CA Trip Report: Rock Creek camping, day trip to Patriarch Grove

[rickst29]

East Fork Campground, https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/232396. That's about 8900 ft, a few miles above Tom's Place (a famous and fairly old restaurant, just off the road from US-395). About 10 miles South from Mammoth Lakes.

The Forest Service provides a dump station near Tom's place, but you would have to fold your TM down for the drive down and return if you stayed long enough to need it during a longer stay. Zero cost to campers, low cost ($8 requested) for others. We were only 3 days, dumping only at the end.

Sites near the creek have shorter driveways, and more neighbors making noise and stinky fires. Those sites also have lots of trees. My site, higher up along the entrance road, had no overhead tress at all and no neighbors mid-week. The driveaway had room for our 2619 and SUV, with about 12 feet to spare. (Any TM shorter than a 3326 could fit in there pretty easily.)

Mid-July temperatures ranged from high 50s to very low 80s. We set the old-style thermostat to 60, and the propane heater ran for a few short periods each night. One warm afternoon, inside temps had reached nearly 100 when we returned from hiking - so I ran the AC unit for a while.

Air Conditioner report: With low outdoor temps (maybe 85F), the AC didn't need to work very hard. 'High Cool' with the dial setting turned all the way to maximum cold was pulling maybe 120 Amps DC into the Inverter on a continuous basis. The Battery monitors showed nearly constant current, even while the AC cycled the compressor a couple of times (I have a very good "soft start" controller wired into the AC supply circuit.). Solar was contributing about 25 Amps, with Batteries contributing about 90 Amps. I could have run the AC unit for 5-6 hours, but my batteries would not last that long in hot weather.

In addition to hiking the "chain of lakes" trail for a few miles, we visited the White Mountains. We stopped at the visitor center (Schulmann Grove) for only a short time, making a contribution and checking that the higher road (not paved) could be driven with 4WD (no trailer).

We were asked if we had a REAL spare tire, because the road is famous for eating tires. The high country in the White Mountains, although reaching over 14,000 feet, does not consist of granite. The sedimentary rock in those upper alitudes is 'Dolomite'. When weather creates cracks and breaks down Dolomite, into smaller rocks and shards, the edges can be very sharp.

On the way down from Grove, one of my fairly new tires paid the price. While changing to the rim and tire of the spare, we were passed and assisted by other visitors -- including a pickup guy who had lost TWO tires on that single trip, he had had fortunately carried an extra spare in the pickup bed.

Having no spare left, I slowed down to 10 MPH for the 2 remaining rmiles of 'gravel' road. These pictures include the Patriarch tree, it's the largest (but not the oldest) of the living Bristlecone Pine Trees.