Coyote Flats Aug 21 (California)

[teotwaki]

I got a sudden break in my schedule so I am heading up to one of my favorite areas in the mountains near Bishop, California.
The dates are what I have available but they do bracket a weekend in case anyone else wanted to go for fewer days.

Coyote Flats is located southwest from Bishop, about 2 hours of offroading to my campsite at Funnel Lake. The Flats are a large open plateau
located at 10K feet, with a network of rough 4x4 tracks that snake their way through the mountains in all directions.

It's bordered by the Owens Valley on East, the Valley in which South Lake is located on the west, and Glacier Lodge Road
is to the south. You get great views of the Palisades, Inconsolable and the Sierra Crest.

For anyone who would desire a shorter campout and meetup the weekend dates are 23-24-25. Post up if you have an interest
in heading up there with me or meeting on the weekend.

Coyote Flats has great history, amazing natural scenery, camping and offroading opportunities that are hard to beat. It's no wonder
I am drawn to the area!

For me it will be a late morning start from Orange County on the 21st, maybe moteling it in Lone Pine or somewhere that night. The next morning
head to Bishop (1 hr drive), gas up and drive up into the mountains. Heading home means departing mid day on the 27th or early morning of the 28th.
It is a 5 hour drive to Bishop if you drive straight there from the OC then 2 hours of offroading to a campsite. Coyote Flats is at 10,000' and is roughly 7,000'
above Bishop. This will keep the temps about 20 degrees F below the heat in Bishop

For current road conditions call: Inyo National Forest White Mountain Ranger District 760-873-2500.

Previous adventures at Coyote Flats

Sun To The North: Back to Coyote Flats with the Expedition Trailer

Sun To The North: Expedition Trailer At Coyote Flat

 

[teotwaki]

Good trip report with great photos: September 2011, Coyote Flats | Expedition Portal

Other threads

Coyote Flats | Expedition Portal

AdventureDuo.com: Coyote Flats - Eastern Sierra's

Oops! We ran into some problems. | Expedition Portal


Google map satellite view of trail: Coyote Flats 4WD camping 2014-Aug - Google My Maps

USFS Newsletter: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5401895.pdf

short video embedded in this 2012 report http://www.adventureduo.com/2012/08/coyote-plateau-funnel-lake_12.html

Bunch of photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/42086144@N04/sets/72157629976029572/

more videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=LPuO_DplfLE

set of three

1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2aBZmtLM1Y

2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvnXYGec6nI

3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o2c6AY-I4c



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2awhXLsspM

2015 https://vimeo.com/128862062

https://vimeo.com/43365397

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZHMHqyZY8E


down the switchbacks

https://youtu.be/a3Ae49PEBk4

https://youtu.be/NBHnofu3F-E

https://youtu.be/NBHnofu3F-E

https://youtu.be/NBHnofu3F-E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwAQBYXRmYg&t=12s

https://youtu.be/2gExG36seNI[

 

[teotwaki]

Sort of a rough outline of what I plan to do up there

Base camp at Funnel Lake

22nd Hike from Funnel Lake to Rocky Bottom Lake, maybe explore a bit in that area
23rd Drive to Lindner Mine, Green Lake overview, maybe hike to lake?
24th Drive to Schober Mine, explore, hike.
24th If time remains - Drive to Coyote Lake and hike to poss mine location
25th Drive over to Baker Creek then hike to Baker Lake, maybe further
26th One day left wide open for whatever seems interesting, possibly hunt for mines in Eastern areas
27th Pack up and leave in the afternoon

 

[MAST4R]

Looks great! Love shelf roads.

 

[teotwaki]

Looks great! Love shelf roads.

The guy who took that picture (Kyle M) is author of Eastern Sierra's - Part 3 - ExploreDesert

He said "Not looking well traveled, off-camber, narrow and on loose shale rock we decided it would be in our best interest to go for it. Up we went. Each one of those elements I’m not a big fan of. Add them together and it’s a true butt-pucker experience. Add to the fact that we knew it ended and would have to turn around or back down. Fun."

 

[MAST4R]

The guy who took that picture (Kyle M>0 is Eastern Sierra's - Part 3 - ExploreDesert

He said "Not looking well traveled, off-camber, narrow and on loose shale rock we decided it would be in our best interest to go for it. Up we went. Each one of those elements I’m not a big fan of. Add them together and it’s a true butt-pucker experience. Add to the fact that we knew it ended and would have to turn around or back down. Fun."

Looks awesome.

A water drainage running across an otherwise mildly tilted trail can create spots with real tilt so if it is little traveled, you won't really know if there are questionable spots until you are there.

 

[Clrems77]

That looks like a really awesome trip!

 

[teotwaki]

A pix of the area near Green Lake overlook as seen on Facebook so I'm getting excited to be up there soon!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=681998485605986&set=gm.1469344326550088&type=3&theater

"Head waters"

Parked at around 10600' looking up at the start of west fork of Coyote Creek and The Hunchback mountain just over 12200' yesterday.

 

[Dodtbdm]

Do you need bear proof food containers up there? I know they're required in camp sites in Mammoth and up at higher elevation toward lake sabrina/south lake.

 

[DAW89446]

Coyote and vicinity used to be my back yard in the years I lived in Big Pine. There’s a 4x4 trail from there and comes in via Onion Creek and Sanger Meadow, but there is a section between Glacier View and Onion that would be foolhardy to try alone and without a modified rig (OK for bikes and quads). Been to the Green Lake overlook as well. Tons to see. I never experienced problems with bears, but they can get brave when hungry.

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Shucks I didn't see this! If you are ever up in the area again, I'd join!

 

[Jeff_DML]

My buddy(trdpro) and I (sr5) were up there this weekend in Baker creek area. Did not see any other 4runners, just hunters.

 

[teotwaki]

Made it back okay! I have a lot of photos to select from and will try to answer questions and PMs as quickly as I can

 

[teotwaki]

All of the pictures are on My Blog now but here are the photo highlights

Altogether there were 4 to 5 other 4Runners in the general area and one was camped with me. Initially I was up there alone during the week but the weekend was a bit busier.

Here is the 4Runner loaded up with the roof rack and trailer. I was carrying an additional 15 gallons of gas which worked out well.

This is my camp at 10,000' for the whole time I was up in the mountains . Having the tent on the trailer meant I could come and go without having to tear the RTT down every time.

I was camped at the far right of this alpine lake. You can just make out some quads and a vehicle a little to the north of me but they only stayed an hour.

It was easy to spend almost every day out and about, exploring miles of great 4x4 trails

Desert Dan came up on the weekend in his 5th Gen

My new switchable front and rear camera setup was super handy

I also distinctly heard my new RCI skids getting whacked and had a nice dent in the transmission skid as proof the investment was sound. :shocked:

Besides driving around a spent some time hiking over to another alpine lake as well as harvesting wood from downed trees for great campfires

Temps ranged from 74 in the day to 39 (inside my tent!) at night.