We made it to the SIERRA NEVADA Mountains! (California Highway 395 road trip)

We made it to the SIERRA NEVADA Mountains! (California Highway 395 road trip)

we made it to the Eastern [Music] Sierra if you missed our last couple of videos we’ve been spending the last month in the southwest road tripping through part of northern and southern Utah plus accomplishing a bucket list backpacking trip at Havasu Falls and for the next 2 months we’re going to be exploring California Sierra Nevada mountains a mountain range on the Eastern side of the state that is full of Epic Peaks Alpine Lakes Hot Springs unique rock formations small towns and so much more we’ve spent a little bit of time in this area many years ago with a quick trip to Yos but we haven’t explored much else and we cannot wait there are so many places in this region that we have been dying to visit and I cannot think of a better place to spend some of the Glorious summer months than in these mountains and to kick things off we’re heading to Bishop [Music] [Music] Bishop may be a small town but it has quite the grand backdrop with the Towering peaks of the sieras just miles away and because of this it is an outdoor Paradise with amazing hikes climbing and fishing which I took part in the other day but besides the outdoors we hear there’s a famous bakery in town that we must try [Music] this magical place is Eric shot’s Bakery which is an institution here in Bishop I read that in 2021 they had 2.5 million visitors and that they bake 25,000 loaves of bread every single day which is more than six times the population of the town the outside has this European design to it and the inside is loaded with endless baked goods seriously everywhere you look in here is just something delicious I don’t know how we’re going to pick what we want to get I I want to get it all and some of it is huge like we can’t get this for ourselves but I want to I am so overwhelmed in here my eyes are like glazed over all right we got what we think is a strawberry Danish an Apple Fritter which is my absolute favorite doughnut and then they’re especially known for their sheep herder bread which was introduced to the area during the California Gold Rush by Basque immigrants who miss their home country’s bread so we got a ham sandwich that comes on the sheep Herter’s bread I saw this monstrosity in the counter there I knew I had to get it it was calling my name look at this thing so delicious looking oh my God M holy smok best one I’ve ever had wa that is so soft and so you know it pillowy look at that thing you can see it’s loaded with chunks of Apple you can see all the sugar on the outside but then the bread isn’t too sweet so it’s a a perfect balance of sweetness and not sweet and then little pops of the Apple in there that’s ridiculous best one I’ve ever had my God we got to try Danish pastries in Denmark recently so we’ve had the real thing so let’s see how this One Compares M it’s a different style than the one that we had in Copenhagen so I can’t really compare them but I love the jam in there it just gives it a delicious Pop of freshness and kind of like sweetness but a little bit of a Tang to it just gooiness and that strudel dough upon first impression this bread is so soft you can tell you’re trying not to St pillowy right now I don’t know if I can drop two in one in one scene dude that’s some good bread holy crap the bread I mean it kind of just tastes like bread but again it’s so soft there and then it’s crispy on the outside man we couldn’t justify getting a whole loaf because it was literally like this big but after biting into it I’m kind of reconsidering it’s really good [Music] man we are going up in elevation right now Bishop sits at about 4,100 ft and we’re on our way to the the ancient bristle cone Pine Forest and it sits at about 10,000 ft brisket got its workout in this [Music] morning the ancient bristle con Pine Forest is home to bristle con Pines which are the oldest living tree in the world with manyi over 4,000 years old with is older than the Egyptian pyramids and to experience some of them we’re going to hike the one M Discovery Trail [Music] these trees are crazy how twisted they are they only grow on altitudes between 5600 and 11,200 ft and apparently the higher elevation they’re in the more intense weather they endure which is one of the reasons why they have such a gnarly shape another reason is because the trees’s roots die when the roots become exposed the part of the tree directly connected to those roots will dry out and die while the remainder of the tree will continue to live [Music] this area is home to a tree named methusa which is said to be the oldest named individual Tree on planet Earth at 4,853 years old there is a trail here named after it that you can hike and that’s supposedly where it is but they don’t actually tell you its exact location that way no one tries to harm it or damage it so for all we know they’re tricking people it’s actually on this Trail so maybe that’s Methuselah maybe that’s Methuselah who [Music] knows we’re going to explore more of Bishop and north of Bishop later in the summer when the snow melts a bit more but for now we’re going to head south on Highway 395 and just down the road is said to be one of the best bar barbecue places in all of California so you know we got to pop in and try [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it we are at Copper Top barbecue and this place is pretty awesome we have Mountain views over there and then right back here you can see all their smokers and grills and watch them work and while they have some of your usual barbecue suspects they are specifically known for their TR tip which is a very popular cut of beef here in California so much so that it’s called California’s cut we tried it before in St Louis abiso and loved it and we are so excited to try it again because it’s not something that we see very often on the menu at barbecue spots all right we’re keeping things simple we got a pound of TR tip and then some mac and cheese oh man smells so good and Smokey looks perfectly grilled there there’s just enough fat in there to keep it juicy and moist brisket is still my absolute favorite type of barbecue but this is definitely second place for me how creamy this me and cheese is wow good the peppery I feel like there’s a little bit of smoke flavor in there too macaroni is like perfectly like alente it’s not too soft super creamy all that cheese in there so let’s say you’re driving by late at night early in the morning and you got a hanker in for barbecue don’t worry they got you covered they have a 24-hour barbecue vending machine machine this is a genius idea I’ve never seen anything like this they’ve got pounda tritip they’ve got a S’mores Kit beef jerky half racker ribs brownies drinks Red Bulls barbecue sauce chips I need one of these in my house one day that’s called a kitchen in an actual house that’s right or a pantry store all of these things this is so unique we got to get some TR tip for the road oh oh Baby [Music] Woo this is exactly why we wanted to spend 2 months out here I mean does it get much better than this if we’re being honest the last month and a half on the road has probably been the best and the happiest we have ever been in in the van being out west is just just