3RD in a TRIFECTA : An Epic Trek Across the Dusy Ershim Trail

wayoflife

wayoflife

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Of the big three hard core trails up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Dusy Ershim is nowhere near as famous as the Rubicon Trail and far from being as challenging as Fordyce but what makes it a tough trail in its own right, is its extreme remoteness and relentless 33 miles of rugged terrain. Of course, the tightly planted sea of trees don't exactly make to make it easy for a long wheel base Jeep to travel and then there's the choking dust you just can't ever seem to get away from and why so many people I know refer to it as, the "Dusty" Ershim. That being said, the Dusy really is one of the most beautiful trails you can run bar none as it's filled with glacial carved granite faces, beautiful high mountain meadows and tons of pristine natural lakes.

It'd been a while since Cindy and I had run the Dusy and for 2016, we decided to remedy that problem and complete the trifecta of trails we had been wanting to conquer for the year. Fortunately for us, we were lucky to have our good friends Tony and Stephanie and Rachel and Ray join us for the fun. Below are some photos from all the fun we had, I hope you enjoy.

Being that gas is always tight running the Dusy and that we've only taken Moby on it, we decided to take Rubicat this time around. Here's a shot of here all packed up and ready to head out on another adventure!
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Mission control we have a problem! Just as we were passing a pickup pulling a trailer up a long grade about a half hour out of town, our engine started to run really rough and the check engine light on the dash started blinking and dinging at us. After pulling over to the side of the highway, I popped open the hood and did a quick visual check to see if anything obvious could be seen.
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Not seeing anything obvious, I decided to hook up a Superchips Flashcal we had with us to see what check engine codes we were getting and as it would seem, we were getting a dreaded P0306. Translation, a Cylinder 6 Misfire.
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Fortunately for us, we weren't too far from home and so we decided to to limp Rubicat back to the stable and go to Plan A - MOBY. Let the Chinese fire drill begin!
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TAKE 2! Let the adventure begin... again!!
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Past the point where RubiCAT developed a problem, we were officially further along than before.
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Being that we planned to cross over the Sierra Nevada Mountains through Tioga Pass, we made sure to stop for some lunch at the Whoa Nellie Deli. If you're ever in the area, this little Mobile gas station mini-mart cooks up some outstanding food. Here's a shot of my rib eye steak sandwich and Cindy's carnitas tacos - YUM!
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Taking the scenic route up Highway 120.
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Hello Yosemite - too bad we got here a day before National Parks Day where we could have gotten in for free.
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Enjoying the view of this breathtaking park with Half Dome in the distance.
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Ahhh, home for the night in Shaver Lake at last!
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Fortunately, Tony, Steph, Rachel and Ray were close behind and so we were able to enjoy dinner together over at Shaver Lake Pizza.
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After dinner party at the bunkhouse - CHEERS!
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DAY 1
Good morning from Shaver Lake!
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Time to strip down! Unlike previous trips, we decided to rent a bunk house so that we could remove our doors and top for the trail.
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Enjoying some breakfast at Shaver Coffee & Deli before heading out.
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On our way to the trailhead, we had to make a stop over at McKinley Grove to check out the crazy BIGASS trees they have there.
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Tree huggers!
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At the trail head at last and time to air down - getting excited now!
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And it begins!
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Driving on top of this massive glacier carved granite face next to Maxon Meadows feels a lot wheeling in Yosemite.
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Book ends! Steph and Rachel having some fun showing the scale of this massive boulder that moving ice once placed here.
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And here we are, the official start of the Dusy Ershim Trail!
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While this enormous granite rock face is technically called, Voyager Rock, the steep climb you have to make to get to the top of it has given it its unofficial name of, "Chicken Rock". Time to head on up!
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At the top of chicken rock and taking in the amazing views across Courtright Reservoir and the surrounding area.
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Moving on.
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Far from being super technical, we finally got onto some rocks. Okay, well smaller rocks than the massive glacier carved ones we had been driving on anyway.
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Getting a little close and personal to this tree. The first of hundreds to come.
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Time for a little stretch.
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Working our way through the trail.
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Taking a short break along the shores of Courtright Reservoir.
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Working our way across the stone bridge at Dusy Creek.
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Did I mentioned you've gotta watch out for those trees?
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Hmmm, will Moby fit?
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Yep!
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Yea, more rocks to play on. In truth, a good length of the Dusy is pretty much lined with rocks just like this.
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Before taking on Thompson Hill, we decided to stop for lunch and say hello to the Old Man with a Beard.
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Posing for a shot with the Old Man.
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Imagine that, more tight trees. Back when we ran this trail with 15.50 wide tires, Moby had to climb the tree to get through. Now that Moby has slimmed down a bit, we were able to just squeeze through.
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Rachel squeezing her way through.
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And here's Tony squeezing by.
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On the move again.
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Unlike on a trail like Fordyce, the water crossing on the Dusy are small and pretty.
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Making a splash!
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Here's another tight one.
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Crossing one of the many log roads constructed along the trail.
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Some fun rocks ahead.
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Moby kicking up some dust.
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Making our way across another log road.
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Oh look, more tight trees.
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Just squeezing by.
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Watching closely as to make sure we eek by.
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And here's another log road.
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Followed by more rocks.
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And then another squeeze or two.
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And here we have a combination of rocks and trees.
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Rachel working her way up and almost kissing a tree.
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After falling off her line, she got hung up on a big rock and jammed in by another.
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Time to break out the winch.
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Tony getting close to the tree as he makes his way up.
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Rachel wheeling in an cloud of dust on this slick rocky section.
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Tony working his way through it.
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And here we are, the infamous Thompson Hill!
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Starting the climb up.
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What makes Thompson Hill so tough is that the steep climb is strewn with big loose boulders that move underneath you and change the line with every Jeep that passes over it.
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Did I mention how DUSTY the trail is?
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Still working our way up to the top.
