08-14-2025 Hike

Woke up around 4:15 after a very short night's sleep. I had already packed much of my stuff into the car, so I showered, dressed, and loaded my overnight bag. Put drinks and the rest of the food into the collapsible cooler and loaded it as well. I had time for a quick cereal breakfast. Was on the road and moving by 6:05. The estimated pure drive time was a little less than six hours, so I had buffer built in to be at the campground by noon. I ran into a little traffic on the way into Corona, not too bad, and a minor slowdown at the 60 interchange, but all in all I made good time through the LA area and up to the turnoff for the 395. I drove into Adelanto and got gas at an Arco station, had a pee there as well. Then it was the long, featureless drive up to Lone Pine. I got a little tired on this stretch but powered through. Had a bottle of Sam's cola to give me some caffeine, that helped. Stopped for another bathroom break at the visitor center south of Lone Pine, then I drove to Bishop from there. Stopped in town to top off the tank, then it was a relatively short drive to the Crowley Lake Campground. This one is basically just off the 395, unpaved road to get into it. It's BLM land, $10/night. They had some potable water faucets, but I'd brought a filled water jug. Camped at site 14. I was intent on getting there at noon check-in time, needn't have worried. When I emailed the campground to ask about how busy they typically were (no reservations accepted), they said to expect 80% occupancy. It wasn't even close. I had the area basically to myself, maybe it was 20% occupancy at most. Set the tent up okay but the soil was loose in places, so I used rocks to hold the tent stakes in. Was a little breezy. I had a lot of time to kill in the afternoon. Had a little nap, listened to a podcast, then drove around the area. There's a Crowley Lake Community, looks like fishing if a big deal. I drove to the entrance to the marina by the south end of the lake, but they wanted $10 and I wasn't sure it would be worth it. I drove up to the north end because there was also supposed to be a landing there. Drove to Whitmore Hot Springs, there weren't any hot springs that I could see, also no north landing for the lake. There was, curiously, a public pool, so I walked over to it, thinking maybe I could go for a swim. No luck, it was closed for employee BBQ day. Too bad, the pool actually looked pretty nice, with marked off lanes. So, I drove back into Crowley Lake Community and parked the car, then walked to see what the marina was like. In a word, lifeless. Not so much action going on, no boats on the water that I could see, and no obvious place to go swimming, although I was prepared. So I walked back to the general store in the little community, bought a PBR tall boy, and sat people-watching for a while. The I walked back to the car and drove to the campsite. It was cool in the shade but still hot in direct sunlight. This lake and campground are at about 7000', so the sun is more intense. When I got back, I made dinner - Kraft Mac 'n Cheese enhanced with homemade spaghetti sauce. It was actually pretty good. I had a can of grape leaves as well, and a beer with dinner. I took my time eating, it was a lot of food. Sun dropped below the mountains to the west around 6:40, but it stayed warm for a while, and the breeze continued. Cleaned the dishes, then I used the garden sprayer after that to wash my hair. That thing works pretty well, just takes some time to rinse because the spray is so fine. It was very pleasant after the sun went behind the mountains, a little breeze and cool but not cold. To get my last steps in, I walked over to another tent campsite and talked briefly with the folks there. Then I brushed my teeth and packed the smelly items into the bear locker at the campsite. Got my sleeping quilt out and moved into the tent. The air mattress was partially deflated, but I'm hoping it was just a poor fit of the plug when I filled it up earlier.