Inyo Traverse

As soon as John and I were turned around on our Inyo Traverse attempt back in October, I contacted Matt, and we began to plan for revenge in the spring.

I had a day to spare between Thor and the Inyos, so I slowly drove north through the Owens Valley, topping up on water and supplies. I dropped off a few gallons of water on 168, and then drove up Big Pine-Death Valley Road to a camp spot Matt and I had picked out a few weeks prior.

I had the whole day to lounge around, eat and prepare for the trip. There is nothing like the peace of a seldom used pullout tucked away from the noise of cell service and civilization. Around sunset Matt arrived, and we made final plans for the next day.

Day 1

The first day, we began by walking down a lightly used dirt road. We passed a vanlife influencer sleeping in their RV parked off the pavement, with a huge hashtag tagged across their car. They would be the last person we would see for the next two days.

After crossing over the first initial ridge, we descended down to Sawabu flat. The flat dirt road walking passed quickly, and soon we found ourselves at the based of the mighty Wacuoba. The 3,000 ft climb straight up Wacuoba was slow going with 8L of water each in our packs. We made quick work of the climb though, finding an ideal route to avoid brush and snow.

We took in the panoramic views on the summit and marveled at the view. Our whole route, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Saline Valley all unfurled across the horizon. From there, the going was very good for quite a while. We surfed along wide open ridge, unimpeded by brush. For a bit, we even followed an old 4by4 trail.

Even after leaving the 4by4 track, the going was quite good, much better than the rock fields I knew were coming. At about 3pm, we reached the turnoff for Seephole spring. This time, I did not go bushwhacking in the dark to look for the salty water. Instead, Matt and I continued on, and reversed my steps from last time. I knew a tough section was coming, but I was prepared.

The going started off good. Wide open drainages, with nothing but sagebrush to stand in our way. We began to huge descent, and were treated to sweeping views of the Inyos to our south. Finally, we reached the rocky hillside. From a distance the rocks beckoned like the sirens — passing through looked easy from a far. I took Matt through one to show him and remind myself how hard it was. As we got closer, the rocks got bigger and bigger. Gigantic 20 foot boulders strewn about, creating many dangerous crevices and crannies in between.

Luckily, we knew better than to contour in this mess like last time. We gladly gave up elevation, and traded it for much smoother travel. In a fraction of the time of last time, we were passed the whole mess, and making our way along the series of miraculous benches. We set up camp in one of these washes and braced for the cold night ahead.

Day 2

The day started off smoothly. We were energized by our tremendous progress on day one. Once we got back on the ridge though, things started to go south. We just weren’t quite finding as good of lines as John and I found. Everything was slightly bushier and slightly more tedious. This all compounded in a navigational snafu at the junction with the Pat Keyes. Somehow, we just couldn’t find the trail and wasted a good hour thwacking about. At last, we found the trail, and made mostly smooth work of it. The altitude ticked down, as the temperature crept up. Soon we found ourselves walking across the flat and straight ribbonlike roads in the Owens Valley.

Directly in front of Manzanar, we stuck our thumbs out, and after not too long, we got a ride all the way to Bishop. A weekend warrior was driving to meet his wife in Bishop, and graciously allowed us to come along for the ride. He dropped us off right on Main Street, and we treated ourselves to some Rolling Chef burritos.

We resupplied, and lazed about in the park. I enjoyed passing through the neighboring town on foot, without the confines and conveniences of a vehicle. Our friend Abraham drove us out into the valley near the Artesians, where we hung out for a bit before setting up camp.

Day 3

We both expected the second half of the trip to be mostly road walking, and much less interesting then the first half. We were treated to pleasant and unpleasant surprises. Everything went smoothly with our exit from the Owens Valley. We treaded across seldom used dirt roads, and up an alluvial fan. Upon turning off the dirt road, we were surprised to find water in the canyon. This quickly turned from oh, a pleasant surprise, to uh oh, an imminent concern.

Anytime there is water in the desert, thick brush inevitably grows in around the source. The canyon quickly became almost impassable. At times we trundled through the brush at a few feet a minute. Sometimes we climbed high on the canyon walls, but turned back once the going got too sketchy and loose. A few hours later, we finally made it passed the culprit spring, and back into dry wash.

The going was good from there. Dirt roads, our water cache, more dirt roads. Finally, the pleasant surprise, the dirt roads gave way to lightly used single track. We were up high in the Inyos, walking single-track, without a single motorized vehicle in sight. The views were expansive. Deep Springs Valley was far below us to our left, and The Sierra dominated the horizon to our right. As the sun was setting, we reminisced on all of the trips we had done together. We counted them up, and arrived at a staggering 50 trips over the past decade. It was bittersweet that this would likely be our last backpacking trip for a few years, but we took solace in the fact that we would hopefully keep it going into old age.

Day 4

We had only nine miles left, and they were all on dirt roads. Before long, we were back at our cars, having come full circle. The Inyos never fail to disappoint with solitude, rugged terrain, and remote mountains. I have now connected my footsteps through the range from Bishop to Lone Pine, but I will surely find a reason to return soon.