Imagine you’re in a group chat with a few friends. One of them says “hey I have a cabin in Mammoth, do you guys want all go up there?” Over the next few days all the planning commences. About two days before the trip I convince one of our friends Ceejay to get out of work and come with us. I asked Brie how many her cabin sleeps and she tells me eight people. We decided it would be a fun idea to surprise them all. As we were approaching the cabin I have Ceejay crawl into the backseat of my car and my bestie Emma hop into the front. We pull up to the cabin and they help us start unloading the car, that’s when Ceejay pops his head out from the backseat. Brie was so surprised and happy to see Ceejay, she gives him the biggest bear hugs. she was definitely not expecting him to be there. And so the weekend and adventure began.
Brie and Brandon help us get everything into the house they tell us their other friend Andrew will also be joining us with his super sick 1985 Bronco he just got. We all get super excited because as content creators working with an old classic adventure vehicle is always a fun opportunity. To give a little backstory this is what we love to do, travel to places with our group of friends, take photos, and just enjoy the planet we live on.
Once somewhat settled we start planning our weekend, we we decide to hit the hot springs that night and since Mammoth is pretty close to Yosemite we added it to the list.
That night we got to the hot springs shot a couple photos before enjoying a nice soak with some June shine. It felt so nice to unwind after a long day of driving. The hardest part was definitely getting out and running to the car damp an in the cold dark mountain air.
We spent the entire next day exploring the Mammoth area complementary of Brie and Brandon, thank you for being a tour guides.
Now I’ve been on a few trips with other creatives and it’s always so hard when the group doesn’t flow or mesh right, however this is definitely the ultimate travel and adventure crew. We're all down for pretty much anything. You never know what’s gonna happen on these trips so you always have to expect the unexpected. More on that later. Anyways, we have a wonderful day and watch the sunset over the lake with surprise, more June shine.
It was an early night since we decided to wake up for sunrise in order to make it to Yosemite on time. After a sticky car situation trying to figure out how, who, and what cars will be going since we all couldn’t fit in one. Andrew says he’ll take his bronco, we’re all a little uneasy about that since it’s 36 years old but he knows his car.
As soon as my alarm goes off in the I'm already fully prepared for it to be a cold morning. We layer up, load the cars, get some coffee and our systems, and off we went. We make it with just enough light into the valley, shot some photos and then just hung out while we finally started to nibble on some food. Ceejay’s shoe breaks, just in time since, we met a very nice group of ladies who just so happen to have duct tape in their car. Mental note it’s always good thing to have duct tape in your car.
Emma and I skate around for a little bit while he fixes his shoe then we move onto our next spot within the park only to end at the famous El Capitan for sunset.
It’s nice this crew really just goes with the flow and doesn’t rush much which really allows you to be present within the moment and enjoy your surroundings. We spent a few hours shooting there, Andrew was really excited about getting a bronco shot with El Capitan in the background. But if you’ve been to Yosemite you know the road he’s talking about isn’t always the easiest one to shoot on. It’s busy there’s a lot of back-and-forth traffic so he ends up driving the bronco up and down the hill a few times in order to get the right shot.
The car being as ancient as it was makes us a little nervous but we’re hopeful and happy it’s made it this far.
As the sun begins to set in the colors shift from the beautiful orange and yellow tints to the somber blue hour afterwards. Another successful day! I immediately change into sweats since I know the drive back isn’t the shortest.
Ceejay and Andrew head back in the bronco while everyone else climbs into Brie‘s vehicle.
We’re all exhausted end excited to eat since we got up pretty early that morning.
In the car, I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open since it was soothing me to sleep. I was in and out of the daze when I heard Brie say, “I’m going to pull over I haven’t seen the bronco in a minute.”
We are perked up and asked how long it’s been. We’re unsure so we wait on the side of the road as not one, not two, not three, but four other cars passed us. We know for a fact they were a ways behind us because the bronco should’ve been immediately after us. In a pickle, since we have no service and no method of calling the other car and seeing how they are, Brie made a bold decision to just start driving back into the park. Keep in mind we’re still about an hour and a half away from the cabin.
We start driving back slowly just in case they pass us on the way. All of us started to get super worried the further we went, constantly checking our phones to see if we got service or if any sort of message came through. As we rounded a corner we saw a couple headlights on the side of the road and realized it was them.
We pulled over to see the bronco on the side of the road with another car full of kind samaritans just behind.
The boys eyes both lit up as they see Brie’s car approaching as Ceejay said, “it’s a good thing you came back.”
To my understanding on the way back the bronco started to leak fluid and when they pulled over they saw a couple different tiny sparks. Obviously, they put it out with the water that they had leaving them none that’s when the other car showed up to try and help them.
We’re all a little helpless since there’s still no service, an no way to call a tow truck. The other car leaves and said when they have service they would call the sheriff and let them know where we were. Since they had already helped so much we allowed the strangers to leave. Our group was reunited.
With little options, we decided to cram 6 of us into Brie‘s car drive until we had service, call AAA and see if they could come pick the bronco up. Now keep in mind, the sun had already set, we’re on a highway into a national park with little traffic, it’s about 48 degrees and we have no service.
In my experience I’ve always found that AAA was super helpful but after this experience the people we talked to that night really did not help my confidence in AAA.
So we drove about 20 minutes away from the Bronco in order to get the service, Andrew gets AAA on the phone and starts the process of explaining what happened and where we were. The lady on the other end of the phone was making this whole process way more complicated than it had to be. At the same time we were all exhausted after a full day of adventuring so it probably wasn’t the best idea to have the phone on speaker.
Andrew calmly answered her questions gave them all of his information and when we get to the part where she asks, “now where are you guys or where is the vehicle” we had the most difficult time. She kept asking for a cross roads and cross streets but there was none of that around us since we were on one single road into Yosemite national park. You’d think you could just find the road on maps and follow it along. She kept insisting for other landmarks when we were pretty far away from civilization. So when she starts asking about the model make and color of the car we about lost it since they were no other cars remotely similar to the bronco in the area, let alone no other cars passing us at that time. Andrew calmly says to everyone in the car, "be nice she is our only lifeline here.” We finally ask can we give them GPS coordinates and she somehow dances around that question. Finally the manager hops on the phone who explains there were no drivers on call that night, something she could’ve told us in the beginning. He then proceeds to call the sheriff within the park and transfers us. I guess the sheriff department was super concerned because the original car that stopped to help the boys called in that the car was on fire. Suddenly everyone’s concern shifted from us and getting the vehicle out to whether or not the fire was out, when in reality the car was never on fire in the first place.
Anyways the sheriffs proceeds to tell us that there is a fire truck on its way to the bronco. We explained that the car is no was not on fire so the sheriff says he will cancel the fire truck and make his way to meet us. Once the phone call ends we hastily drive back another 20 minutes to the bronco.
The fire truck shows up and quickly turns back around since they are no longer needed. The sheriff arrives an inspects the vehicle to make sure all the sparks were out in the brush was ok. He was very kind sherif who I wish we spoke to from the beginning. It’s now 10:30 at night he explains that we can leave the vehicle on the side of the road as long as we come get it in the morning since the park itself also did not have a tow truck on call that night.
Some things to keep in mind if this ever happens to you, one make sure you have a way to contact the other vehicle whether it’s walkie-talkies or stopping periodically, two if you’re ever in a pickle in a national park called the sheriff instead he is way more helpful and has has all the correct answers and three make sure you have some extra snacks or an extra jug of water in your car when you go on these adventures.
We get to the cabin around midnight only to start the journey of retrieving the car in the morning. Luckily I’m thankful no one got hurt and we all made it back safe and sound.
