Outdoor Adventure USA

It has been about a month since we made our trip but a new granddaughter and work just got in the way of my trip report but here it is.

I've read a lot of reports on this area and three of us (two vehicles) decided to check it out. What a beautiful place this truly is and the pictures don't do it justice.

Our trip was Friday June 21st - June 24th. We decided to go up from Bishop instead of Big Pine. The Big Pine route is more difficult and since were towing our street trailer we choose the easier way. Even then we managed to tip the trailer on it's side twice on the trail into Funnel Lake. Mainly because we had the trailer tire air pressure to high and a full gas can mounted high on front. No damage and no worse for the wear. We lowered the tire pressure and used the gas and had no trouble heading out on Monday.

Hope you enjoy this report.

Here is a picture leading into the Coyote Flats.
The spring flowers were covering the flats area.
Here are 5 deer relaxing under a tree.
Here is the trail leading into and out of Funnel Lake. There are two routes into the lake, a north and south, we choose the north route.
Here is our campsite.
And here is a shot of our campsite from across the lake.
Here's a shot of the GPS with altitude, 10,401 feet.
Funnel Lake.
Saturday Morning on Funnel Lake.
Here is our Saturday dinner complements of Funnel Lake. 1 brown and 2 rainbows.
Sunday morning we hike over to Rocky Bottom lake to check it out. We caught one rainbow and released it for one of you to catch when you get here.
After Rocky Bottom Lake we decided to drive over to Bracket Prospect which was an old mine. The route took us passed a closed mine (we did not stop) and up to Bracket Prospect located at about 11,000 feet. We did not make it to Bracket, we got pretty close, the trail became loose shale and off camber and no one wanted to get out and hike at 11,000 feet the rest of the way to check it out. We did stop at turnout/campground that overlooked both Rocky Bottom and Funnel Lakes 1,000 feet below. Views were spectacular.

The road took us along a stream with a couple of water crossings.
Here we are at 11,000 looking east. Below but out of view is Funnel and Rocky Bottom Lakes.
Flowers along spring on our way back to camp.
According to the map this meadow has 7 springs feeding it.
Eating lunch by the stream.
Sunday night was our last night, the clouds rolled in over the mountain, to the north you could see rain coming down and the sunset was beautiful. Talk about perfect timing, as soon as we doused the fire for the night, the wind came up and blew all night pretty hard. Monday we decided to break camp early and had to Bishop for breakfast.

Packed and ready to go.
Morning over Coyote Flats. Saw this at one of the spring crossing. What is it?
These last two pictures are of the switch-backs transversed up and down the mountain. Note the jeep in the second one.

Great trip report. It''s amazing how many great places there are to visit that are fairly close to home. I can't tell for sure, but how big are the lakes and are they stocked?

On the track question, I'll guess that it was a bear.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! One of these days I'll get up to Coyote Flats. Looks like a great place to relax and get away from everything.

DaveK wrote:Great trip report. It''s amazing how many great places there are to visit that are fairly close to home. I can't tell for sure, but how big are the lakes and are they stocked?

On the track question, I'll guess that it was a bear.

Yes it sure look like a Bear track up close, but it was the only track we found. It would have been nice to see another one for confirmation.

According what I've read Funnel lake is stocked. Rocky Bottom lake I'm not sure of, it would have to be stock by plane or helicopter since the only way to get to the lake is by foot.

BorregoWrangler wrote:Thanks for sharing your trip with us! One of these days I'll get up to Coyote Flats. Looks like a great place to relax and get away from everything.

There are a lot of people who would love to join you. Just let us know when. It truly is pretty country.

We choose to go in the spring (late June early July) because of the wildflowers, snow runoff, and open campfires. Later in the summer there are fire restrictions. In both case a fire permit is required.

Here is an article I came across regarding the Coyote Flats area and The Forest Service proposed restrictions due to yellow toad and Yosemite toad habitats. Looking at the 1st map link I'm thinking the area outlined in red is the restricted area and is west of the Funnel Lake area but it does include the Baker Creek area.

http://www.inyoregister.com/node/4760

http://www.inyoplanning.org/projects/US ... edFrog.htm

http://www.inyoplanning.org/projects/do ... County.pdf

http://www.inyoplanning.org/projects/do ... unding.pdf

I'll also post this in the Trail Conditions, Legislation, Regulatory Watch and Conservation section.