Weekend in Mammoth Lakes

We had a really amazing time in Mammoth Lakes this weekend. Leading up to it I had no expectations (I didn’t even know where we were staying), so I was blown away by how beautiful and fun everything was. I can’t believe how close it is to Yosemite. I remember being in Yosemite looking out from Glacier Point and wondering what was on the other side of the mountain range. Now I know…and…it looks a lot like the other side.

Here are some highlights:

• We swam in a natural hot springs creek. At first I was hesitant, swimming in rivers/lakes/creeks is not really my thing, and since it was bubbling up sulfuric, volcanic, boiling water and trout were jumping, I was pretty scared. Eventually, I swam in and then relaxed on the sandy slope of the creek. It was about as warm as a hot tub in most places and freezing cold in others. It was crazy feeling the earth rumble beneath you while swimming around. It felt like little fireworks. Randy swimming:


• We met a couple at the hot creek (‘Rev Kev’ who helped talk me into getting in) and then saw them again the next day at Lake Mary. They were from San Jose. Small world.
• We watched the sunset while hiking out of the hot springs creek and then turned east and watched the moon rise (I couldn’t get a good pic of the moon) but it was fabulous.
• Am I saying “waiters” or “waders”? Am I saying “parrot” or “pair it”? LOL
• Our condo was BEAUTIFUL! My man did good!!! He’s so great. I wish I took more pictures of it. Here is me cooking and another one of my man just looking cute.



• We kayaked on two lakes. One of them had a waterfall (my favorite picture of the roll)


• Randy getting the kayak ready:


• Lake Mary


• Views from the kayak



• We found this little cove that was so beautiful. It was my favorite place the whole weekend. I was so great getting to see the views from the lake. Wow. Then, we just picked up the kayak and hiked to the next lake.


• We asked a man on horseback if there was a lake over the road/hill. He responds, “No…there’s no lake over there but if you want to hike up that mountain there is a great lake, but it’s a good hike.” We hike 500 feet up the road…there is a huge lake. This is his wife, who was equally lost:


• Dragonflies were playing. Can you see it?


• We hiked to Panorama Dome.


• Saw a momma deer and her fawn run down the mountain right in front of us and then a squirrel came to say hi…



· The next day we hiked from Devils Post Pile to Rainbow Falls. We hiked up the buttresses (that’s what the mountain range was called) and I popped a squat on the buttress and then laughed about that awhile. Here is Devils Post Pile:


• Rainbow Falls (if you look close you can see a rainbow across the center of the falls)


• On the ride back home, I was almost asleep when Randy yelled, “LOOK! ELK!” And we pulled over and watched them.
• Two male Elk were squaring off and about to fight over a pack of girl elks. I thought we were going to see a fight as they circled around but they were just sizing each other up.





• Have you ever heard an Elk call? It sounds crazy!



• On the way we went through a ghost town called Red Mountain which looked like a scene from a horror movie. We had a lot of fun making up our own horror movie script inspired by Red Mountain. Seriously, google street view that junk, it’s totally worth a look.

Until the next adventure…