How rough is the drive to VVR?

VVR Frequently Asked Questions heres what they say

Q

What are the road conditions for the final miles into to resort. More specifically, during the summer, dry season can a normal sedan make the drive, or is higher ground-clearance be needed?

A

The road is paved all the way except for the last mile into the resort. A normal car can make it, as you long as you go slow over the last mile, and are ready to pull out to let others pass as needed.

I’ve driven it a bunch of times. The minivan will be no problem. The most important challenge is when encoutering oncoming vehicles. If you are alert, there is normally plenty of advanced notice, allowing either of you to decide where to pull over to allow the other to pass. There have been times when I drove the whole road and did not encounter a single vehicle. There have also been times when on a very narrow incline, I’ve had to carefully back up onto a tiny shoulder to allow just enough room for an oncoming vehicle to pass through.

Of course, you never know what type of driver is oncoming (aggressive, ignorant, etc) so that can be a little unnerving. I recall almost everyone being pretty cordial though. I think planning to be on the road early on a weekday may be best to limit the encounters. I always roll down my windows, turn off music, and cease conversations with passengers just to be as focused on the road as possible.

@ Christopher

Check out your GPS or Google maps route very closely and chose shortest route not most use of freeways. You do not want to go via Fresno or spend much time on State Route 99. The shortest path from the valley is to go the back roads, Get off 99 at Madera/Cleveland Avenue take the route to Millerton Road that takes you right below the dam for Millerton Reservoir.   It is kind of tricky if it is still dark in Madera but this route saves you about 60 to 75 minutes between San Jose and Huntington Lake.

From Huntington Lake to Lake Thomas Edison (VVR) you are on a road that is paved and relatively smooth.  It is safe.  But once you get past Mono Hot Springs (perhaps a good place for your wife to stop and buy ice cream for the kids) there are multiple places where it becomes one lane.  On a weekday, you might not see any traffic at all. But I have been on that road when I have had to pull over for (or wait to pass) the occasional logging truck or Con Edison maintainance truck. As AD notes, you can usually hear them coming and for the most part everybody is obeying the posted speed limit. A minivan should be no problem. I used to drive up there in a VW van. Note that there is relatively good car camping at the US NFS Vermillion Camp Ground once they turn off the generators at the resort. The Resort also rents out simple lodging.

I asked my wife this question.  She suggested that there would be no problem, if you were interested in a quick divorce.  A one year-old and a three year-old on any drive more than two hours is a lot of work.  Six hours, the last two on twisty curvy roads with vomiting and crying children…

The road is fine, if you are a grown up with patience and a reasonable bladder.  It would be torture with little kids.

My favorite time to drive the road past Kaiser Pass is at night — being able to see headlights coming helps me find a pullout quick. The boat-towing folk are usually wherever they want to be before dark.

There are points of granite rocks sticking through the asphalt quite randomly. The road switchbacks sharply on the way up to Kaiser Pass, then turns into a one lane road for the rest of the way. There are steep places where my five speed must be downshifted into first gear to do the hill, and there are places the road climbs through a granite notch where if you meet an oncoming car one of you must reverse.

It’s paved, yes. It’s quite civilized by some folks’ standards. Others swear they won’t be back. It takes about an hour from Huntington Lake to Edison, despite the relatively short distance, because you really don’t want to take it fast. I’ve driven out there at speeds up to 45 mph once heading to a search based at Florence but only because it was dark and I knew no one was coming up the hills at me.

She can take a long break at Eastwood, or even at Lakeshore — go get the kids an ice cream and a potty break, and walk them around a bit, before heading up that last winding road. There are wide spots along the way to stop for breaks if she needs to. As long as she can take her time she’s fine. It is a beautiful drive.

The most important advice I’ve seen so far is:

“I asked my wife this question. She suggested that there would be no problem, if you were interested in a quick divorce.”

Haha!  Guess I should start looking for a plan B.

It’s fine, just slow. I did it every year for years in a low-clearance BMW 2002. It takes an hour, is slow, and yes, the logging trucks are huge.

My wife’s point was not that the road was rough or dangerous–although you could make that argument.  It was that driving six hours, including that road, with two small infants, and then turning around and driving six hours right back again, alone, with no help, was asking way too much of any person.

I know when our children were small, we really tried to keep car trips under three hours, for many, many reasons, some of which had to do with own sanity, some had to do with the developmental stages of the kids—kids who are learning to crawl, learning to walk, learning to sit up, etc…want to spend a lot of time each day doing and practicing that stuff.  Sitting in a car seat for six hours would be more than most adults would be willing to tackle–ask any airline.  To ask small kids to do it is really asking your wife too much.

@Christopher.

Plan B could be rendevous along one of the trans sierra highways: 80, 50, 88, 4, 108, 120.  Depending on your budget, you could choose SR 88 and Carson Pass book your wife and kids into the Sorensens Lodge,Hope Valley or the Woodfords Inn in Markleeville or SR108 and book them into a motel in Bridgeport.  Or if the family likes to camp, you could walk from the PCT to the Highlands Lake US NFS campground off of Highway 4 near Ebbetts Pass. There is also a very nice NFS campground right on the water at Leavitt Meadows off Highway 108 about 8 miles (via the road) east of the pass.  Mobile access along 88 is kind of spotty with AT&T.

Bruce–none of those will get him anywhere close to a re-supply point for the JMT, which is what he was asking about.

Bruce just added quite a few miles to Chris’s hike!

You could probably hitch (I think VVR offers a shuttle, too) a ride down Kaiser Pass Road to Huntington/Shaver Lake, which would be a nice place to rendezvous.

Yes I see now at the beginning of the thread that Christopher is doing the JMT not the PCT.  My mistake.

Well there is the helicopter option into Muir Trail Ranch which would avoid a lot of driving. :-))