Day 15: To Big Pine

April 8, 2011

There was no snow overnight but the temperature definitely got below freezing. Up to 37F (3C) when I got on the road at 8:45. The weather was still overcast and I had a mild headwind. Time to bundle up. At least US 395 is mostly flat-no steep sweaty climbs.

The lower peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains were visible but the higher peaks were shrouded in clouds. To the east, the Inyo mountains are not as high but they were completely shrouded in clouds.

Alabama hills and partly visible Sierra Nevada mountains from Lone Pine.

I was hoping for views more like what I had in July 2009.

Sierra Nevada view during my July 2009 California J tour.

North of Lone Pine I passed Manzanar National Historic site. During World War 2 it was an internment camp for 10,000 innocent U.S. citizens of Japanese descent, mostly families. A sad reminder that guiding principles and the rule of law are the first casualties of every war. Same as in 2009 I passed by before the visitor center opens at 10 AM.

Today's route is the only segment of the entire tour to have fences. Most of the land is owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in order to have water rights.

This surely isn't good for the irrigation equipment.

In Independence (population 574) I stopped for an hour to warm up at the convenience store/Subway. It's a very depressed town. Inyo county government is the only thing going on there.

Inyo County Courthouse in Independence. The only courthouse I saw during this one-county tour.

When I left Independence the sky was brighter and the temperature warmed up to 43F (6C). But I still had a headwind. I stopped again to warm up at the highway rest area 10 miles (16 km) north of Independence. I sat in the walled alcove of the toilet building which completely blocked the wind.

Wide view of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The highest summits are not visible.

The bright clouds didn't last long, though. 10 miles (16 km) before Big Pine the wind shifted to the south as predicted. But it wasn't very strong and the temperature actually dropped.

The only billboards I saw on this tour, in an Indian reservation.

One last look back at the Sierra Nevada south of Big Pine.

By the time I rolled into Big Pine at 2 PM the temperature had dropped to 38F (3C). It was snowing the last couple miles and the snow continued while I loaded the bike and panniers into my car at the Starlight Motel. It's one of 3 motels in Big Pine (population 1350).

Today was very much a disappointment. I was equipped to ride in cold weather but I was hoping for awesome views of the Sierra Nevada mountains like I had during my 2009 "California J" tour and on day 1 of this tour. The weather just didn't cooperate. I also planned to ride from Lone Pine up to Movie road, a scenic area in the Alabama Hills where hundreds of Hollywood movies have been filmed. But there wasn't much of a view today and I didn't want to do a steep climb in such cold weather.

At 2:30 PM I started the long drive home, north on US 395 through heavy snowfall at Mammoth Lakes, Conway Summit, and Devil's Gate summit. The weather was cold and cloudy for most of the drive home, but 55F (13C) and sunny when I got home to Oakland, Oregon at 5 PM the next day.

Distance: 43.8 mi. (70 km)
Climbing: 773 ft. (234 m)
Average Speed: 11.5 mph (18.4 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 21 mph (34 km/h)

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 561 miles (903 km)

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