The 4Runner and trailer were fully loaded for a great adventure!
The views around Coyote Flats are always expansive and breathtaking.
Wildflowers of all manner added blankets of color to the meadows and mountainsides
Camp Teotwaki was set up with a beautiful alpine lake backdrop.
On a number of mornings I had a simple breakfast of hot tea, hot oatmeal, yogurt and fruit.
Looking back at the camp on the far right shore
Desert Dan drove his 4Runner up to join me for a couple of days and it was great to share a campfire with him! He brought the wood for Saturday night's fire.
On the way to Green Lake there were enormous, elongated bands of snow still clinging to the mountainsides. Many of them were tinged with the pink algae that grows inside summer snow.
A truly wonderful view of Green Lake from the overview trail, one of the longer and more scenic 4x4 trails.
On the way back from Green Lake, Dan and I spotted a solidly built but little used camp site featuring a sort of stone oven.
Here is my African Outback expedition roof rack set up for this trip with the optional 1/3 length rail, ARB awning, two Scepter gas cans, bridging ladders, shovel and Hi Lift Jack.
The new front view camera worked great on this trip! Now I can easily see what is close in and hidden by the hood.
Selector switch for Front or Rear camera at any time I need the view.
Dinners were always something to look forward to after long days of exploring. A few samples of what I prepared -
Add a great view to a great dinner!
Sometimes a mother duck and her six ducklings swam out for dinner too
A sweet dessert to round out dinner was available on the menu.
I went hiking and scouted out wood for Sunday night's camp fire. Here is what I brought back.
Here it is processed, cut to size and stacked. I left a little of it behind for the next camper.
Nothing like a roaring campfire to combat dropping temperatures.
I enjoy investigating old mining sites and there were a couple at Coyote Flats I planned to check out.
The first was in use on and off up until the 1990's and it was possible to visit the old cabin as well as the mine site itself.
The cabin featured a mix of local hand hewn timber and corrugated steel construction built between and incorporating living trees
It also featured the standard rusty coil spring bed platform so often seen in these old cabins.
The mine had very large tailings (piles of waste rock) so the tunnels must have gone pretty far into the mountain.
At the entryway was some interesting rock that must have attracted the miners to choose the location.
Although the mine's portal was collapsed the leftover materials in their resource yard had some interesting sights.
Sitting on top of the shed was this rock sample
Next to the shed was this odd contraption made of various bits of other machines.
The second mine was a little further away and I almost missed finding it. After examining a topo map Dan suggested trying one particular trail and there the mine was!
It too had its portal damaged but the rock retaining walls were very well placed and still performed a great job of holding back the dirt.
A view from uphill
Dan and Cody are scampering uphill to see more of the numerous adits.
We also spotted this welded steel frame that had the nitials "WTH" stamped on top.
There was a great view from up there too!
This second abandoned mining site also featured a very large but mostly collapsed ore bin.
There were some colorful rocks here too.
Thanks for joining me on this longer edition of my annual trip to Coyote Flats! I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures and my story.
Until next time, be safe and get out into the wide open spaces!
