The Eastern Sierra is sooooo dog friendly and absolutely beautiful early summer through fall! Nature, Lakes, Streams, Fishin’ and trails…the Eastern Sierra has all that and more!
Late Spring, Summer and early Fall are the best times for PawCations in the Eastern Sierra. We furSmiths are always searching fur da best dog friendly pawcations – which led us to the mountains West of Bishop, CA. We like being near or on water which is exactly what Parcher’s Resort Cabins offers.
Parcher’s tries to open Memorial Day if snow pack permits through mid October each year. They have online booking so you can “view” each cabin and what’s available during the Summer season. If you want to find the “perfect” cabin for your vacation just give them a call. Everyone is super helpful.
The drive up to Parcher’s is breathtaking (Mom’s word). The property has running water on both sides so the sounds of Nature is all around! There’s even horsies and mules next to the property and we LOVE horsies! Scooby even made a bestie at Rainbow Outfitters on his first trip. Mom thinks they fell in love! We believe doggie interaction (even on leash) is discouraged these days. But, you can walk down and love from a distance!
Our favorite cabin is a studio with a full (but small) kitchen and it’s super cozy.
Did we say WATER? Yes! South Fork Bishop Creek runs down the Eastern side of Parcher’s Resort and a there’s a smaller stream running from Green and Bluff Lake down the Western side of the resort! It’s pure bliss! There’s even a wonderful hiking trail adjacent to that stream. We could hear South Fork Bishop Creek behind our cabin each day when we opened our windows each morning!
In fact, there are beautiful streams and even more beautiful alpine lakes all around Parchers and throughout the Bishop Mountains! You can pretty much pull over for a picnic or for some fishin’ almost anywhere and relax! (Be sure to have your permit)!
Another lucky thing is we seem to have picked a great time to visit on our very first trip – late July! It’s warm enough to get in the various lakes during the day (high 60’s to high 70’s) but it’s super chilly (40’s) at night. So, pack lots of layers! If you’re taking human kids, we saw lots of families with giant round floats / rafts which they took to Lake Sabrina to float around in. They for sure were having a blast! Dogs are welcome at all lakes, streams and trails as far as we could tell – on leash of course. We LOVE walking and laying in the shallow part of as many streams and lakes that we can find! AWWWWWE-Some!
We recommend you visit as many lakes that you can – our go to’s are: Lake Sabrina, North Lake, South Lake, Weir Lake and Grass Lake. Our very favorite is North Lake because it’s harder to get to which means it’s typically super quiet. Just the way we like it!
The fishermen all seems to have their own little private “cove” around the lake. You can pretty much have your own “secluded” lake front privacy. We WUV to relax in the water (and shade – the sun at this altitude is quite hot) and Mom loves to read her book or take lots of amazing photos of us. She says we add to the beauty all around.
Our next favorite part of vacation is EATING! YUM! FYI, Parcher’s has a restaurant which is open for breakfast and sometimes more – be sure to check their website or call and ask so you can plan accordingly. Mom likes to take the majority of her own food so it’s always handy and we take our normal Just Food for Dogs Fresh Frozen food and some freeze dry food for toppers and treats.
If you fish, Parcher will clean the fish you catch so you can cook them up for supper – um dinner :). They also have a little store with milk, cheese, deli meats, beer, condiments, light snacks, etc., in case you need something. We recommend taking your fav excellent food for picnics at the lake (which is what we do – Nom, Nom Nom, oops, sorry)!
Each cabin has an outdoor bbq / fire pit area so you can make dinner outside if you want. Most of the cabins have full kitchens and refrigerators with freezers so can take lots of food for your vacation. Mom used the kitchen for dinner and we ate on our beautiful porch! Mom sometimes takes some fancy Belgian & Saison beers and said it’s heaven on our porch each evening watching sunset.
We also pack lots of extra treats -which is what we call heaven! Don’t furget your dog blankies and bed for the porch! It gets COLD at sunset and colder at night (40’s).
