DOUBLING DOWN ON THE DUSY!
I’d concluded after running the Dusy last year that this trail is in a class all its own. I described it as “Awesome.” After running this trail twice with the club and a third time without, my opinion remains the same. This trail is as good as it gets. This year we had fewer members and fewer Jeeps but the experience remained incredible. With better weather, more time and less drama this year’s trip to the Dusy could only be compared to being in Heaven. For the challenge, beauty and fun I can’t compare this trail to any other. The Dusy doesn’t disappoint!
We started this year’s adventure with a visit to McKinley Grove. We had the time and we were waiting on Joe and Steve to make it up the mountain. For those who have run the Dusy before McKinley Grove is the area we pass going to Courtright reservoir. It is the patch of Giant Sequoias along Dinkey Creek Rd. There are 216 of these awe inspiring 2000 year old trees. With twenty foot diameters and hundreds of feet in height they are really something to see. Just for a little prospective, Jesus was walking the earth when these trees were seedlings and some of you call me old! I highly recommend a stop at McKinley Grove.
Travis and I made it to the trail head with plenty of day light and our four additional passengers. With additional days and extra people we had to bring extra food, drinks and equipment. I wasn't laughing so hard at Ken's box anymore. What's a little trail rash on your box if you can store stuff in it. Travis and I had never run a trail this heavy let a lone one of this magnitude. The weight issue was evident by what appeared to be a “Bro” lift on my Jeep. Still waiting for Steve and Joe we decided to stop on top of Chicken Rock. Everything was perfect except for the wait. Without cell service or CB range we had no way of reaching them. Three hours later we decided to make our way down to the shoreline to set up camp and try our hand at fishing. Two hours after that Joe made his way into camp. We learned what the hold up was and why Steve wasn’t there. We also learned that Jim doesn’t like chairs. Jim,... Joe’s friend made short work of the first chair he destroyed, so quickly and quietly did he destroyed this chair that I started to worry that we had a professional chair killer on our hands. One thing you don’t plan for on a trip like this is extra chairs. Jim is a sick man!
Next day we packed up, buried a chair, made adjustments to Travis bent tie rod and headed to Thompson Lake. Everyone who has been before knows that this means driving up Thomson Hill and I got to do this for the first time during the day, yeah! Let me assure the club that this hill is less challenging in the day time without rain. It’s still a challenge though and who knew you could see Courtright Reservoir as you drive up the hill, beautiful! Well about half way up Thompson Hill Travis decided to put some finishing touches on his tie rod. Can you say Travis’s taco’d tie rod? Come to think of it, it sort of resembled the chair the Jim had destroyed. This can really ruin a trip! Steve is still in Fresno making repairs to a Jeep that hasn’t even seen a trail, Travis is in the middle of nowhere without a tie rod and we’re a chair short. With some quick thinking we removed the tie rod and with the help of a High Lift Jack handle we managed to straighten it back into a fairly straight line. Knowing that this would be a temporary fix we sleeved the tie rod with the jack handle. This is a trick that anyone with a stock TJ tie rod should know. Travis’s tie rod was no longer an issue for the rest of the trail. We finally made it to Thompson Lake and set up camp. As we were enjoying some food and laughs around the campfire a blaze of lights came up the hill. It was a little like Close Encounters of the third kind but it was a close encounter of the Steve kind. This guy who nearly melted down on Thompson hill last year just did it in a blaze of glory! I wanted to play the theme song from Chariots of Fire, Not bad Steve.
The following days plan was Ershim Lake. This lake was why the trail was created and the place we would spend most of our time. The entertainment on Ershim Lake included fishing, boating, Frisbee golf, partying, movies and Jim and Josh. Oh, I almost forgot Travis's impressions of Elmer Fudd. Now I didn’t take part in the Frisbee golf because I was fishing but I did manage according to Travis and Josh to be honored with the title “boat tyrant”. Someone has to be the boat tyrant or you might have a mutiny. These are some cold waters to be walking the plank and thanks to Sam and the boat tyrant we had a delicious trout feast. We also learned some new camping terms like “Heat Crevasse” you will have to ask Mikey it’s his term and I don’t know what kind of TV he’s been watching. We also lost another chair at this campsite, nobody would fess up to killing it but I have my suspicions. Our time and antics on Ershim Lake were awesome. It would be hard to find another event where you have so much fun getting to so much fun.
It was sad leaving Ershim Lake but there was plenty of great rock crawling and beautiful places to see. We stopped for lunch at Mallard Lake, passed Lake Camp Lake and then made our way towards the end of the trail. Our camp the last night had views of the outskirts of Yosemite, unreal. This is such a beautiful and challenging place that it is difficult to describe. Those who have been don’t need me to describe it and for those who have yet to experience it, it’s unlike any other place on earth! The only thing I leave this trail with is memories of a good time and thoughts of next year. Who knows by then maybe we will have a trick for fixing chair legs. To Jim, Joe, Mike, Cody, Steve, Sam, Travis, Josh and Sonny I hope you had as much fun as I did. Doubling down on the Dusy is nothing but a delight!
Last but not least I would like to dedicate this trail run to my Dog Kodiak. I had to put him down the week before this run, he wasn’t sittin’ shot gun and wasn’t there to greet me when I returned. One of the best trail partners I’d ever had. R.I.P Kodiak. I hope dog Heaven is like the Dusy!
MORE PIC'S OF THIS ADVENTURE.
