September 4, 2022
After a cross country flight from DC to LAX on Sept 3, I spent the night near LAX. With the time change difference it was easy to check in and basically go to sleep at 9pm. I called uber the next day after a nice breakfast and found the local Hawthorne Municipal Airport where Advanced Air has flights all over the area. It took less than an hour to fly to Mammoth Lakes where Nate met me and we drove about 10 minutes to the house where he, Katie, and his son Wyatt live. It’s a cute, functional, somewhat dated, Forest Service green, 3BR, 1.5 bath ranch. It’s perfect given it’s owned by the Forest Service and the rent is phenomenally good!! Especially for this town where housing is incredibly expensive. Bring $1M for starters….
The town is in the shadows of Mammoth Mountain, at over 11,000’, which is a huge mountain for skiing and mountain biking. National and Olympic ski teams train here!!! The snow posts out in the little street by the house are painted orange and are about 12’ tall. Guess I know what that means!!
The town area, at about 8,000’, has shops, lots of sporting goods stores, a good sized supermarket, and a slightly smaller grocery store call Grocery Outlet, or GrocOut for short. It’s a place where you can’t always find what you found there last week, but the produce is good and the prices are much better than at Vons. There’s also a movie theater but currently we’re not really interested in what’s playing. Gas is at $6.29 when it’s below $4 in other parts of the US.
The house is in a forested area off of the main street that is owned by the Forest Service. There is no mail delivery to federal lands so a free PO box is provided. The post office is about half a mile down the street. Nearly everything is within walking distance and the drive to the mountain is probably 10-15 minutes, all uphill!! We dispose of household trash in a bearproof dumpster close by. The other day there were recent bear paw prints on it.
September 9, 2022
In the first couple of days here I find the altitude is noticeable. We walked to the post office, and the car repair shop, and I didn’t get dizzy, but I felt a bit of fatigue. Fortunately I had no trouble sleeping which is reported by some as they acclimate.
Today we went out for a short walk to a nearby view point to see the mountains to the south. It was very hazy, and possibly smokey from forest fires north and west of here.
September 10, 2022
Today was the first real hike since arriving. We drove to a parking spot near one of the lakes near the mountain. We followed a trail that went up to about 8900’ and saw a couple of lakes. There was the outfall to one of the Mammoth Lakes water supply lakes that is a terrific waterfall if you can see it from below.
As we started to head back to the car the rain that was part of the forecast but not fully expected to show up started. It wasn’t long before we were pretty chilly and damp. We got back to the car and turned the heat on for the short trip back to the house. It was a good 5+ mile hike. In the early stages I felt the altitude and walked slowly at times. Then it just stopped bothering me!!! And of course the walk down was much easier than the walk up.
We got back to the house and it was still dreary and raining fairly steadily. It turned out to be remnants of the tropical storm, Kay, that had battered Baja. The rain was steady and strong and not something seen here in a long time. We decided to go to a very good Pho place and had nice warming pho for dinner.
September 14, 2022
Another hike today as it’s great to get outside here. We parked the car near a trail about 10 minutes from the house. It was clear again and we had great views of the mountains. Even looking east where there is the White Mountains Wilderness, we could see White Mountain, the tallest peak in the region, at 14,252’.
September 15, 2022
Another clear and bright day again – beautiful weather now. It’s cool, 40s, in the early morning but gets too low to mid 60s during the day.
We drove east about 15 minutes to Convict Lake. It’s a beautiful setting with Laurel Mountain (11,818’) to the southwest. The lake is a mile long, ½ mile wide with depths to 140 feet. We took the 3-mile loop trail around it. It was sunny and nicely warm. The lake is known for trout fishing and is regularly stocked. We saw kayakers, SUPers, and a couple of pontoon boats that can be rented at the lake. We saw a woman who had crossed the lake on her SUP, swimming. She said it was delightful. I checked the temperature when we got back and it’s 61deg. That’s chilly in my book!
I’m noticing the various glacial and tectonic activities of the past here. Just beyond the lakes outlet is a huge, rocky, terminal moraine that contains the lake and is, in part, why it’s so deep. One of the deepest in the region.
We stopped at the Convict Lake resort Grill for lunch. A very local sandwich here is Tri Tip. It’s a sandwich, with bbq or smoked tri tip (cut of beef) thinly sliced, with cheese and grilled peppers on sour dough. It was great!!! And the fries were really crispy. It was hard to eat only half of it, but it was a large portion, both the sandwich and the fries.