the best the West is the best West is the best all the places we’ve been the amazing places we got to stay all the boondocking the weather has been working in our favor we’ve had so much sun so our power has been excellent the starlinks been working great everything’s just been going so smoothly and just happy very very very happy [Music] today we’re heading to the Alabama Hills which is an area near Lone Pine that’s been on our California bucket list for years it’s been the filming location for tons of TV shows and movies so before we head out there to see the scenery for ourselves we’re going to check out the museum of Western film [Music] history some of the famous movies that have been filmed in the Alabama Hills are D Jango Unchained Gladiator Iron Man Tremors and How the West Was Won the museum has a short film you can watch to learn all about the film history out here many Long Pine residents worked for the movie companies and support Industries plus tons of props and costumes look how massive these projectors are these are drive-in movie theater projectors is huge I think my favorite part about the museum is just seeing all of these projectors and the old cameras because they really help you get a grasp at just how much technology has advanced you can now get a projector that is the size of a book and I’m currently holding a camera that is way way way smaller than the ones they used to use I haven’t seen many of the old movies that have been filmed out here but I have seen many of the new ones and this museum is much more interesting than I thought it would be seeing all these old cars and memorabilia and movie posters it’s really making me want to go watch some of these old ones and I haven’t really seen any movies ever filmed out here Adam always is giving me a hard time he always will ask have you seen this movie and I’m like no and he’s like come on so I think tonight we’re going to change that and watch one of them I actually have seen this movie recently hi Sierra I was just flipping through the channels and I turned to Turner Classic Movie movies and it happened to be on and I caught the second half of it this is the actual car from the movie that is so [Music] cool Patty little [Music] horsey this is so cool I feel like I’m driving on a movie set where’s robertt Downey Jr where’s Humphrey Bogart the contrast of the scenery out here is so neat you have this desert-like terrain with all these giant Boulders and Rocky formations and then the jagged and sharp snowcap sieras right behind them including Mount Whitney the highest point in the lower 48 at 14,505 FT we had hoped to Summit Mount Whitney this summer and we tried to get permits but we were denied so unfortunately it’s not going to happen this year but we are going to keep trying every single year because it is probably the number one hike that I want to do in the US our hope is to camp out here but over the last few years they’ve really crack down on this first camping and you have to camp in a designated site and there aren’t a lot of options and it’s really popular out here so we’re not sure if we’re going to get one but we’re sure going to [Music] try it’s kind of tricky to find these spots they’re tucked in between all these little rocks here and you have to park in the ones that have like the little Camp symbol and you can’t see them from the road so you got to get down in here and really start digging there is a map online that we’re using to help us find a site but it’s a lot trickier than I thought it would be all right we found a spot we actually found two but this was the better of the options and for context we’re here on a Tuesday around noon and a lot of the good spots were taken but there’s still a handful of options according to Google Maps this is Lone Ranger Canyon and just back in there is where the famous Lone Ranger Ambush scene took place there are a lot of cool things to see around here like different arches and rock formations and since we don’t want to lose our spot we’re going to bike to go check them [Music] out this is our first wash boardy and Sandy road we’ve ever ridden on you know driving around here earlier I thought this bike ride was going to be pretty easy but man combination with the Sandy Road and the up and down of the hills it’s pretty tough Catherine crushing it up that hill this hill was tough for the van oh my gosh that Hill that hill was so hard oh my after a very tough ride we have made it to our first stop which is a spot from Iron Man ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce you to Jericho I think that’s what happens for your consideration [Music] the [Music] Jericho all right we made it to the cyclop skull Arch [Music] it really reminds me of Joshua Tree National Park out here it’s just one big giant Rocky playground with all these big tan Boulders everywhere and this formation right here kind of reminds me of the Skull Rock at Joshua Tree but we’re now on the hunt to find a rock formation that supposedly looks like two boots correction we thought the Rocks were two boots leaning together but once you get here you actually see that it’s the Gap underneath the rocks that look like a boot all right we’re starting our journey back towards the van we still have one more stop but to get back to it we got to go up this big Steep [Music] Hill oh man Alabama Hills is Right emphasis on the Hills yeah I guess that would have been a good realization for me earlier when I thought this was going to be easy the place is actually named [Music] Hills and for our final stop we’re going to check out the Mobius Arch it’s really neat about this Arch is that at the perfect angle you can see Mount Whitney right through [Music] it we did it we did about 11.3 miles but boy with this heat it felt like much longer let me tell you we smell good I am so thankful that we have an AC in this van in a fridge with cold water [Music] all right it’s Taco Tuesday so we’re making some carada tacos he drop something get away get away that cheese skirt that we added gives it a little bit of like crunchy cheese texture but also gooey cheese texture heard that crunch h [Music] as we were riding around today I kept thinking about all the famous actors and film Crews that have been out here and all the famous scenes that have been shot all throughout this area and we were riding by them and probably had no idea what we were riding by and it’s just so cool that we’re basically camping in a Hollywood film set how many times in your life can you say [Music] that all right tonight we’re watching D Jango unchain a shocker someone’s never seen it oops and it was filmed right out here [Music] [Music] we had an amazing night out here unfortunately it was a bit too cloudy to see the stars but this morning we were treated to a beautiful sunrise I think the sunrises are my favorite part about being in the Eastern Sierra because you get to watch the mountains go from dark to a pink color to then glowing it is just so magical out here and I I am so happy that we finally got to experience it we’re going to spend the next couple days camping and working out here and then we’re off to our 50th and 51st national parks seoa and Kings Canyon my mouth is so dry from all the wind my lips and just my gums everything’s stuck I can barely talk I am Iron Man [Music]

