Dusy-Ershim Trail Report

July 29 - August 1, 2004
By Jim Brantley

The Dusy- Ershim trail begins at 8,400 feet and quickly rises to over 10,000 feet elevation. The 31 mile long trail is located in the remote Sierra Nevada mountains near Shaver Lake, California. In July 2004 a group of five Toyota Land Cruisers tackled this difficult high country trail.

The group included Andy and his son Jeff - FJ40, Rob and Ted - FJ40, Alvaro - FZJ80, Jeff - FZJ80 and me in my FJ60 "Knuckles". Ironically, both of the short wheel based FJ40s had passengers while all of the wagon drivers were solo.

Everyone was well prepared for this four day backcountry adventure with capable rigs, plenty of tools, spare parts and, as usual with this group, plenty of great food. We even enjoyed a hot shower along the way. Three generations of Land Cruisers, three generations of wheelers and some Three Generation Tequila made this a fun trip.

We ran the trail from South to North, starting at Courtright Reservoir and finishing at White Bark Vista (Top of the World.)

The topographic trail map at left shows our route. The GPS track was recorded with a Garmin Legend and plotted using Delorme's Topo USA map software.

Follow the trail with your mouse and click the highlighted links to view the pictures.

Bonus video of Knuckles on the trail by Alvaro: 1.3Mb Quicktime Movie

Check out Alvaro's web site and his Dusy Pictures