September 17, 2022
We decided today would be a good day to take the gondola to the top of Mammoth Mtn and hike down to the base lodge. A friend and her dog joined us, and we got to the mountain mid-day. It was the last day the mountain was open for the mountain bikers, so it was very crowded at the gondola. Fortunately, those just riding as scenic viewers had a separate line and we only had to wait a few minutes for the several people in front of us to go up.
It was a quick and beautiful ride up. Due to the age of the enclosure, there wasn’t a way to get a good picture through the plexiglass. We got off at the top and immediately felt the colder air and wind. Being over 11000’, it also was a harder to walk up hill, though there was little uphill to go on!
The views around to the other peaks was terrific. We got ourselves organized and found the water refill station to top up our water bottles. The map wasn’t so clear but the woman at the interpretive center gave us tips on how to follow the Mammoth Trail down. It was reported to be about 4 miles and would take a couple of hours. We were warned of the strong winds in the top section of the trail.
It was very windy! Nearly hard to stand up against it. The first 10 minutes or so, as we walked over to look at the Twin Lakes overlook, were windy and very cold. I wish I had gotten my gloves out of the backpack, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before we got to a warmer part of the mountain. We then found the trail and started down. The trail was cut across the back of the mountain with many switchbacks as the slope downward was extreme. The surface was hard and gravelly and occasionally slippery. I was very glad to have hiking poles to help with the descent and to get a good rhythm. My only complaint was I hadn’t brought enough Kleenex to help with the cold and wind-blown runny nose. Not fun that part!!!
We found a small clump of trees to stop at for a water break and enjoyed 2 marmots peering at us. We continued downward, passing through forested sections before getting to the lodge around 4:30. It was great fun and the scenery throughout the hike was spectacular.
September 20, 2022
Not far, about 20minutes away, is the Hot Creek Geologic Site. The last mile or so is on a hardpack/gravel road that was very slow going. We parked and made the short walk down to Hot Creek where there was a collection of very hot, steamy, bright blue, pools showing evidence of the proximity to magma below the surface. The entire area is within an ancient caldera formed about 700,000 years ago. There were several visible steam vents, or fumaroles, as well as we walked along the creek. Apparently during the season Hot Creek is a favorite for trout fishermen on a catch and release basis.
September 21, 2022
If we drive up the road past the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, we get to the top where there’s a vista/overlook and an entrance to the Devils Postpile National Monument. It had snowed the night before in the higher elevations and we could see the snow on the peaks in the distance. It’s a great location to view the Minarets. These are the result of erosion and weathering of an ancient lava flow. There’re extensive signs of ancient volcanic activity in the region.
We attempted to go to Devils Postpile but the weather was iffy – good chance of rain or snow 2000 feet lower in the valley and I had forgotten my NPS “geezer” pass to get in for free. Instead, we decided to come back on a more favorable day and stopped on the way back down the mountain for a hike and visit to the Earthquake Fault.
The fault is a very interesting crack in the surface. It was fenced so we couldn’t get to close to the edge and were unable to tell how deep the crack was. We then hiked about 2.5 miles around a formation named Earthquake Dome for about an hour or so.
September 24, 2022
We signed up to join and interpretive hike with a guide discussing the geology of the Eastern Sierra Mtns. It was sponsored by the Friends of the Inyo (https://friendsoftheinyo.org/). We had great views, and it was a beautiful day for a 2.4-mile hike. The guide was very informative, and the group discussions were lots of fun. We hiked up to Heart Lake that, when it has more water in it, is very warm and a great place to swim.
We learned, me for the first time, of the origins of the area, resulting from significant volcanic activity in the past. We were shown, off in the distance, some of the “caldera” of the Long Valley Caldera that formed 760,000 year ago. The eruption ejected approximately 150 cubic miles of magma which, when compared with Mt St Helens’ 1980 0.67 cubic miles eruption, should give a good idea of just how massive the volcano was. Estimates assume that the eruption lasted nearly six days, and when it was over the empty magma chamber collapsed more than a mile. The collapse left a large depression in the ground that measures nine miles by eighteen miles and is still easily recognizable from the air today. The eruption was truly cataclysmic as layers of ash several inches thick can be found as far away as central Nebraska.