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We’ve made it to California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains! For the next two months we will be exploring all around this mountain range. And to kick things off we went on a road trip on Highway 395, checking out delicious local eats, visiting the world’s oldest trees, admiring the epic mountain views, and exploring the iconic Alabama Hills, the filming location of many movies over the years.

⛺ Learn more about visiting and camping in the Alabama Hills: https://adventuresofaplusk.com/california/#sierra

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📍Locations in this video
Erick Schat’s Bakery: https://maps.app.goo.gl/SioVLQP3MhVJQpne8
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest (Discovery Trail): alltrails.pxf.io/g1YWWr
Copper Top BBQ: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qn1bC8E7sauuci9y9
Museum of Western Film History: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FgmjXvTdQw88k9519
Alabama Hills: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zqHSZNFGvk5KrbJY7

⌚Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:24 Erick Schat’s Bakery
04:11 Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
07:04 Tri Tip at Copper Top BBQ
09:05 THIS is why we wanted to be in the Sierra Nevada Mountains!
10:15 Museum of Western Film History
12:20 Alabama Hills
13:04 Finding a FREE campsite at the Alabama Hills
14:00 Exploring the Alabama Hills top sights by bike
17:42 The perfect night and morning at the Alabama Hills

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👋🏼 About us
Hi y’all! We’re Adam, Kathryn, and Kona, an adventurous married couple (+ pup!) living on the road in our self-converted sprinter van! You can often find us driving all around the US and Canada, scoping out the best coffee shops, eating tacos and ice cream (we’re a 5+ taco and 2+ scoop household), and enjoying nature.

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