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Another tight spot
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Made it to the top of Thompson Hill!
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Rather than pushing all the way to Ershim Lake, we decided to take it easy and setup camp at Thompson Lake.
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WooHoo - the bar is open!
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CHEERS!
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For fun, we decided to make the short walk down to Thompson Lake and enjoy the view across its still waters.
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DAY 2
Good morning from Thompson Lake!
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After a leisurely breakfast, we packed up and started our long trek to Ershim Lake.
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What would you expect from the Dusy but more trees.
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And tight squeezes.
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With a meadow this pretty, how could you not stop to take it all in.
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Having some fun and getting a little flexy!
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Soon after the above flex shot, we got a call on the CB that Rachel and Ray had a problem so we quickly turned around and made our way back to them.
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Yep, something doesn't look quite right here.
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Ray checking out the mangled track bar relocation bracket.
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Hmmm, this is going to take some work to straighten out.
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Among other things, we carry a trail vice with us in our recovery gear and used it to take apart the pieces still bolted onto the bracket.
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Getting ready to clean things up a bit. Good thing I brought my grinder with me.
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Let the sparks fly! With a couple of fire extinguishers handy just in case, I started to grind away.
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Of course, none of what we've done so far would have amounted to anything if we didn't have a welder to burn them back on. Glad that I brought one of those too!
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All back together again... or at least, sort of. When the bracket broke, it tore holes in the steel and we weren't able to reinforce what we fixed as well as we would have preferred. But, we did the best we could and hoped to give it a better look at camp.
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After packing up, we were on the move again.
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Are we really going to fit through there?
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Just barely.
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Working our way through the trail.
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Uh oh... as we approached East Lake, we got another call on the CB...
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Not good... not good at all. Without any real reinforcement, the best we could do was try and re-weld what tore off. Unfortunately, the PSC ram assist Rachel and Ray had on their Jeep wasn't installed quite right and there had always been way too much push in one direction and not much turning in the other. Needless to say, the extra force the ram was exerting most likely played a role in the original break and without question, helped caused the bracket to break again.
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What to do now?
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Take it all apart again of course.
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Assuming that it was in fact the ram that was giving us grief, we decided to just focus our attention on re-welding the factory track bar bracket onto the axle and doing the best we could to reinforce it. Here's a shot of Ray doing the burning this time around.
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Here's a shot of the factory bracket welded back on, reinforced from underneath and with the trackbar installed on it. For now, we also strapped the PSC ram up and out of the way.
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On the move again.
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With the sun starting to set, we had to decide if we just wanted to try to find a spot to camp alongside the trail or push on into the night and make our way to Ershim Lake.
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As you can see, we all decided to push on.
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Somewhere along the line, the heat from the PSC ram melted the heavy duty cable ties we used to secure it to the tie rod and so we decided to use hose clamps instead. Unfortunately, they were a bit too big and so Ray came up with the idea of using this high tech shim.
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Once again, on the move again and well into the night.
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Negotiating tight trees in the dark is always fun. Seems like we've done this before.
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A few rocks in the dark just to make it interesting.
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Of course, Tony was just happy to be testing out his new rock lights!
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Moving along.
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Taking a moment to reflect on our day at this nice little water crossing.
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Finally! Ershim Lake at long last! What a hell of a day.
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CHEERS!!
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Day 3
Good morning from Ershim Lake - What a beautiful sight to wake up to!
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The trailside fix we made on Rachel and Ray's Jeep the night before was done just so we could get moving again and into camp. With the sun up and a bit more time on our hands, we decided to help rid them of the severe kick-back they were feeling and to do that would require us to pull the ram, cap off the plumbing and basically return his steering back to stock.
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Fortunately, Tony had the caps to plug the ports on the steering box. Of course, none of us had any doubts that Tony would have them.
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With the ram pulled, it was time to top off the power steering fluid.
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If there's any doubt, it's never a good idea to be looking at the ports on a hydraulic ram while collapsing it. Fortunately, Ray was okay.
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With Rachel and Ray all fixed, we finished packing up and got back on the trail. And, as luck would have it, there were some fun rocks to play on just outside of camp.
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The final stretch of the Dusy is some of the most fun to wheel.
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In the midst of all the tight trees and rocks, it's hard to imagine there would be a large sand like dune that you'd get traverse.
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And, just like that, we were back on the rocks.
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Smile!
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Working our way through the trees.
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and rocks.
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Stopping at Lakecamp Lake for some lunch and to take in the the beautiful scenery.
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On the move again. Another really tight spot.
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Getting close.
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Very close.
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We have contact. At least it was just the water can.
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Stephane and Tony leaning in.
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Keep your eyes on the tree.
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Making a stop to check out the view to the north and out to Edison Lake.
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Climbing up the exact spot where Moby broke his ring gear the last time we ran the Dusy.
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Almost to the top.
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At almost 10,000 feet above sea level, this is spot where we pulled Moby's ring gear on our last Dusy trip.
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The final stretch is filled with some big boulders that are a ton of fun to take on.
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A final flex to wrap up a great trail!
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At the end of the trail at last!
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WE MADE IT! Posing for a parting shot at the top of White Bark Vista.
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And there you have it folks, the Dusy Ershim. Having run the Rubicon and Fordyce earlier in the summer, this trip officially complete the trifecta that Cindy and I set out to do for 2016 and we were so glad to have our good friends Tony and Steph and Rachel and Ray join us for the fun. I hope you enjoyed our trip report.
 