Once back at the car we decide to see if we can go back up Lake Mary Road and try to get a photo of the Twin Falls of Mammoth Creek. We walked to the Upper Twin Rd bridge offering a nice view of Twin Lakes and the falls.
September 25, 2022
Another clear and beautiful day!!! We had reserved and entry spot to Yosemite a week ago and drove there for a visit from the east side which I have not done before. It’s about an hour’s drive into Yosemite NP from Mammoth Lakes. We drove up and up to Olmstead Point (8,418’) where we could get a great view of Half Dome about 4.5 miles away.
We then enjoyed the scenery and drove east. There are several beautiful lakes near the road. We parked and walked a few minutes to a terrific beach on Tenaya Lake. It’s too bad we didn’t have snacks and beach chairs as it looks to be a great place to spend a sunny day. The water was chilly, 62 degrees, but that was expected!!!
We drove to the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, which is the east side park visitor center. It is tiny compared to the visitor center in the Valley, which you come to when entering on the west side. We arrived just as a park Ranger was talking about Tuolumne Meadow’s history and some of the geology. The visitor center had a couple of exhibits, some rocks, and a store component with books, t-shirts, and a couple of other things.
On our way out we asked about available trails in and around the meadows. We didn’t get too much good information, but we had apps to help us. We found a great trail, not too much elevation change that had hardly any people on it. We followed a tributary to the Tuolumne River for a while along the Pacific Coast Trail (PCT) and then went somewhat “cross country” through the woods to get to Twin Bridges on another branch of the river. We then turned onto the John Muir Trail and walked the remaining mile or so to the car. It was about a 4-mile hike.
One of the great stops in the vicinity of the east side of Yosemite, is the Whoa Nellie Deli. It’s known as the best gourmet fast food you can find around the area. Choices include burgers of all sorts, Pizza, Buffalo Meatloaf, Fish Tacos, and their famous fries. We had a great feast there!
http://www.whoanelliedeli.com/menu-1
September 26, 2022
Today was a great day for a 6+ mile hike through the Devils Postpile National Monument to the upper and lower Rainbow Falls. We had great views of the backside of Mammoth Mountain (where we hiked down from on Sept 17). Devils Postpile is a fascinating formation of granite “piles” from cooling lave resulting in crystalline structures. A past glaciation period exposed the piles and the debris at the base shows an abundance of broken piles. The NPS ranger at the site said that one pile broke loose and fell over in the past 100 years during several earthquake events. They look more precarious than that!! We enjoyed the changing colors as the aspen start to turn yellow and orange.
September 29-30, 2022
There is a good-sized gathering of friends in June Lake this weekend. There is a “Brewfest” and the planning for everyone to gather at the Reversed Creek Campground has been ongoing since early in the year. We visited and watched Nate and friend Spencer paddle board on Gull Lake. Spencer fished for a while, unsuccessfully. We walked for about an hour and had good views of the lake and saw several fishermen in what looked like half-sized zodiac/rubber boats. Seems they sit in them, with all their fishing gear, and their legs hang below in the water. I’m guessing they have waders on to stay warm?
October 2, 2022
Today Wyatt (12yo) is in the mountain bike race up on the mountain. Teams from this part of California and several locations in Nevada are competing. Wyatt is in the 7th Grade boys’ group. We get to see the start as the boys head up hill in a cloud of dust. There’s a downward part where they come back to where we are standing as they head off to the back part of the course. When Wyatt next appears, he’s heading for the finish. The 8th and 7th graders are all mixed at the finish. It turns out that Wyatt leads the Mammoth 7th grade team at the finish.
Katie and I head off for another hike this afternoon. The road down to the trails for Devils Postpile, Rainbow Falls and the Minaret Falls will be closing in a week. It is currently slated to undergo repairs, so we decide best to go on a Sunday to avoid delays due to the construction in the coming week.
At first the signage suggests the parking lot is full, but we decide to see if there are any spots, given its past noon and its possible cars would have left. We luck out and get a spot. The trail to the Minaret Falls is not as tough as the one to Rainbow Falls and it’s much shorter, a little over a mile each way. The falls are pretty minimal this time of year, but it’s still fun to see what there is and to enjoy another beautiful day in the mountains.
