Hello fellow bloggers,

This blog post will describe the Hayman family’s Fourth of July trip of 2017. Normally we will stay home for this holiday as I find traveling and such on major national holidays is well tiring. Another motivating factor in staying home is well the location of my home, it has a sweeping views of the Sierras to the west and overlooks the city of Ridgecrest. So from the back porch we normally spark up the grill have friends over and enjoy the local fireworks which are put on by the county fair. But this year a friend suggested we join them with a few other families to enjoy the holiday in Bridgeport Ca.

It would turn out to be a five day adventure, one most of the family would enjoy immensely. The plan would be to hook up the camper and meet our friends and other invited family’s at Virginia Lakes area, specifically  Dunderberg Meadows. As this place is about two miles from the actual Virginia Lakes and because it is federal land dry camping is free. For those who are unaware of the term ‘Dry Camping’ it references camping where there are no services like toilets and running water, thus one must bring their own.

While my family goes camping several times a year we normally go places where one can simply plug in the trailer for power and attach a hose to the camper for water. Thus we often have the comforts of home while in a mini version of home. The only thing about this trip however would be my eldest son opted, better stated asked if he could skip this trip and stay with friends in town a wish mother and I granted. So my biggest helper would not be there and the infamous middle child will have his shining moment to step up and do the things required in setting up and tearing down a camp site.

So the big day came the trailer was loaded and the truck gassed up so we headed out, the drive is always enjoyable up the 395 as the views are sweeping. Some may care but I must say my Tundra is one heck of a towing machine as there are several grades one must navigate the first is when leaving Bishop traveling north, I remember as a kid this grade as back then the vehicles were not as reliable as today a fact which is noticed as Cal-Trans places a water trailer on this grade as many vehicles will overheat traveling up this grade and my mothers car was one of these said victims in the past. But when I attempted it towing a trailer my Tundra on cruse control did not care in the slightest. The second major grade is when one leaves Lee Vining past Mono Lake where at the top of this grade is the turnoff to Vagina Lakes.

The picture below is of the famous vista where travelers from around the world go to place a sticker on the guardrail pictured is my lovely wife April and my two boys Joseph and Jacob. If you look closely though you will see a sticker from Wall Drug of North Dakota. While not pictured I placed a sticker of my favorite tent company Hyperlight Mountain Gear.

So we made our way to the grounds and were met by our friends whom have traveled up a few days early to secure his special spot. While there were not a lot of people in this area it fluctuates from year to year.

This picture is of Dunderberg Meadows from my camper.

My two boys on this trip decided to camp in tents outside even after the warning of cold temperatures as the elevation here is 9,878 ft. But like any other good kid they quickly dismissed our concerns. I made one caveat that if they choose to camp outside then they would have to for the duration of the trip, as I was not willing to reset the configuration of the camper differently after. They were excited as their buddies would also be tent camping so, I replied no worries boys we are here to have fun.

Well it would be a good thing I decided to take the portable generator on this trip as upon our arrival the fridge which can operate on propane or electricity well the propane was not working and forced the use of the generator, this is an issue as well no one runs a generator at night so, but if this was to be the only issue on this trip then I think we were doing rather well.

So the campfire was lit and the day was a success as each family involved was in charge of dinner, our night was not the night we arrived thus making it quite easy to settle in as another family hosted and provided a wonderful meal for all. The next day we awoke to kids yelling and screaming super early in the morning with only one rule stay in shouting distance. It was amazing having the kiddos doing non electronic stuff.

Well the second day was going to be a long day, but an exciting one. The plan was to travel down Dunderberg Meadows Rd to Glenn Creek Road which is a dirt service road (the long way to highway 395) where we would then travel to highway 270 known as Bodie Road to visit the old mining ghost town of Bodie. While my wife an I have been on other trips in the area and already visited the town I highly recommend a revisit as there is way to much to see in one visit unless one spends all day there. On this trip the plan was to take the guided tour of the mining facility, as in the past is was sold out when we had visited before. In the picture below the main mine is up in the far left of the picture.

So my advice is be prepared to walk as no vehicles are allowed close to the town and the amount of people who visit often mean that parking can be as far away as a mile. After spending the day here the family’s in our party decided to part ways and explore or return to the campground, some even went fishing. This part is what usually make people whom travel together mad as no one can figure out what one wants to do, but our group all decided in advance we would do this event then split up. This allows everyone to do what is right for them at the time rather then be bound to what the majority wants, because the majority will never want the same thing.

Me and my family decided to visit Bridgeport as there were many events taking place this weekend. Thus the plug for Bridgeport is needed at this point, the big kicker here is Bridgeport is known to go all out for the 4th of July as they host the ‘Old Time 4th Of July’

As one can see there are plenty of events one can partake in, this year they also had mud wrestling and a slick pig catch. I did not partake as trying to catch a slick pig is no pick nick. So my family decided on cold ice cream cones followed on by a visit to the street fair.  This is also where one can find the prized trout, some were ranging in the 4-7 lb range, simply amazing there are fish in the creeks up here that big.

After this we decided to return to the camp, via the route we took in the morning a decision my wife well did not care for. I figured I could just go faster as we were not traveling in a caravan, and my Tundra was made for this right? Well, it would appear going down the rocky dirt road at an aggressive speed the truck handled just fine, but my street tires would prove to be challenged by said road. We did make it back and per our agreement my family then cooked and served dinner, I choose to make Tri-Tip and Chicken Kebabs basted in Yoshedias Terriki Sauce.

This evening was then concluded with smores and campfire singing, as we had some quite talented people with musical abilities. I was impressed. Off to bed we went as tomorrow would be the big fishing day at Virgina Lakes.

After another leisurely morning the family’s packed up and headed to the lake, with fishing poles and kiddos in hand. It would turn out that we were way to late for the bite but had fun non the less. Thus the featured image is of this morning at the lake.

My son Joseph with his first catch, he would end up with a total of 4 non assisted fish caught on a mini roster tail. His casting was quite impressive for at ten year old.

Next is my son and my friends son both becoming catcher men.

The picture does not show it but the little champ had just caught another.

As you can see from this picture the snow was quite present as the inlet to this lake is currently covered by said snow, this is why we choose to navigate with the kiddos here as we knew it would be the most successful spot to fish. In total between our families we bagged over 30 fish between us

By the time I returned with my boys my wife was ready to eat, and being the super planner I had scheduled our lunch to be at the Virgina Lakes Lodge. So, upon our arrival we cleaned up and then went to the lodge. I high recommend doing this for two reasons, the first is it keeps the local economy going and secondly the service and food were amazing.  We then returned to the camp and had a lazy day, relaxing and taking naps, then once again as agreed a different family prepared dinner it was great a whole day of no cooking. My wife loves it when I super plan!

The next day was the 4th of July, so today was all about Bridgeport and fishing always fishing. Those of us who managed to wake up early went fishing then met everyone for a noon departure to Bridgeport. This is when as a group we participated in the local festivities and then had a group dinner at the local Burger Barn. To the credit of the Burger Barn they operated like a machine and were quite professional about it all with the heavy crowds.

We then found our spot to park our vehicles along the air port road waited for the big show to start. I did not take pictures of this but they are forever etched in my minds eye.

I believe we arrived back at camp after the show at about midnight. Thus the end of the road had been reached. I never plan activities on the return day, I pack up and leave as quickly as possible because there will still be a six hour dive home. So the next pictures were taken on the way back and confirm that DAD won again! We had a blast and are considering attending next year, but I guess time will tell.

Until next time aCSguy….