mellow wheeling off 395?

grave

grave

Senior Member
my wife and i are camping at onion valley (west of independence) for two nights in late october and are wanting to do a little bit of exploring. we're heading up on saturday the 22nd, leaving monday the 24th and heading to vegas for the night, then to UT 'til saturday.

i'm new to 4WD so we're looking for something mellow to hit on the way to OV, or on the way to vegas, or on the way from vegas up to st. george. we were thinking of heading up to the ancient bristlecone pine forest, then over to the 95 and down into vegas, but now i want to start looking for trails through death valley area than can get us over into NV.

also looking for suggestions between las vegas and st. george. we want to go in to valley of fire state park on the way, so i'm going to do some research into trails in that area.

i'm not as set up as a lot of you folks are... no compressor, no rad GPS, none of that fancy stuff... just my new-to-me truck. thanks for any suggestions! anyone is more than welcome to join us on the trails.
 
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rad! anything we'd be doing would either be on the way up on saturday the 22nd or on the way to vegas on monday the 24th. would be good to meet somebody from the board!
 
You'll be in a great area with a lot to explore, depending on how much driving you want to do. We were just up there last month and are already antsy to go back since there is so much to do now that it isn't triple digits in the valley. You'll be close to the Alabama Hills and within a "reasonable" drive to Laurel Lakes, Cerro Gordo Ghost Town, Reward Mine, and several others. I found some links while doing some research on the area for our trip. I'll dig through my bookmarks and post them.
 
Offcamber said:
You'll be in a great area with a lot to explore, depending on how much driving you want to do. We were just up there last month and are already antsy to go back since there is so much to do now that it isn't triple digits in the valley. You'll be close to the Alabama Hills and within a "reasonable" drive to Laurel Lakes, Cerro Gordo Ghost Town, Reward Mine, and several others. I found some links while doing some research on the area for our trip. I'll dig through my bookmarks and post them.
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ooh, cerro gordo! forgot about that one. that might be the perfect spot. would CGGT to Reward Mine be doable off-highway? that'd be a perfect morning. laurel lakes is a little too far north for this trip, but we hit the 395 a couple times a year, so maybe we'll explore that next time. thanks for the recommendations! post those bookmarks!
 
That Cerro Gordo Ghost Town looks really cool! I have always wanted to see a ghost town. Will need to plan a trip next year to take my daughters there or to another ghost town. Glad I saw this thread.
 
yeah i forgot about it. if it's just us solo, we'll probably head up the front way up cerro gordo road. it's just a super steep 8mi dirt road. if anyone else with some experience wants to go, i think the route up from swansea would be awesome. looks challenging but not impossible.
 
grave said:
yeah i forgot about it. if it's just us solo, we'll probably head up the front way up cerro gordo road. it's just a super steep 8mi dirt road. if anyone else with some experience wants to go, i think the route up from swansea would be awesome. looks challenging but not impossible.
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Around what time and what day will it be exactly? And where would a potential meet spot be?
 
i'd have to figure out time, but it will for sure be saturday oct 22. my wife and i are heading to onion valley that day to camp for a couple nights, so it would be on our way up.

where in OC do you live? we're in costa mesa.
 
grave said:
i'd have to figure out time, but it will for sure be saturday oct 22. my wife and i are heading to onion valley that day to camp for a couple nights, so it would be on our way up.

where in OC do you live? we're in costa mesa.
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I live in Cypress, work in Costa Mesa, spend most of my time in Westminster. Currently in jury duty until tomorrow hopefully, been at it since Tuesday.
 
I never wheeled that area before, but I did camp at the Onion Valley Camp Ground when I hiked out of their to Mt Whitney. It was a nice camp ground with some awesome hiking trails. You should try to hit up Death Valley along the way to Vegas. Also check out your local library, they may have some travel books on that area. Have a safe trip and post up some Pic's when you get back.
 
Just got back from Mammoth lakes 2 weeks ago. Check out alabama hills there's a nice back road that takes you around the back side of Lone Pine, the pillars at Lake crowley, mono lake, bodie ghost town, the japanese camp. I did all those in my 2wd quad cab ram with a Detroit locker so you should be fine.

The 395 is amazing so much to do and see that's the reason I bought a 4wd 4runner this week! Check out the instagram 395north opened my eyes to how much there is along the 395.
 

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Yah we were thinking of heading through there on the way home from UT. any trail suggestions?
 
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