October 6, 2022
It’s a weekday so we don’t head out for another hike until after 2, when Katie finishes her workday. She starts at 5-5:30 to be in sync with colleagues on the east coast. We head south on 395 towards Bishop and Crowley Lake. Several miles past the lake we turn to head back to where we can cross the dam for the lake. Once the pavement stops the road starts to get a bit sketchy. We’ve been warned there’s a portion that is only passable with high clearance 4WD. We’re not sure where that is so we park just after the pavement stops and start our hike.
Turns out we could have navigated abit farther down the trail, but the road was pretty bad, and we’re glad we didn’t stress the car. When we got to the really bad part, up a hill, it looked like a ski mogul field. Several vehicles did navigate it but they said it was very slow going. We slogged up and down the various hills for about an hour before we got to the bluff above the beach on the lake where the Crowley Lake Towers are. It’s amazing. We nearly slid down to the beach and spent some time relaxing on a rock. Most of the rocks showed to have come from the towers. Round disks about a foot in diameter and maybe 6-8 inches tall. They are also light, not what you’d expect for a rock that size.
We drink our water and wade in the lake for a little while. It’s cool but the day is warm and the sun is very hot. After a short while we realize we need to get back and it starts with the steep climb up from the beach. We are lucky to find several paths that are more cross slope than straight up so it’s not so hard. I’m huffing and puffing though! Still not full acclimatized to the altitude.
We hike, or rather, mostly walk on the flats, as it’s a dirt gravelly road. As we approach the steep, mogully part we see some people just arriving in normal cars which seems crazy! Also, it’s only about 90 minutes until sunset so we’re not sure what they are thinking.
October 8, 2022
It’s a Saturday so school is out and we ask Wyatt (13) if he wants to come with us today. The destination is the Tufa Towers at Mono Lake. I think they may be only on the southern side of the lake. The depth of the lake has dropped 45 vertical feet over the years due to the LA water system diverting a large amount of water. At some point some of the water was redirected back to Mono Lake but the water level is still low and the towers and easy to see and get to. We follow a trail through the area and see the formations which might remind you of drip sandcastles at the beach. They are also in the water so probably present a boating hazard if you aren’t watchful. The lake is also extremely alkaline and salty. No fish can survive but other species have adapted so that there are flies and brine shrimp that support a large migrating bird population. Even Ospreys nest in the towers even though they have to travel to find a source for fish.
On the way back from Mono Lake we turn onto the Mammoth Scenic Loop to try to find the Inyo Craters. It’s well marked but turns out to be a very bumpy, rutted dirt road. The US Forest Service has had a tremendous amount of tree felling done in the area. Very large trees as well. I’m amazed at the diameter/age of these pines. Some appears to have been cut into smaller pieces. I think you can get a permit to harvest the wood. It’s all pine though, so not sure that I’d want to burn it in my wood stove. Unless Jefferson Pine is a hard pine???
We walk about half a mile into the woods and then come upon two well defined and deep craters. What’s really surprising is that the blast that created these 2 craters, plus one more just higher up the hill side, occurred within minutes of each other and probably happened around 600 years ago. That would have been when the area was inhabited!!! Apparently, there are no stories or records that indicate this.
October 9, 2022
Having learned about the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest we decided to make the 80-mile drive to the Schulman Grove Visitor Center and undertake a short hike near the center. It also coincided with the need for gas!!! It’s $1 cheaper ($6.27) per gallon at the tribal station in Bishop. We drove south from Bishop and turned onto CA168. Bishop is at elev 4,000’+/-. From the 168 turnoffs, we drove 22 miles, and went from 4000ft to 10000ft, more than a mile up!!!
I immediately noticed the elevation when walking to the visitor center. We took it slow and after stopping to see the visitor center, we did the 1 mi hike up into the adjacent portion of the forest. There is a long dirt road to another grove, but it was too far away given the slow speed required. We also opted out of the nearby 4.5mi trail, due to the elevation, to the Methuselah Grove. Methuselah has been found to be 4,854 years old and is considered the oldest confirmed living organism. We were quite satisfied to see the great examples of the tree that are around 4,000 years old in the Shulman Grove! They’ve been around so long that many show significant hillside erosion that expose the trees’ root systems. Erosion, mostly from wind, is about 1/10”/ decade (.012in/year). You can see about 3’ worth of erosion around some trees on the downhill side. The roots are intact on the uphill side. It’s also interesting to learn that the trees grow only at elevations between 9,800 and 11,000 feet.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/specialplaces/?cid=stelprdb5129900
After our visit we made some photo stops on the route back down to the valley. At the Sierra View Overlook, a scenic viewpoint, we could see Bishop down below, and apparently past the mountains in the distance, is Death Valley. It was too hazy to see Mt Whitney, 53 miles away, the highest peak in the contiguous US, at 14,505’. It was also reported if it was clear, we might be able to see Mammoth Mountain, 50 miles away.