Warning: This next part had Scooby shakin’ in his doggy boots (ok, he wouldn’t actually let Mom put them on)…. Be sure to close your windows and check that your door is locked and locked shut at night because a bear came a knockin’! Literally! This is extremely rare but you absolutely cannot leave food, hand lotions, candles, (anything that smells) in your cars overnight (or coolers if you leave on your porch) because the bears know what you have and want to partake!
Also, make sure you check your area before dark. Bears are cool and all but they are BIG! Um, we mean BIG! Nice from a distance but not when they are too close to even take a picture of (see bear paw print on our front door at our before-mentioned 4am door knock). We actually saw her at dusk waltz right up to our car with her cub – super cute but we went inside so not to disturb them.
More Fun Things to Do: Hike, Photography, Fish, Raft / Swim, Bird watch, Read, Paint & Relax!
Vacation Tips:
1. Give yourself one extra day! We went Monday – Thursday and would have LOVED to have one more day! We now go Sunday – Thursday.
2. You and your people will need at least 1 – 1 1/2 days to acclimate to the altitude. So, take some books, pre-loaded kindles, ipads, laptops (there’s no working internet), games, etc. You can even pre-cook / bake some food ahead so you can extra chillax!
3. No cell or wifi! – Yes, you read me correctly! Even Garmin’s and sattelite phones are hit and miss at this altitude and secluded-ness (is that a word? when you get there you’ll agree it’s a word). 🙂
Pre-load books, movies, music (not in the cloud) on your devices way before you leave home. We WUV watching old school Steve McQueen movies every night. That Steve McQueen was one cool dude! We were told you can purchase wifi time from Bishop Creek Lodge (haven’t done that). We do occasionally get 1 maybe 2 bars driving between Parcher’s and Aspendell but it’s sporadic. There’s a little store at Creekside RV Park that offers free wifi – so you can download some things if necessary but it’s SLOW!
4. Back to FOOD (our favorite topic!): Mom said next time she’s going to take pre-baked, stuffed potatoes for the first couple of nights. She also took pre-made egg salad and boiled eggs for us to share and they were YUM! BUT, we think the aforementioned momma bear and cub thought they smelled great too! So, we’ll stick with fresh scrambled eggs each morning to cut down the delicious aroma! Also, shred & cut lettuce and salad & veggies the day before (we also wuv bwocolli) and pack them separately so you can make salad variations all week!! Pre-cutting / preparing reduces work during your pawcation so you can RELAX! Plus, you have instant food. You can also buy a cooler that plugs into the car cigarette lighter so you don’t accidentally freeze your food on the drive up! We WUV our car cooler!
5. We recommend researching the area online before you go to have some sort of idea of what you want to do so you’ll know what to take. If you’re going to fish you’ll need a license so call Parcher’s to get the scoop. We also recommend Jared Smith’s book “Fishin’ Trails” which details all the best places to fish – or if you’re like us – a guide to get some relaxation. Jared was the GM of Parcher’s for his family for many years. Jared and Seth (who manages Lake Sabrina) co-wrote “Fishin’ Trails 2”. We suggest you buy them both! The books are pretty much the “insiders guide” to little known and best areas in the Eastern Sierra. Shhhhhhh. Both books are definitely our guide on all our Eastern Sierra pawcations!
6. Best Potty Break!: Parcher’s is about a 6 hour drive from South OC. There’s a nice public park with public restrooms in Lone Pine which is perfect timing for a potty break for all! We also recommend that you gas-up in Lone Pine or Big Pine so you have a full tank once you’re in the mountains so you don’t have to come back to town unless you want to.
7. If you don’t want to cook dinner, Bishop Creek Lodge www.bishopcreekresort.com is open 5 nights as week (double check that) so you can order dinner, beer, wine, etc. Otherwise, you’ll have to drive all the way back down to Bishop and it’s concerning in the dark due to wildlife (Bear and Mountain Lions are definitely roaming around).
Early Summer (June / July) is great at Parcher’s but you have to be flexible for when they can open due to snow pack. For that reason we really love late September / early October for Fall Foliage!
