Historically, California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range has been an enormous playground for every type of outdoors activity. If hunting, camping, and fishing is your passion you will find a lifetime of canyons, lakes, and creeks to pitch a tent and wet a fly. Getting to many of these locations will require you to hike, ride a horse, or four-wheel into your destination or trailhead. But once you have fixed your eyes on all the beauty, grandeur, and high country awe, you can plan a lifetime of adventure’s and never have enough time to get to them all.
For the second year in a row, we have made a late fall trip up to Parchers Resort high in the Sierra Nevada, about 40 minutes west of Bishop, California. Both times we were met with high-winds on the drive up, and snowfall during the night. When the heavy winter snows start to fall, Parchers Resort, located at 9,290 feet above sea level, is buried until spring. Located between two creeks (Bishops Creek and Green Creek) and South Lake, Parchers is and ideal base resort to launch your excursions. They have about 17 cabins ranging from two-person to six, all with heat, hot water, showers, kitchens, and comfortable beds. There’s a general store to pick up some tackle and find out what the trout are biting on at South Lake.
So if fishing is on your agenda, there are lots of Rainbow trout and Alpers nearby. High country lakes hold Golden trout and Brook trout. Some you can drive up to, and many you’ll have to hike in or saddle up for. You can fish in the morning and go four-wheeling in the afternoon! You will catch an eyeful of the fish taken at South Lake and the cabin accommodations by clicking on www.parchersresort.net . The resort opens on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008.
And when four-wheel exploration is your motivator, Parchers Resort is a great headquarters’ location to venture out on day trips in the Sierra Nevada, open desert, and the White Mountains east of Bishop. Our primary goal each year is to have fun and test a new four-wheel drive machine on the highway, in the snow and ice, and at high altitude. We do not take any manufacturer’s vehicle into extreme four-wheel drive conditions. Instead, get a sense of how worthy a four-wheel drive vehicle is for a person who lays down their hard earned money and takes their factory equipped 4x4 on an adventure straight from the dealership.
This year we chose the 2007 Jeep Wrangler X, a four-door V-6 powered rig with a soft top. We also took the opportunity to test the new Goodyear SR-A Wrangler tires in various surface and road conditions to include ice, snow, loose rock, and mud.
We have adopted a test route that includes more than 250 (each way) miles of highway driving to reach our jumping off point at Parchers Resort. Early the following morning we shoot across the Owens Valley and head northeast out of Bishop, CA on Highway 6 for a few miles to Silver Canyon Road, then head east up into the White Mountains. You can approach the White Mountains from a more subdued and paved road, but Silver Canyon is the adventurer’s gateway into this high-country.
Silver Canyon starts at the valley floor and continually gains altitude as it rolls up on the high desert mesa then vertically zigzags up a narrow rocky, rut strewn, loose shale, and often muddy and icy climb up to the 11,000 foot elevation level in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine National Forest in the White Mountains. The peak of White Mountain is the third highest point in California at an elevation of 14,246 feet. You can hike up, sit up, and throw up, once you summit; but you’ll never forget the view.
Click on every photo that interests you to enlarge the image. This trail run is more of a photo essay, with each of the images describing more than 80 miles of backcountry travel in one of the most awesome high-country destinations accessible to the average four-wheel drive vehicle. There are plenty of places for lifted and low-geared four wheelers to find a challenge in the Sierra Nevada, our test route up Silver Canyon consistently offers a means to sort out the weakly powered and high-range-only vehicles. The Jeep Wrangler X is most certainly a worthy vehicle to take on this kind of early winter, snow and ice, kind of trip. See you on White Mountain.
 A nightlong light snow, and a day of White Mountain four-wheeling is all we had on the agenda. Just one caviat, the LSU game and a place to watch it was the end goal of this late October Saturday. |  Parchers Resort is located at 9,290 foot elevation in the beautiful Inyo National Forest. It's a 30 minute drive southwest from downtown Bishop, California. We arrived for the last weekend before the high-country shuts down before the deep snows of winter. |  The resort lies on a pine-sheltered bench between two beautiful mountain streams, the lively Bishop Creek and the more placid Green Creek. We woke up to an overnight dusting of snow on the ground. Conditions were perfect for testing the Jeep Wrangler X and the Goodyear SR-A Wrangler tires. |
 Established in 1921, Parchers Resort has been a jumping-off point for outdoorsmen and women for decades since. Highcountry routes such as the Rainbow Trail and countless hiking destinations are accessible from the Parchers Resort area. |  The resort is an ideal location for the small family or a large group. Fishing, horseback riding, hiking and photography are just a few of the activities which draw visitors to our scenic creek-side resort. South Lake is just up the road from the resort. Parchers Resort offers boat rentals and fishing tips. |  Early morning roads were ice covered down to about the 6,000 foot elevation level. |
 We couldn't help some low-speed braking test to see how the Goodyear SR-A Wrangler tires would bite. Working with the Jeep Wrangler anti-lock braking (ABS) and high-range four-wheel drive, kept the vehicle in a straight line to a stop. The Goodyrear SR-A Wrangler tires provide good, stable, traction when starting from a dead stop on ice. With a couple inches of snow on the ground from the night before, the Goodyear SR-A Wrangler tires worked great in both forward traction, cornering (slowly), and braking. |  Our four-door Jeep Wrangler X was a soft-top. The interior heated up fairly quickly and stayed warm. The longer wheelbase is always an advantage on a long road trip, and it is an asset when driving on snow covered roads and icy conditions. |  When you click on the image, you can better see the horizontal siping Goodyear designs into the SR-A Wrangler tires. The tread pattern, siping, and tread compound all served to impress on us the winter driveability of these tires. |
