitchell's Inyo Mono SUV Trails. His very descriptive trip reports and directions help to get you where you are going without having to do a lot of research on your own. But it still helps to have a map along. This was also my first trip with a GPS. We still don't know how to work the thing completely and we still have to upload the TOPO maps to it. But at least we got some way points out of it. We also figured out that we were on the proper trail once with it.

Tim was injured when his hand landed on a barrel cactus while tripping over a rock at the Reward Mine. As I always carry a first aid kit, rubbing alchohol and hydrogen peroxide with me, we were able to remove all the quills, stop the bleeding and clean the wounds very effectively. His hand was fine in a few days and it didn't even slow him down. Tim also suffered a break down on the way back in Johanasburg in 110 degree heat at 4pm in the afternoon. We spent the next three hours replacing fuel lines and vaccume hoses only to find out that he had just vapor locked. We didn't think of that because we thought that the Izusu Amigo had fuel injection. Turns out that it is just a fancy carburator with some kind of fuel mister... By the time the sun had set we were off and on our way again. The rest of the trip home was fairly uneventfull untill the end. Not 200 feet from my driveway, at 10:00 at night on a very dark street in Perris, someone ran out in front of me and stopped there like a deer on a lonely mountain road. The idiot just stood there waiting for me to run him over and then all of a sudden at the last possible moment he darted out of the way. I would have killed him for sure if he hadn't. The next day I learned that this very disturbed individual was suffering from head trauma from an accident and was arrested for running out in front of trucks on the same road later that night. He was taken to the hospital for treatment and observation.

All in all we put allmost 1300 miles on our vehicles. Considering that it is 600 miles round trip to Bishop we put a lot of those miles on the dirt! Gas was lower than expected for a change. While you folks were paying $3.25 to $3.35 per gallon in the citys, we only payed $2.97 in Bishop at the Piute Gas Station. I hope you enjoy my report as much as I enjoyed creating it. This trip is one for the books.