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MONACHE MEANDERINGS '96

by David Comfort
Photos by Roger Vargo

Fellow travelers clear the way for Anita Balli's Jeep to make an attempt at climbing a rocky uphill section of the Sherman Pass 4X4 trail

EDITOR'S NOTE: David Comfort, 34, is a relative newcomer to the four-wheel-drive world but he's hustling to catch up. 1995 was a busy first year for his white Toyota 4x4 pickup, which logged 24,000 miles, many of them chasing the horizon in San Bernardino, Riverside and Inyo counties. Warranty considerations hold him back from sinking his life's savings into aftermarket kits and such just yet, but he can dream. Although he's chained to the urban/suburban Orange County existence by his career choice - print journalism - his soul continues to live in the desert, where it moved during his college-age stint as a seasonal firefighter in Inyo and Mono counties, and demands constant care and attendance.

Monache Meanderings isn't billed as a rock-crawling 50-degree-and-steeper four-by-four outing and it's not. So if technical driving is your cup of caffeine-enhanced tea, you'll have to find some other means of amusement on this three-day Southern Sierra outing.

No Prob.

Sure, you'll get a low-octane jolt from the steep section of the Sherman Pass jeep trail. And if your soul is unmoved by the robust but unhurried rhythms of old growth forest and the humbling scale of the Domelands wilderness, you shouldn't waste your time there anyway.

But take the people you've joined on your journey and be happy in that.

This year's Monache trip (Aug. 17-19) was my second foray from Harry Lewellyn's catalog, and for the second time, I was surrounded with the nicest, most stand-up people you could hope to meet. All of you, give yourselves a solid pat on the back. You're OK.

And taken as a slice of car culture, these trips are stark in their irony. Put Southern Californians behind the wheel and what you usually get is division: ego-unleashed Mario Andretti wannabe's, gang bangers bent on driveby carnage, stop-and-go commuters wound tight enough to snap. But give some people a transfer case and some wide-open space, and they become sweet as pie. Strange but wonderful.

Although the heat is already stifling at 9 a.m. at the meeting point in Mojave, we patiently cut the lone strangler some slack. A 9:10 departure puts us on the road to adventure, although most people just call it Highway 14.

Roger and Cecile Vargo lead our group of six vehicles and 12 intrepid explorers (plus two Ford Explorers). Terry and Raedelle Walker of San Gabriel man their Jeep Grand Cherokee, and by virtue of their experience (or maybe a discreet bribe), earn the coveted position of dust-eater, a.k.a. sweep. Chris Gardener and Linda Canavin know their beige Explorer wouldn't show the dirt as much as the rest of us. Wil, Luz and Joshua Thoms of Costa Mesa had stuffed their Explorer to overflowing with gear, but we all benefit later because among the impedimenta is a 4-inch telescope. Anita Balli of Big Bear Lake, looking the adventurous part in her red Jeep sporting the license, NEATS 4X, brings along her 12-yearold, Brandon, and the benefit of Girl Scout camping experience. I'm in my white Toyota pickup, kicking myself for remembering everything but my hiking boots.

We leave U.S. 395 in Inyo County at Nine Mile Canyon Road, the route to Kennedy Meadows. Back, back, back into the Sierra we go. WAY back. Am I the only one who didn't have any idea the pavement goes back this far? Must be.

But eventually we find some dirt to drive on, leaving the blacktop somewhat past the Sequoia National Forest's Black Rock Ranger Station en route to Monache Meadows.

The South Fork of the Kern River, designated a "Wild and Scenic River", offers fly fisherman a chance to catch their dinner. The byway meanders through Monache Meadows, the largest meadows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The meadows are located in the Southern Sierras on the Inyo National Forest. Because of heavy snowfall, the area is usually open for recreation only from Memorial Day through October

Scenic stuff, this Sierra forest. Always a pleasure to watch the biotic changes, going from the dessert scrub to the pinyon and juniper, then yellow pine and cedar. Air conditioning is a necessity here - not so much because of the heat, a more or less comfortable 80 degrees or so, but because of the dry season dust. You don't want your windows down. It could be worse, though, because at this point of the trip there isn't much in the way of steep sloes to churn up.

We make our merry way along, Roger tending to our education with his CB-delivered tidbits. We come upon the meadow in due time. How big is this thing anyway? Biggest in the Sierra, Roger tells us. We pass the sand dunes at the north end and make a lunch stop.

On the way back, Terry and Raedelle phone in that they have a flat tire. Wil and I turn around to lend aid. As it turns out, Wil ends up lending the most aid while I end up keeping in the shade and taking pictures. But he and Terry wrestle the spare on, and again we're off.

Spring comes late to the Southern Sierra high country. These flowers were in bloom above 8500 feet elevation in August, 1995

Backtracking returns us to the pavement, and we head for our would-be campsite. It's full of people, though, but if ever there was a fortuitous forced change in plans, this was it. The alternate site, Paloma Meadows, is simply gorgeous. At about 8,100 feet in elevation, it's a jumping-off point for pack tours, so it's semideveloped, with a pit toilet and a REAL water pump. It's just the right size to accommodate our six vehicles - and it's deserted. We move in and take over. The fire ring is just the right size for the 12 of us to relax around, sharing our potluck and conversation that night amid centuries-old pines and firs and the broad wash of stars.

Roger doesn't sound the wagons-ho until 10 the next morning, which suits us morning slow movers just fine. We're off toward Sherman Pass. You wonder why this trail was carved out the way it was; it seems to to out of its way to squeeze between trees that are exactly a car-width apart.

Travelers make their way through coniferous forest and uphill to 9000-foot elevation mark on the Sherman Pass 4X4 Trail. The route traveling from East to West is suitable for most stock 4X's, except long wheelbase and full width. Traversing the trail from West to East usually requires lockers because of steeper and looser uphill travel

Eventually we end up at the steepest section, a couple hundred yards long, and even Roger in his Blazer has to take more than one shot at some of the worst parts. The Explorers, with their stock-size tires, clunk along over the occasional rocks.

David Comfort lowers tire pressure to give Anita Balli's Jeep more traction climbing a steep and loose uphill section of the Sherman Pass 4X4 Trail on the Sequoia National Forest in California

The road proves to be a tall order for Anita, whose CJ just doesn't seem to have the bulk to hunker down and grab the powdery road surface. "Gardening" the road, pushing, even posting a couple of people on the back bumper for added weight don't help. In frustration, Anita yields the wheel to Roger. With a running start and a right foot of lead, he urges the Jeep up the slope, bouncing and spinning tires in a cloud of dust to at last gain the crest, onlookers cheering.

Then it's down the steep back side of the pass. Given that this is a low-level trip designed for stock vehicles, it's probably wise to run it in the direction that we did. But the back side looks like a nice little challenge and beckons me back at some future point. And there are certainly plenty of other attractions the area has to offer.

From there it's back to camp for more relaxation and camaraderie. Then on Monday, up and off to the departure point in Kernville, the final round of hugs, handshakes and photos, then on our separate ways, hopefully to meet one or more of our companions on a future Ecological 4-Wheeling adventure.

© Harry Lewellyn

Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures
P.O. Box 12137
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
voice: (949) 645-7733
fax: (949) 645-7738
email: info@eco4wd.com

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