 With just the overnight snowfall remnants still clinging to the new tread, you can see how the center tire grooves channel water and snow, and the hundreds of horizonatal sipes are more evident. |  Goodyear SR-A Wrangler tires are Jeep's choice of tire from the factory for the Jeep Wrangler X. On the highway these tires are smooth and quiet. On ice and light snow they worked fine. We were yet to see what kind of traction these tires, and this Wrangler X, would perform in low-range four-wheel drive. |  By early January 2008 the high-country, even where the Wrangler X is sitting, would be under impassable snow drifts. |
 Looking to the east, those snow covered mountains will be our destination for the day. We would drop out of the Sierra Nevada, drive north of Bishop, CA, and make our way up Silver Canyon. Silver Canyon climbs vertically from the valley floor up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine National Forest, and White Mountain. The Bristle Cone Pine trees are said to be amongst the oldest living things on earth. |  Looking back up the canyon we were decending out of Parchers Resort, the snowfall would be the first of many, more heavy, snowfalls that will hopefully replentish lakes and water reservoirs that suffered several years of drought conditions in the high-country. |  Ascending Silver Canyon usually a low-range four-wheel drive to be safe. You can run up in high-range but you'll have to carry more speed. Vertical canyon sides, steep switchbacks, mule-track narrow trail, and potential for downhill traffic are conditions to be alert for. Most four-wheel drive vehicles can do okay in the summer, but as winter sets in ice, mud, and snow make it more challenging. |
 Loose shale, ice, and a dusting of snow on the White Mountain range are a good test for the Jeep Wrangler X and Goodyear SR-A tires. |  Although the tread is not overly open, nor aggressive, the SR-A tires offered good traction. |  Here's the view looking back across the Owens Valley at the Sierra Nevada. This view looks north towards Mammoth, California. |
 The Jeep Wrangler X V-6 performed really well considering the high elevation and the vertical climb. We would end up spending most of the morning and early afternoon around 11,000 feet elevation. |  We're fairly certain this black stallion mustang is wild. We've talked to people who work at the UCLA high-altitude research station who have known of this horse for several years. Up on White Mountain, and directly east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, we are only a few miles from Nevada. |  If you ever do get up to this high-country and see horses like this, please don't pressure them or chase them. It's foolhardy and dangerous. |
 Some folks think the big boy has a harem close by. Who knows? What was more pressing is how long this horse will stay in the high-country before decending to lower elevations for the winter. |  Barbara and Merril are two felow four-wheelers we would happen upon in the high-country. Photo by snowhawwk. |  Late October, the quaking aspen trees turn with the freezing temperatures. This is Merril and Barbara's Jeep as they scout some dirt road outside Bishop, CA. Photo by snowhawwk. |
 Merril and Barbara entering the Bristle Cone Pine National Forest. Photo by snowhawwk. |  Before this moment, the people in these two Jeeps were total strangers. After a couple minutes chatting, Barbara and Merril joined us as we headed for the Crooked Creek wilderness area. It's always best to have another vehicle along when you are exploring off-highway. |  As we started off down Crooked Creek, the wind and chill factor were significantly frigid. |
 Straight ahead is White Mountain and the Patriarch Grove of Bristlecone Pine. We hooked a right. |  You don't need four-wheel drive for this approach to Crooked Creek, but there are water crossings and mud that may require high-range. |  One of the water crossings on Crooked Creek. It can be much more serious in the spring when snowmelt fills the meadows and creek. Traction was good, and the lack of suspension lift was not a factor on this trip. Photo by snowhawwk. |
 Further down the trail we veered to the north and came upon Cottonwood Road. Now you need your high-range and low-range 4x4. This trail snakes through a primitive camping area where, as the sign says, you pack it in and you pack it out! |  Snow from the previous night was still on the ground, and it was evident we were the only two vehicles making tracks. |  |
 |  Towards the Nevada side (we may have been in Nevada at this point) of Cottonwood Road we ran across this old log cabin and an outbuilding made of logs. |  No telling how old these log structures are, but they are a very cool site to see in the backcountry. |
 A creek ran through the valley and signaled the end of Cottonwood Rd. It dead-ends at a meadow that could be used in the summer as a primitive site long as you stay away from the creek itself. |  End of the trail. We stopped long enough to look around and soak up the afternoon sun for a few minutes before heading back the way we came in. |  The end of Cottonwood Road is surrounded by rock outcroppings like this. One moment clouds were sweeping in, and the next it was blue sky. |
 Here's the view looking west from trails end. |  Merril and Barbara (snowhawwk) got to see a trail they had never been down before. |  As isolated as this spot is, it is beautiful. But once the heavy snows fall, it becomes no-man's land for a couple months. |
 There were a couple of low-range sections we thought for sure the stock Wrangler X and Goodyear SR-A tires would falter on ice, snow, or rock. But it didn't happen, the vehicle and tires worked really well and testify to the kind of four-wheelin' exploration folks can do with a stock vehicle. |  A couple steep, slick, sections like this were within the capabilities of the Jeep Wrangler X and the Goodyear SR-A Wrangler tires. |  Now what? We had exactly two hours to get off White Mountain and fling up to Mammoth Lakes, Caleee...fornia (as da' govna' insistently calls it), and try to find a sports bar with a bigscreen TV so we could watch LSU come from way behind to beat their rivals in late October. The entire trip was contingent upon watching college football on a Saturday. Wheelin in the morning and fooball in late afternoon, it worked out just fine. |