Thanks for all the great photos and trip report. It's been on my radar for awhile. Have to do it one of these days.
 
Another amazing write up for another awesome trail! Thank you for sharing!
 
jkbarnett said:
Thanks for all the great photos and trip report. It's been on my radar for awhile. Have to do it one of these days.
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It's a fun one and definitely one I would recommend. Just sucks that the window for running it is so short.

MR.Ty said:
Another amazing write up for another awesome trail! Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :cool:

Trail Bud said:
Nice trip!
I would have hated the trees. Ershim lakes is just magnificent!!
Good pics and story too!
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eh, you would of had a great time! Okay, kind of a good time :crazyeyes:
 
I really enjoyed the photos. The Scenery is Magnificent! I am a might bit Claustrophobic and have to say seeing you guys squeeze through those trees was giving me a bit of a twinge.....
 
BamBamDeer said:
I really enjoyed the photos. The Scenery is Magnificent! I am a might bit Claustrophobic and have to say seeing you guys squeeze through those trees was giving me a bit of a twinge.....
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LOL!! It's a tight squeeze for sure and over 30 miles of it! What sucks is that you can see all the times they've been hit and what color the rig was too :crazyeyes:
 
Wow.... Awesome views! I've put that one on my list too. Looks like a great trip with great friends. It reassures me that I have to find one of those welders! Or, move to Carson and wheel with you guys!![emoji23][emoji23]
Thanks for sharing your voyages with us![emoji482]
 
What an amazing trip, thanks for sharing. The pictures of your morning at Ershim Lake were awesome. It's really sad that I haven't ran this trail considering its in my backyard. I definitely need to change that soon.
 
Some day...some day...

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. Hope Rubicat is back on the road soon.
 
Wow! This was awesome! I can't tell you how much Ray and I enjoyed being apart of this amazing adventure. Thank you so much for taking us along and re-capping it so beautifully! We are truly grateful for the all your help and for Tony's help getting us back on the trail and on track to enjoy the rest of the trip! We wouldn't have made if off the trail without you. In spite of our break we had the most amazing adventure and made memories that will never forget! Thank you! [emoji4][emoji122]🏻[emoji482]
 
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