Lake Isabella RV Resort

Departing Death Valley, we were both really looking forward to being in good cell service. We didn’t have reservations anywhere, and weighed the pros and cons of several overnight destinations to start our trek back home. But without good service, it was hard to make plans. At any rate, we decided to leave the valley via Towne Pass and cut across to the south before the big scary pass, using Panamint Valley Road. From there, our destination would be a civilization oasis at Ridgecrest before deciding where to spend the night. I have now towed the pass from Stovepipe Wells to Panamint Valley a couple of times, but I want to remember that it is no joke. It climbs from lower than sea level to 4,956 feet, and then plunges all the way back down to 1000. There are signs everywhere warning you about engine overheating and places to check your brakes. And this pass is the mild one. I don’t know if I will be able to forever avoid the hairpin section above Panamint Springs, but that is a life goal I have.

Coming out of the Panamint valley to the south is not a big deal. It is lonely country out there, where you pass through towns that look to be modern day ghost towns in the making. We gassed up at Stovepipe Wells, which was a dollar per gallon cheaper than Furnace Creek. There is also gas at the Panamint Springs Resort. You can drive a long time without seeing any services, so it’s good to plan accordingly. Eventually, the road crests the final rise and drops you into the eastern basin under the Sierra Nevada range. All the texts and notifications started coming in and we were back in internet land again.

We could have gone for a first come first serve site at Red Rock Canyon State Park, or tried for a free space in the dispersed camping area at Jawbone Canyon. Either would have been acceptable, but for the fact that there is no cell service there, and we were just over that. So we routed ourselves through the Sierras through the Kern River Canyon, rather than take the familiar pass at Tehachapi. I’ve only gone that way once before, and I remembered the exit from the canyon as being twisty. But the weather was perfect and there was a reservable site with hookups available in a private place at Lake Isabella.

The drive up to the lake is really beautiful. The road is in good condition and there was very little traffic. We saw both a roadrunner and a coyote cross the road along the way! We did not see any ACME anvils, but we for sure looked. There are little clusters of small towns, but it is not until you get to the lake that you find stores and places to eat.

We pulled in around 2 and the owner could not have been nicer. She got us a back in site with hookups for $33, which is pretty cheap. The other private place in town was charging $70 and it did not appear to be worth the extra money. This place was safe and the long term residents were friendly. That was all we needed for a one night stay. The electric pole looked a little dodgy, and like it had been backed into a lot, but it worked.

We had enough light to hop on our bikes and check out the town of Lake Isabella. We both thought it would be quaint and cute. It is not. It’s more like an island of chain stores and fast food places. But it does have a Donuts and Ice Cream store. So, you know, gotta do that. There is also a tourist trap ghost town place that we did not pay $7.50 to enter. Cute from the outside though. We’d satisfied curiosity and rode back to the campground. For the record, riding on 178 is not that fun. It’s doable, but there are sections with no shoulder and fast moving cars. All the cars were courteous, and along the way, I was able to view some of the campgrounds and day use areas along that side of the lake.

The next day it was time to get through the canyon and back to the central valley. I made Richard take pictures of the road so I could remember it for the future. Most of the road is nice and wide, with guard rails and a shoulder. But there is a nineteen mile stretch that’s pretty darn narrow, with dropoffs down to the Kern River way below. It reminds me of some of the sections of Highway 1. But I’ve gotten used to that, and I could get used to this too. You just go really slow. There are many turnouts big enough for a trailer and people seem used to waiting behind you until you can pull out safely. Once you exit the Kern River Canyon, boy are you ever in Bakersfield. It’s just flat from there on out.

I generally liked taking this route. There are times the Tehachapi Pass gets really windy and no fun to crest. I can’t say I’d enjoy hitting these twisty sections in a rain storm, but on the upside, there are no trucks and people are all driving slow. There are lots of campgrounds around the lake and there’s a whole other section at Kernville we haven’t even checked out. All really good new stuff to put on our list for the future.

Total miles from Furnace Creek: 178.1, 15.7 mpg, 5 hours 20 min with stop in Ridgecrest. Site 104 hookups. Great cell for both of us. Didn’t pay attention to dump situation because we didn’t dump there.