An adventure on the personal side of life
By Dave Boyer
Sometimes there’s stuff in your back yard you never knew existed. And sometimes a person that lives 800 miles away might know something about that stuff when its been right under your nose your entire life. In the fall of 2011 not only would I take an enjoyable trip, I’d learn something about a little town I’ve passed through many times during my lifetime.
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In early 2011, Sportsmobile Forum member Mac McIntire went out on a limb and planned to set up a group meet in Nevada. As far as I knew this was a first forum gathering to take place in the Silver State. There had been a few other group meets over the past years at various locations other than Nevada, but most were on the smaller size and limited to around 10 vehicles or so. To tell the truth, most forum rallies start out with great interest but dwindle down towards the end. It’s just difficult to get members from all over the US to find a common date to meet up. Mac posted dates and did a little fishing to see if anyone was interested in attending a late September or early October rendezvous. I had my doubts but in the end would be surprised.
This post is long and has several picture that might require long download times. Please be aware that some of the images in this article were taken by some of the group members.
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During October of 2011, a Sportmobile rally was set up at Nevada’s Valley Of Fire State Park by Mac McGuire of the Sportsmobile Forum group that ended up being one of the largest meetings to date. I’d say that it was a solid success and you can read about it here:
Valley Of Fire Sportsmobile Group Meet
To and from the Nevada get-together, I visited some of the area around Mono Lake. Not only did this area supply an overnight camping point between California and Nevada, the region has some nice forest service paths well suited for vehicle exploration. Unlike many of the off road routes I take, these were well graded paths that were highly scenic during the fall season and suitable for novice drivers and 2WD vehicles during dry weather.
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By Dave Boyer
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On July 24th, I decided to meet up with Sportsmobile Forum member Steve (SteveInLA) and his wife Carmen at Yosemite Creek campground. He said they would be up there around mid day and hoped I could camp with them for a night.
Work had their claws in me so the best I could do was a quick visit to the park.
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The 4,700 Foot Road
Location: Western Sierra Nevada Mountain range east of Sonora Ca.
Season open: Open all year, weather permitting.
Nearby Facilities & Camping: Dispersed camping at the beginning and end of the trail.
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Donnell Reservoir is located on the middle fork of the Stanislaus River just off Ca Highway 108 (Sonora Pass) on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada’s. The dam sits in a very narrow portion of the river canyon and has a single access road (5N09X) sometimes called the 4,700’ road.
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