Camping near Mono Lake

ayeyothisiskyle

ayeyothisiskyle

Member
Has anyone camped on Mono Lake? Right now, the Visitor Center is closed for winter and usually opens in April so permits for camping on the shoreline are unavailable. But when I called the Mono Lake Committee, they said if we camp above the lake with vehicles, its considered primitive and we can set up anywhere.

Anyone done this? Any suggestions where to camp next to Mono Lake?
 
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My wife tried to convince me to cancel a trip to Kern because of Coccidioidomycosis, which is a little different because it's an airborne fungus.

If you do some research you'll see that it's much more of a risk to people who live in those areas and are exposed to the elements on a daily basis. Not really as much of a risk to people who are in the area for just a few days.

Just tell the kids not to eat any mice poop. And if by some crazy chance anyone develops a fever get them to a hospital ASAP and let them know you were in this area so they can properly treat it.

Let me know how it goes. I like camping in the Mammoth area and would love to check it out.
 
hrantvarozian said:
My wife tried to convince me to cancel a trip to Kern because of Coccidioidomycosis, which is a little different because it's an airborne fungus.

If you do some research you'll see that it's much more of a risk to people who live in those areas and are exposed to the elements on a daily basis. Not really as much of a risk to people who are in the area for just a few days.

Just tell the kids not to eat any mice poop. And if by some crazy chance anyone develops a fever get them to a hospital ASAP and let them know you were in this area so they can properly treat it.

Let me know how it goes. I like camping in the Mammoth area and would love to check it out.
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Agreed... although, hantivirus is air born as well and the main cause of infection.

The concern with hantivirus is 30% fatality ... that's just nuts.

From what I read, its mostly in closed buildings, so open camping should be ok. Its just good to proceed with caution.
 
Ha! There you have it!

It would be good to know about camping at Mono lake. I have camped at June Lake and Silver Lake but that's it. They are close enough but I am not sure when those campgrounds are open.
 
MAST4R said:
Ha! There you have it!

It would be good to know about camping at Mono lake. I have camped at June Lake and Silver Lake but that's it. They are close enough but I am not sure when those campgrounds are open.
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I did a bit more research and the established camp sites are all closed until April or May. BLM Land is obviously open, but 120 East is closed 2 miles from 395. Other campgrounds from Mono down to 203 are most likely covered in a couple feet of snow. We'll have 4 rigs so I dont think it'll be a problem to plow it, but two of us are meeting the other two in the afternoon.
 
ayeyothisiskyle said:
I did a bit more research and the established camp sites are all closed until April or May. BLM Land is obviously open, but 120 East is closed 2 miles from 395. Other campgrounds from Mono down to 203 are most likely covered in a couple feet of snow. We'll have 4 rigs so I dont think it'll be a problem to plow it, but two of us are meeting the other two in the afternoon.
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If you want to camp in that area check out Laurel Lakes. There is a really sweet trail leading up the mountain into a valley where there is a "campsite" next to a small stream.

The trail leading up has a lot of rocks but I've seen people do it in SUVs so it shouldn't be a problem. We've done it in a Land Cruiser and a Jeep Wrangler on 2 separate occasions in just 1 truck. But taking a second truck with you is always recommended.

Make sure to take a shovel with you. There are no public restrooms. And it takes about an hour or more to make it from the campsite to the 395.
 
Yess laurel lakes is awesome !!
Easy trail but so much scenery and nice places to set up for the night
But gets really cold in the night even in the summer months
 
Thanks guys! Got back into town around 8pm last night. First day, we drove to Mammoth Visitor Center to make sure with Forest Services that we can camp at Mono. They said dispersed is completely fine, just to watch for wind for the fire. It wasn't a problem. We headed to the eastern part of Mono Lake and found a little turnout just big enough to fit 4 rigs and 7 people. It dipped to 22F that night but we woke up to some spectacular views.

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In the morning we spotted a herd of wild horses grazing closer to the lake and freshwater holes, which explained all the horse dung that scattered all over the trail and campsite, let alone the entire area. The trail to the spot had some pretty sandy spots but nothing too bad to worry about.

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After that, we made our way down to Alabama Hills to recharge and warm up in the 40F lows. The 3rd day, we drove out near Reward Mine and found ourselves a good spot for target practice with 9mm and .223 tools. After that we headed up to Cerro Gordo where we quickly realized how beneficial a transmission cooler would have been. On the way up we had to rest a few times because tranny temps were shooting up to 300F. Yikes. We paid our visitor fee and spoke to the town's caretaker, Robert, for a few and learned a bit about what the mining town was mining for.

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Overall this trip was really fun to catch up with friends.
 
ayeyothisiskyle said:
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After that, we made our way down to Alabama Hills to recharge and warm up in the 40F lows. The 3rd day, we drove out near Reward Mine and found ourselves a good spot for target practice with 9mm and .223 tools. After that we headed up to Cerro Gordo where we quickly realized how beneficial a transmission cooler would have been. On the way up we had to rest a few times because tranny temps were shooting up to 300F. Yikes. We paid our visitor fee and spoke to the town's caretaker, Robert, for a few and learned a bit about what the mining town was mining for.



Overall this trip was really fun to catch up with friends.
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I recently came back from Cerro Gordo as well. Four of us went up. Two of us went in 4WD and had the high transmission temp warning while the other 2 had no issue.
 
DannyLlama said:
Awesome!! would love to synch up on your trail and route info
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I'll PM you.

Doc.SS said:
I recently came back from Cerro Gordo as well. Four of us went up. Two of us went in 4WD and had the high transmission temp warning while the other 2 had no issue.
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Yeah, we saw a ford focus come down while we were resting the rigs. The vehicles up there were all pretty lightweight relative to ours. Forester, Rav4, 2door JK. We had an 80 series, 2nd gen taco, and my 5th gen all geared. On the way down, we stopped halfway to rest our brakes and 1st gear. My rotors were slightly colored and we all smelled of heated brake pads.
 
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