Trip report: Brian and I met George in Bakersfield Sat. morning-Georges' motorhome engine battery was dead, but we found a replacement at a TrackAuto store. That evening we met up with Lloyd and Phyllis at Dinkey Creek campground.
Sunday morning we headed to Cartright Dam and the Dusy/Ershim trailhead. Our original plan was to camp at East Lake, but the Thompson Hill climb and a few vehicle issues slowed us down-George lost DC power to his air lockers, and a rock cut off a valve stem from Lloyds rear tire-so we decided to camp early at Thompson Lake with more time to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Brian broke a shock mount while climbing Thompson Hill, but a quick weld from Lloyd Premier welder fixed the problem.
After a hearty breakfast the following morning, we left for our next planned camp site at East Lake, a 2-3 hour scenic and moderately easy drive through the appox. 600 foot corridor between Dinkey Creek and the John Muir Wilderness areas. As we were slowly climbing a small hill, Lloyds' Jeep suddenly veered off the trail and over a stump. A quick inspection revealed that his front upper track bar bolt had sheered off, leaving him without any steering! We didn't have a correct replacement bolt, but found a smaller diameter bolt of the correct length that Brian found in his little parts bag-amazingly it held up through the rest of the trail without breaking! Hitting the stump also destroyed another valve stem of Lloyds tires, which now left him with no spare tire. None of us had a spare valve stem, and none of our spare tires on our rigs would fit his 5 x 4 1/2 Jeep wheel spacing. Hardship can produce ingenuity, so after Brian quickly refilled Lloyds' deflated tire with his on board York air compressor and needle air nozzle, the fix was to screw in a teflon tape wrapped sheet metal screw that I found in my parts box into the remaining undamaged lower portion of the valve stem, and then covered it with duct tape to reduce further trail damage, and to keep the screw in place-amazingly the tire held air until the trail end! Lloyds' problems were not over however-his engine began to miss, and after some checking realized his alternator was not working. So to keep him running, we had to stop and recharge his battery with jumper cables from our rigs every hour or so...we were now only 1/2 way through the trail and still had some difficult and challenging parts to overcome
. We finally made our destination at East Lake around mid-afternoon, and were able to relax and enjoy a great steak dinner and relax around a wonderful warm camp fire.
Because of Lloyds' mechanical issues, the next morning we decided to try and get to the end of the trail before dark. There were some rough sections as we passed through Ershim and Lakecamp lakes, but Lloyds Jeep was still moving. The most difficult part was near the trail end at Kaiser Pass-lots of BIG rocks,ledges, and tight sqeezes. While trying to climb over a high ledge, George broke a rear drive shaft U-joint. Fortunately he had a spare, and after a quick repair we continued on to the end of the trail. In keeping with tradition, I managed to break another flare on my Rubicon, otherwise I had no problems.
It was late in the afternoon, so after airing up, we headed down to Shaver Lake to gas up and try and find a valve stem for Lloyd so he could flat tow his Jeep safely back home. The ride down to Shaver was slow because we didn't want Lloyds track bar fix to break while on the highway. Fortune was with Lloyd-it was nearly 8 PM, and while gasing up at Shaver we found a group of local guys working in a small garage in the back of the gas station that offered to replace the valve stem-and they even found a (nearly) correct size bolt to replace our smaller trail fix track bar bolt-great guys-turned out most of them were members of the local Shaver Lake volunteer fire department....
After a good nights rest back at Dinkey Creek camp ground, we all headed back home. We had a great time in spite of the trail issues, and regretted leaving the quiet, cool and scenic Sierras for the hot and crowded LA area. We all agreed the best time to visit this area is after Labor Day-no crowds, temps in the mid 70s, and no bugs! We really had the trails and camp grounds to ourselves!
I've posted a few pictures-aways seemed to busy stacking rocks or spotting to photograph the more difficult areas....
