John Muir Wilderness

Camp Review

• After off-roading for an hour, we arrived at the end of the Buttermilk Road in the Upper Buttermilk area. It was as far as we could go as the road stopped existing.

• We found an almost perfectly level spot near the end of the road. It was on a cliff with wonderful views.

• There was no other soul around for miles and the site would have been completely dark if not for the full moon.

• There were a few bugs, but none of the biting kind.

• The site had 2 bars of LTE cell connection on Verizon.

What I Learned

• Ramona can still hold her own off-roading! I was worried in a couple of spots that the trail was a bit too rough, but Ramona handled the trail without any issues. This was important as I drove the trail at midnight when the road was dark dark dark and any trouble would have ruined our weekend plans.

 

What Happened?

We arrived in Bishop at midnight because I started driving after work on Friday. I needed to go just 17 more miles, but it took one whole hour to get there. As I turned the engine off, I felt exhausted as all the excitement that had fueled my off-road driving faded away. We climbed into the camper, brushed our teeth, and fell into a blissful sleep.

We woke up at 7 AM and it was already 65 degrees. We quickly got dressed and took our first steps as proper mountaineers!