Is learning a valuable lesson or spontaneity a better way to go? Some travellers plan every detail, they do lots of research and have their roadtrip all mapped out before even leaving.
I like to travel more spontaneously. I usually have a big plan of where I am going to. When on the road I decide each day where to go next based on what I want to see, the distance I want to travel and where I will stay for the night.
When deciding on a night spot I mostly use my ioverlander app. I like to find a potential spot about 3 -4 hours drive away. As a solo women traveller and working remotely cell service is essential.
My trip through eastern Califorina in mid March was made for learning a valuable lesson. I had slept at a dispersed BLM spot near Independence, California and headed out early. My night spot destination was near Lee Vining about a 3 hour drive.
I was traveling along Highway 395 from Bishop, CA to Reno, Nevada. This route was perfect as I love to travel on new routes and I had never travelled this road before.
Mono Lake
I read about Mono Lake, which was in this area and it sounded like a fascinating place to explore. Mono Lake is a saline soda lake in Mono County in eastern California which was formed at least 76,000 years ago. The best features of this lake are the dramatic tufa towers which are limestone forms sticking out of the lake.
In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of water and power began diverting water from Mono Lakes tributary streams to Los Angeles. This deprived the lake of a freshwater source and it dropped 45 feet. The salinity doubled and the ecosystem nearly collapsed. Over time the rainfall did not keep up with the evaporation and minerals in the water built up. The lake is now 2.5 times as salty and 80 times as alkaline as the ocean.
Driving up the Mountain
Just north of Bishop I started climbing up the mountain road where I saw the first signs of snow on the roadside. The sun was shining, the road well maintained and clear so all was good. As I headed further north the snow banks got bigger, reaching higher than my van which is 9 feet high! There was not a lot of traffic but I am used to traveling on less busy roads so it did not twig any concern.
With the stunning blue sky and white snow covered mountains I was enjoying the scenic drive. Not really knowing the terrain I assumed I would be crossing the mountain range to another valley where there would be less snow. Two and a half hours later I arrived at Lee Vining to find the access to Mono Lake closed as well as the highway going north!d
What to do now?
I parked and pulled out my phone to see what was going on. Record snow fall had caused avalanches north of Lee Vining so the road was closed and would be for at least another week. Oops, maybe I should have checked the road conditions before heading out. California is hot, sunny and it doesn’t snow, right? Obviously I was wrong.
Vanlife can be a bit of an escape from the so called “real world”. I had not been keeping up with the latest news so was really out of touch.
I am not a snow camper and did not want to stay in the cold weather for a week. My only other choice was to turn around and go back the 110 miles (177 km) that I had just driven.
I had plenty of gas. Travelling in Northern Canada where distances between towns can be a very long way I learned to always fill up at 1/2 a tank. I enjoyed the beautiful drive and scenery back down the mountain to Bishop, California and headed north into Nevada.
Did I learn a valuable lesson?
Perhaps next time I will do a quick check on the road conditions, but probably not. Where is the adventure in that? I love the spontaneity that vanlife gives me.
Some things I did reinforce are:
- Always consider 1/2 tank of gas as empty.
- Plan for the unexpected.
- Don’t be attached to the outcome.
- Be spontaneous.
Welcome to Vanlife.