Coyote Flats - Is it Sprinter Compatible?

[Zappo]

Thx for sharing

[TomH]

Originally Posted by 04QuadBear

We are climbing Mt. Whitney next Tuesday and then hoping to hit Coyote flats and Silver Canyon on our way back up to Oregon.

Used to backpack & climb when younger and would be interested in knowing how much snow you go through on the way up Whitney.

We live in Sac and are building a new house on east side of Vancouver, WA. We go through Roseburg a couple of times a month.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by IPT

Did you nab any pics of the gnarly spots? Do you have full skid plates front to rear?

Sorry, was a bit too busy to stop for pictures in the gnarly spots. I regret not doing so, and I can recall one spot in particular coming down that would have made a great picture, but it's a single track trail with few places to pull over and get by, thus I didn't want to hold anyone up.

The van has the full Van Compass skid plate package, and we used every one of them on the way up and down! There are pictures and a description of the skid plates in my build thread, look at Post 409.

I also took along a lopper and did some trail maintenance at the first stream crossing. Not many high-sided vehicles use the trail, 10 minutes of brush trimming avoided a lot of pin stripping!

[Wrinkledpants]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Sorry, was a bit too busy to stop for pictures in the gnarly spots. I regret not doing so, and I can recall one spot in particular coming down that would have made a great picture, but it's a single track trail with few places to pull over and get by, thus I didn't want to hold anyone up.

The van has the full Van Compass skid plate package, and we used every one of them on the way up and down! There are pictures and a description of the skid plates in my build thread, look at Post 409.

I also took along a lopper and did some trail maintenance at the first stream crossing. Not many high-sided vehicles use the trail, 10 minutes of brush trimming avoided a lot of pin stripping!

What sized tires do you have?

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by Wrinkledpants

What sized tires do you have?

BFG KO2 265-70R17
31.6" diameter x 10.43" wide

[SteveTOaks]

Did you nab any pics of the gnarly spots?

A coupe of years ago I rode up Coyote Flats on my motorbike during the Bishop Dual-Sport Event, held every October. I made a video which you can see here

VenturaCountyTrails.org Video

I went up from the Bishop end and down the south end which has long steep, loose and/or rocky sections. The first 6 minutes of the video are of Coyote Flat; the rest is of other trails. Hopefully it gives you a decent feel for what the road is like, although it's missing a very short boulder section that took me a couple of tries to get past. (The panorama of the snow-dusted mountains divides the uphill from the downhill section.)

[IPT]

Sweet Steve, thanks.

Fritz - will check that post out!

[Fitz]

Enjoyed the video, thanks! It does a great job of showing what it is like up top, but to get there it's a steep climb up a rocky and switchbacked section of road at the very beginning of the trail when you come out of Bishop. The first part is a bit more challenging than what the video shows, just take a look at the topo and be aware. It was the first part of the trail where the Sprinter used its skid plates, once up top it was smooth sailing.

[VtSoundman]

Quick road report. I was up there about a week and a half ago in my Rubicon. Drove all over the flat...main water crossing was around 18"

Road was pretty rough and not for the inexperienced driver...they've had a few storms go through the area - hailed just before I started up. (DV got pounded and Big Pine Rd was washed out - main road through the park from the north was closed from damage). No way I'd take a non-plated Sprinter up Coyote Flat road. Most rides were modified with lifts/tires. A few stock rides (Tacoma's) with decent ground clearance. Biggest issue are some the drop offs...and lots of loose rocks. Very steep and needs 4lo to keep the revs up/tranny cool. Traffic on the trail means finding space to pull off or back up aways - no easy task for a large van on a shelf road. Tire pressure needs to be dropped quite a ways to avoid pinch flats. If you have to ask how much to lower tires, need a compressor just to go, or have little idea how to deal with 1 or 2 wheels in the air, this is not the road for you...

[daveb]

No Pics