Aurora, Nevada

I forgot to post about one of my favorite parts of our Eastern Sierra tour - our trip to the Aurora Cemetery.  This was the place we went right before we got lost on the dirt road.  We all really enjoyed hunting around in the remote area looking for old graves.  And we loved reading about the history of the wild west environment.

Here is some history about what it was like in the 1860's when up to 6000 people lived there:

Aurorans quickly learned that the climate was harsh and the weather totally unpredictable, making life difficult for its residents. The majority of the population was male and saloons were numerous. Gambling houses and brothels were equally common and provided late night entertainment to the men of the town. There were numerous Chinese brothels that exist on the most public of streets and roughly half the women in the town were prostitutes. Other recreational activities for the men were hunting and fishing, dog fights or dog and badger fights, which was another opportunity to gamble. Skiing was a big recreational activity in the town thanks to the mountains surrounding the town. It was probably the most popular recreational activity among residents.

Violence was a major problem in the town. Most men carried guns and knives during daily life and armed conflict was not rare. These conflicts often ended in death. There are numerous examples of disagreements leading to armed violence. Family life was almost non existent due to the low number of women and children in the town. This allowed the men to frequent the saloons, brothels and gambling houses that were in the town.

Has to stop for a snack on the way!

Virginia Lakes Hike

View of Frogs Lake

This is the last post about out Eastern Sierra trip.  This is a hike we took above Virginia Lakes.  We saw this cool cabin that was used until the 60's by a guy named Cooley who mined in the area.

After the hike we had lunch at the Virginia Lakes Resort and had some yummy apple pie.

Cooley Lake

A pack trip came by on the trail we were on

Beardsley Lake

Gearing up the poles

No fish in the after bay

Water was low and boat ramp shallow

One of the places I wanted to go on my sabbatical was to Beardsley Lake.  It is above Sonora, near Strawberry.  We were going to bring the pontoon boat but then we heard the fishing was bad and the water was really low.  So instead, we drove over, hiked around and then fished the after bay.

Fishing the after bay

Lyon's Reservoir

We went to a new lake to check out the fishing and hiking:  Lyons Reservoir.  You fished off the damn, which was cool.  Got three trout.

Big Rich catches a fish

Grace sitting with Ahi

Lumdsen Boondoggle

Jawbone Creek

Lumdsen Bridge

Took a boondoggle a couple days ago down to the Toulomne River, to Lumdsen Bridge and then over Cottonwood to fish Jawbone Creek and home.  

Saw the biggest bear poop ever!

The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit

We went to a concert at the Mt Sage last nite and saw The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit (that is the name of the band!)

See more about the band

They were really good and we both really enjoyed the music.  But there was so much distraction in watching the other people there that we barely listened.  It was like a hippie convention!  There were tons of people there that were not local but came in just for the show and it was a bunch of music loving hippies that were staying up in Mather after the show.

If you are from the bay area, you may be picturing hippies as being environmentalists wearing REI gear and drinking out of recyclable/reusable containers.  That is NOT what these people were.  They were honest to goodness hippies:

Wearing thrift store clothes from the 80's complete with holes
Sporting hairy armpits
Dreadlocks
Crystals
Wearing tevas
Having multiple body piercings
Lots of tattoos
Lots of hugging, hair stroking and kissing

We were not judging at all we were just fascinated by this sub culture.  Many of the kids had straight teeth so you knew that somewhere in their background was a mainstream parent paying for ortho work!  Those same mainstream parents are probably freaking out that their child has become a hippie!

Lyons Reservoir Geocaching

Did some geocaching while at Lyon's Reservoir.  Cache was only about half a mile from where we were fishing.

Morning on PML

We went out in the morning on PML to do some bass fishing with Drew and Rich.  I went along last minute and was just going to hang out and read my book.  But then someone said "blue gill"!  While they were all fishing for bass, I was slaying the blue gill.  I lost count after 10!  I even caught a shad, which I didn't even know they had in our lake.

The boys caught ZERO bass!

Dive, Dive, Dive

Daisy is a typical labrador in that she likes to swim and fetch.  But if someone is not throwing something into the water for her to fetch, she has to make up her own game - which is a game of dive and fetch rocks off the bottom of the river.  She was under water for 24 seconds in this video.....and you wonder why she has an ear infection!

CRASH!

Grace, Drew and Richard crashing on tube!  The new prop we got works great for tubing!

Don Pedro and PML

 Spent yesterday on Don Pedro and the evening on PML.

Did it all at Don Pedro - a little geocaching, tubing, swimming and jetskiing.

Had some jet ski drama - Drew went out to ride it and came back and said that it was making a weird noise and would not get up on plane.  So we took it apart and found a broken carbon seal on the drive shaft. Had to drain the water from it and tow it in.  We are lucky it did not sink.

Towing it back in

Looking for the problem

Broken pieces of the ski

Don Pedro - Water is low!

On PML

Richard and Ahi

At night on PML