Following Glass Creek

So last week I was following a small stream with the pup (had no idea where I was) hoping to find a couple of springs.  We were out until about 7:45 p.m. and it started to get dark quick.  It was also snowing.

After reviewing the map when I got home, I realized I was nowhere close to the springs I was looking for.  Oh well.  Here are the pictures of an early spring melt off.

As usual, stoked.

 The Jeep in all of its glory.

This was actually a really cool place to visit, I'll have to come back earlier in the day so that I have more exploration time.

Moving water!

Not quite a waterfall, more like a steep stream.

Keikers has one speed: go.

Really like this photo, hence why it's ginormous.  The stream hides underneath the sheet of snow.  Below the snowline it's spring, and above it it's still pretty winterish.

Some of the little waterfalls were steeper than others.

Keiko, taking on some snow.  Oh yeah, it started to snow on us as we climbed higher.

The ground was turning white.  Keiko periodically stops her insane pace, stands and then waits for me to catch up.  Thanks Keiko.

It got dark quick, here's a shot of what we drove though to get to this trailhead.

The 395 on our way home.  It's dark out.  We had to run back to the car because of how dark it had gotten.

See ya guys later, I'll try to update this more regularly but I'm lazy and forgetful.

Deadman Creek Road

I went on a Jeep hike the other day with the Keikers... here are the photos.

We went out looking for mud, and ended up coming across this weird, marshy area.  Still waiting on Wendy from the newspaper to let me know exactly what the hell this area is.  There wasn't any water flowing in, no snow and the ground is supposedly porous- not characteristic of this much standing water.

Another shot of the water.

The marsh/whatever this place is went on for quite a while, I'd say a few hundred square meters of water about 8" to over a foot deep.  Pretty cool when you can ignore how eerie this place is.  Reminiscent of a setting for some kind of monster horror movie for sure.

Didn't scare me or the Jeep- we drove right through that shit.  I'm not crazy though, I tested the depth and solidity of the ground underneath the water.  Still exhilarating to be completely surrounded by water that at times had my exhaust gurgling. It was just me and the pup- if we got stuck, it would have been a crappy time for sure.

Here a creek crossed the road. This looks like it would be fun after a heavy spring rainstorm.  One that melts existing snowpack with the rain at a pace that would multiply the CFS (cubif feet per second)  by a factor of 5 or 10.  That would be gnarly, but this wasn't even close to dangerous.

We came across a lot of snowdrifts on the trail- this one butted up to the side of the trail so it was easy to navigate.  Others weren't as easy and maybe 3-4 times as deep.  Shovel- attack!

Yep.  I realized I could pretty much just blast through the shallow patches, so long as I didn't high center.  This became VERY fun.  Every patch I came across, I'd drop the Jeep into first and floor it, trying to keep the steering wheel steady as I flung snow tens of feet to the side and above me.

A little later I ended up on a dead end trail, picked up some Sierra pinstriping.  The trail was reduced to maybe 4 feet across and one foot on each side of brush.  After that, mountainside to the left, steep dropoff to the right.

Here's a pretty sweet view of the valley below, not pictured is Obsidian Dome to the left.

Here's the drop off to the right.

This was the tightest section to drive through.  Blasted on through, just trying to stay in a straight line...

Had to move one tree out of the way- no biggie.

Here's the end of the road.  Forest Service apparently hasn't cleared this portion of the trail yet- definitely doable with a little more clearance but I wasn't going to push it without a winch and only the pup to help.  She's useless.

I'm going to cruise back out there pretty soon, so I'll have to update this post when I do.  The marshy area pictured first really puzzled a lot of people I've talked to about it.  According to several knowledgeable people, there shouldn't be standing water there, much less hundreds and hundreds of square feet of it.

It's been snowy on and off today, that'll make for some good mud this week.  Get some. 

Introduction to my stupid stories.

This is the introduction to my glorious blog.  Seems about 10 years late to start a blog, but I'm over how crappy Facebook has become and I wanted a place to better show and tell my ridiculous adventures that my friends can check in and out of at their convenience.
I like doing cool shit and Mammoth is ground zero for making cool shit happen. Most of the time it's dangerous or not very well though out.  More often than not, things go wrong and that always makes for a great story.
I think Jeremy Jones said it best in Deeper, "It's not an adventure until something goes wrong."
Stay tuned, I'm going to begin populating posts with some stories from the past that stand out and I'll then update this bad boy as new events take place.

This is Paul and I romping out to the trailhead- he cruised all the way up here from San Francisco so I'm beating on the Jeep for the sake of fun.

Yeah.  I mean 75% of the wheels are still on the trail.  I'll tell you more about this cluster-fuck of a situation later.