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 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,
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Anthony Ottati 