I checked out the Manzanar Historical Site this summer during SC 2012, but didn't make it to George Creek Trailhead to attempt a dayhike. I saw a dirtroad heading west from the south end of Manzanar. From my California Delorme map it appears this dirt road turns into four somewhat parallel roads heading southwest. The furthest north branch heads to Bair Creek, next branch heads to George Creek, the third branch ends in the desert, and a fourth branch heads toward Hogback creek. Is the second branch the "best choice" and most efficient road to George Creek Trailhead. Thanks for any input!
Scott

Hi Scott. That route from Manzanar sounds like the route I took many years ago while using the old out dated Independence 15' quad. I does go to George Creek, but I think a better (less rough) alternative is to start from Onion Valley Rd. in Independence. Travel east from Independence for about 4.5 miles and to the left you'll see a wide well traveled dirt road called Foothill Rd. (There is a sign I believe). Turn south and follow this road for several miles until it actually ends at the rough road that leads to George Creek. There was a 'George Creek' sign there in 1976- I don't know about now. I would advise getting the latest edition of the Inyo National Forest map at the Inter-agency Center south of Lone Pine. It sure would have saved me a lot of time back in the day...
-Gordon

BTW, I see you joined SP about 5 days after I did... We're practically twins.

butitsadryheat wrote:I would not head east from Independence though ^^^^

Oops, my bad... Thanks for the correction! No wonder I had so much trouble finding that trailhead in '76. (Mazourka Canyon is quite beautiful, though...)

Thanks for your reply Gordon. Wow, I had't thought about going south on Foothills Road to reach Gorge Creek Trailhead. Sounds like Foothills would be a better road, but perhaps longer distance than the Manzanar option to arrive at GCT. I was looking at a alternative small road following Bairs Creek that also appears to tie into GCT. Yes, I think I do need a new forest service map: my old map inconveniently has a large legend placed over the area just east of GCT. Ouch! Speaking about bad roads, I had my maiden voyage on Buttermilk Road (out of Bishop) this summer. What a grinder!! I had my 4WD truck, but holy cow was it a bumpy ride.

I'm afraid that I live in a 2wd world...

You're right about Buttermilk Road. I took the family up there in spring 2011 for a bit of exploring. It was the first time I'd been up there since the eighties and it seem quite a bit rougher than I remembered. My wife wasn't too happy with me since it was her Blazer that was being beaten to death on all those rutted and washboarded sections. It was worth it, though, since I got to introduce my son to the joys of (non-technical) bouldering in the Tungstens.

You mentioned the Tungsten mines. As I was walking up the switchbacks from Horton Lakes toward Mt Tom I was amazed and wondered what type of vehicle went up and down this "road". Does anybody here know when this road (or mine) was closed? Today, there are many large boulders and many erosion issues on the road. I will have to go back and make it to the top of Mt Tom in the future.

Scott, Get a copy of the book "Mine in the Sky" which focuses on the mining operations adjacent to Mt. Tom in Pine Creek. It makes some reference to other nearby tungsten extraction and although I don't recall a specific reference to the road up from Horton Lake it has several photos showing equipment used for building and travel on mine access roads.

Penelope and I climbed Carl Heller earlier this year (May) via George Creek. The normal route to the TH, the dirt road that starts just north of the Manzanar, skirts the western border going south and turns toward the mountains, is closed several hundreds yards past the south-western corner of Manzanar. There must have been a huge flood there, opening new and very deep ditch, which prevents anyone continuing on this road.
We drove up toward the mountains instead of turning left above Manzanar, after a few miles we connected with the Bair's Creek road, made a left on it and followed the road almost to its end. The last 1/2 mile is a bit rough, we left Pen's Toyota Rav4 below the last steep hill and walked the last 1/2 mile to the TH. Total about 11 miles from 395.

Scott,

Climber.org has a good description with waypoints for the Foothill Rd access to George Creek. When I heard that the Manzanar access was washed out the night before, we got online and put in a few key waypoints for the Foothill access and had no trouble getting there (high clearance advised). We picked up Jen along the way - her low clearance car could not get much past the Shepherd Pass turnoff.

Foothill Road can also be accessed north of George Creek from the north end of Manzanar via Kearsarge Creek Road. Get off 395 at Manzanar Reward, go north to the end of the frontage and turn west on the dirt road north of the north Manzanar fence. The road names are from my Garmin GPS and both roads are passable by a 2008 Subarau Outback as of 2 weeks ago.