Trip Summary
It took us a little over 5 hours to travel from Las Vegas to Mammoth Lakes, which
included a short stop in Beatty, NV. We got to town just after 8 PM, and met my uncle
and aunt for dinner.
After a good night's sleep, we decided to take a short hike up to Panorama Dome.
Even "easy" trails are a little difficult at 8000 + feet above sea level. After our
hike, my uncle drove us to Horseshoe Lake to see trees killed by too much CO2. An
earthquake cracked the earth which allowed CO2 to escape. Many trees and some people have
died as a result. From there, we went to Twin Lakes and the falls that feed them.
Then we went to the Mammoth Ski and Bike area. I tried snowboarding there this past
March, but had no idea how huge the place is. My extremely limited snowboarding abilites
confined me to the chairlift you see in the pictures of the kids on the zipline. The
view from the top is worth the trip. Next time we go, I'm going to try to bike down. Check
out all the things you can do in summer at
Mammoth Mountain
The next day, we were on our own and decided to visit the Devil's Postpile. What an
amazing sight! I have never seen anything like it. It is hard to believe that nature formed
these rocks in shapes of hexagons and pentagons. Again, well worth the trip.
From there, we decided to hike to Rainbow Falls. It's about 1.25 miles from the bus stop
- all down hill. Of course that means the return trip is 1.25 miles all up hill at 8000 +
feet. I recommend taking the horses to the falls if anyone in your party has difficulty
breathing or walking that far.
That was enough hiking for one day, so we returned to the ski area and for the second day
ate lunch at Yodlers. For the second day in a row, I ate the excellent fish tacos.
After sleeping off the effects of the hikes, we went to breakfast and shopped at
P3. They were running a very good sale on their
stuff. Then it was time to go home. In the Misc section you'll see the very narrow pass we
travel through on highway 266.
