By Robert LaMont

MONACHE MEADOWS, 2001

We met John Strege at the Mobil station on Chapman at 6:00 am . John, using his uncanny sense of observation, noticed that we weren’t towing the jeep and asked “what’s going on?” I told him the jeep is at All J Products and we would pick it up on the way. So off we went to get the jeep with the new bumper and spare tire carrier. After getting the jeep we had breakfast with Steve, Kory, and his dad Keith then hit the road with the jeep in tow.

Shortly after the turn off to the 395 we ran into Larry and Margie at one of the traffic lights in Adelante. They were on the way to June Lakes for a family vacation. After a short conversation on the C.B. they took off and left us in the dust. Have fun!

To our pleasant surprise the desert didn’t get too hot and the only one that complained was Quaid because he isn’t used to sitting in his car seat for so long.

After stopping for gas in Pearsonville we made the left turn onto 9 mile canyon road and I disconnected the jeep. Juli drove it the rest of the way. Removing the jeep wasn’t enough. The transmission still got hot and we had to stop near the top to let it cool.

Immediately after getting to the top of the canyon you could see evidence of the fire they had last year. For almost the entire distance between the top of the canyon and Troy Meadows  (22 miles) the left side of the road was burned. The area came pretty close to getting wiped out. The firefighters must have fought hard.

We pulled into Troy Meadows camp ground about 1 p.m. set up camp, and relaxed. The rest of the Dirt Devils, George Lopez his friend John and both their daughters, and Jeff Baxter, showed up before or around 9 p.m. Bill and Sue where are you?

Across from us in the camp ground were two couples with TJ,s. One was Tom Smitt of Smittybuilt fame. Since they were new to the area we invited them to go with us on Saturday.

On Saturday morning we headed out with six vehicles. We made such good time we got into Monache Meadows too early for lunch in the usual place so we decided to check out an area the Ranger had told us about last year called Riverview Camps.  It didn’t add any difficulty to the run but there was  a nice water crossing and what a beautiful place to camp!  We ate lunch at Riverview and then explored another part of the meadow which turned out be a dead-end.  We left our guests to try their luck at fishing and headed back to camp playing in a rocky area along the way.  That night John told the funniest camping stories ever over roasted marshmellows.

On Sunday, we did Sherman Pass and a part of the trail I had never done before.  We went up to 9,909 foot Sherman Peak .  This gave us a beautiful 360 degree view of the Sequoias.  George took his group fishing on Sunday morning so it was only Jeff, John and me and my family.  Only three vehicles on a Dirt Devil run.  When was the last time that happened?  We found an old mine site that had two cabins that are being restored by locals.  We signed the register, “Dirt Devils Were Here”.  We played a little bit on a rocky hill climb when John managed to talk Jeff into trying to climb a rock, but ended up smashing his bumper.  It’s a good thing he has a new one at home waiting to be put on.

On the way back to camp, I saw my whole family’s life flash before my eyes when a truck with a camper pulling a trailer full of motorcycles came around a corner almost completely on the wrong side of the road.  I had to swerve off the road to avoid being hit head on.  Be careful on those mountain roads and be sure to stay on the “right” side of the road.

When we got back to camp, we all packed up and headed home.  Jeff headed off on his own, while John followed us (thanks John).

The trip had no breakdowns, snakebites, or any other mishaps.   I hope everyone had fun.

Robert