We stopped for lunch in Bishop at the Mexican restaurant, Taqueria Las Palmas, where we’d eaten early in my stay. The menu is standard fare, but the preparation is excellent, and the service is terrific.
October 16, 2022
We’ve been having more rest days recently to help with Katie’s recovery. It’s a slow process. I wish she wasn’t in so much pain for so much of the day. It’s been nearly 7 weeks since the surgery. PT suggests she’s not getting enough rest.
I’ve been reading a terrifice book in the Geology Underfoot series – in Death Valley and Eastern California. The area is a geology mecca for students and pros alike. With clear evidence of volcanoes, glaciers, faults, etc., it’s a terrific guide to local examples.
We drove to McGee creek trail which is an all uphill out and back trail up into the creek valley. It was particularly colorful with all the aspens in full color. You could trace groves for an incredible distance up the valley.
Our first stop on the drive in was to go to site #14 at the McGee Creek Forest Service Campground. An enormous boulder rolled down to the site, landing behind the tent pad in the 5.3 magnitude earthquake in 1998. The people camping there didn’t hear a thing and only noticed it when the got up the next day.
The backside of the camp ground is where there is the Hilton Creek Fault scarp. It is very clear and crosses the creek valley with a drop of about 50’. It’s not known when the scarp was formed or where it runs from. It’s amazing to see it explained in the book and then to be standing in front of it.
We drove up over the scarp and stopped for some photos. The road continues to a trail head where we started a hike through the aspens along the creek. We hiked for about a mile, or 30 minutes or so, as we didn’t want to do too much, and get too tired. The views were stunning!!!
On the way back to town we pulled off at a view point with Crowley Lake and White Mountain in the distance. Another pretty day. But so are they all!
October 17, 2022
Even though we’ve hiked around Convict Lake, it’s so nice these days that we decide to go again to enjoy the foliage.
It’s later in the afternoon so the sun is nearly setting behind the top of Laurel Mountain and half the route is shaded. There are a few spots where the sun angle is good for photos of the granite outcrops and glancing through the aspens, now in their fall brilliance of yellow and gold. Fall here in the Sierra Nevada is nothing like that in New England with all the reds, golds, yellows, and oranges, but in contrast to the bleak colors of the mountains it is beautiful.
I leave on Thursday so it’s time to start getting ready. I take Katie out for our last dinner out. We’ve been eating out or getting takeout for the last few days to minimize her time cooking in the kitchen. It seems to be tiring for her with all the chopping, cutting, slicing, cooking, etc. She likes to cook and it’s therapeutic, but it doesn’t help with her need to rest. But I guess she will now be moving into full time cooking mode and she doesn’t like to cook simple stuff. It’s all time consuming!!!
October 19, 2022
We have one last day to get out and hike before leaving tomorrow for the return trip to the east coast and Virginia. We drive up to the Lakes Basin and head for the trail to Crystal Lake and a great view of Crystal Crag. It’s somewhat steep and has elevation gain that may turn out to be too much to maneuver. We can always decide to turn around!!!
It’s a clear, cool, sunny afternoon as we start the hike. It’s predominantly up hill on the outbound and mostly down hill on the inbound. There are a couple of overlooks where there’s room to admire the view out over Lake Mary and Lake George. It’s a steep, at times, hike with an elevation gain of approximately 800 ft, and is about 3.2 miles long. We arrive at Crystal Lake and have a great view of Crystal Crag, which turns out to be a favorite destination for rock climbers. Katie notes that the lake is way down due to the drought and pointed to a spot where she swam to a small island where now there was lake bed and you could walk to the island.
We head back down to the parking area and I’m glad to have the hiking poles for some of the steeper areas. I note that my pants’ legs are much dustier than I’ve seen!!! I’m looking forward to cleaning my shoes as they’ve been a mess for weeks now. I’m thinking of maybe taking before and after washing pictures.
October 20, 2022
