Mammoth Lakes and Vicinity

We stayed at Mammoth Lakes for a few days ... exploring and acclimating to the altitude, prior to our planned backpack.

Mammoth Lakes is a mountain recreation town sitting at 8200' on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  There's the Mammoth Mountain ski area as well as lots of hiking nearby, including access to the popular Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails.  It seems to be the go-to ski resort for the LA crowd ... and some of the castle-like houses seem to support that.  Due to the short days, cold nights, and Tom's lingering cold, we opted to skip car-camping, and stayed in a hotel instead.
 
Our first undertaking was a not-too-aggressive hike to Duck Lake (~8 mi, 1700' gain, starting at 9100').  Just a perfect day ... crisp fall air, cloudless ultra-clear skies, beautiful lakes, big mountains, and some fall colors, too!  And it just kept getting better and better the higher we went!  Fortunately, the elevation gain was modest, since we found ourselves huffing and puffing in the thin air.  And, Tom started getting a headache and feeling a bit hazy.  From Duck Pass, beautiful Duck Lake was splayed in front of us, with Pika Lake just beyond, and big peaks dominating above.  We ignored the strong calling of Pika Lake, and instead opted to skip the descent and just traverse high above Duck Lake for a bit.  Around the corner ... more big peaks beyond the lake's outlet!  Quite a day!

Unfortunately, Tom's headache was pretty intense for most of the descent and all evening.  Was it the altitude?  His cold?  Some combination?  Were they were going to be a continuing problem?  Regardless of the cause, we decided we needed to delay our backpack until the following week, and stick to day hikes.  (Note that, after a couple of days of assessing several variables, he decided he was getting sinus headaches induced by altitude changes ... due to a combination of his cold and the very dry air.  He managed to keep it under control with simple saline nasal spray.)  

The following day, we decided to avoid significant exertion and altitude ... so entertained ourselves doing a few short hikes in Devil's Postpile National Monument. ... Rainbow Falls, Sotcher Lake and Devil's Postpile.  The trail to Rainbow Falls had some nice fall color, and the falls themselves were very nice ... despite having very low water flow.  Sotcher Lake had a great big granite overlook that we climbed for a leisurely lunch.  Devil's Postpile was somewhat interesting, but not worth a special trip.


One other awesome place we visited was Minaret Vista ... just before the entrance to Devil's Postpile National Monument.  Great views of the valley, Minaret Peaks and the Ritter Range ... which was the area we planned to backpack.  The Vista was so cool, we visited it twice ... once during the day, then again for sunset!

Barney Lake

Duck and Pika Lakes (and unnamed peaks)

Pika Lake

Duck Lake and Silver Divide

Barney, Red and Skelton Lakes from Duck Pass

Fall Colors on Rainbow Falls Trail

Rainbow Falls

Devil's Postpile

Minaret Sunset

More Photos

Activities

• Day hikes:  Duck Lake, Rainbow Falls, Sotcher Lake, Devil's Postpile
• Sightseeing:  Minaret Overlook (for sunset)

5-Star Moments

• Relaxing on the sandy beach at Skelton Lake.
• Big views of Duck Lake.
• Sunset at Minaret Vista

Random Scenes

• Staying in the "Fireplace" room at the hotel.  Fireplace (of course).  Separate tub and dual-head shower.  Heated bathroom floor.  Heated and lighted toilet seat!  Ah, but nothing comes for free.  Ends up that the head of the bed is just a thin wall away from a building entrance used by the occupants of tour buses.  They arrive in the evening (sometimes late) and leave early in the morning.  And every one of the passengers has a roller suitcase that must traverse, in sequence, a carpet, a hard tile floor, another carpet, a grate (for kicking snow off of your ski boots), more tile floor, the door threshold, then finally the asphalt parking lot.  What a racket!
• Relaxing in the huge hot tub (with only 1 working jet), only to have some dirty guy with a half-bloody leg hop in for his "shower" prior to reporting to work as a delivery guy for the Chinese restaurant.

Tom's Daily Stress Points

• Will these headaches ever go away?  Will today's trip trigger one?  (stress level = 3/5)

 Sleeps

• Sierra Nevada Resort and Spa (fireplace room!). 

Eats

• Latin Market Taqueria (good truck-style tacos & sopes, cheap)
• Stella Brews (very good hearty baked goods).  
• Delicious Kitchen (mediocre at best).  
• The Stove (great French toast).  
• Mammoth Brewery (very good, not cheap).