Ruth's Life is Good: Sunday 10-8-23 & Monday 10-9-23 Mammoth Lakes INYO National Forest

Twin Lakes Campground

Sunday 10-8-23 Back in California & Twin Lakes Campground

We spent two great nights at the Topaz Lake Casino RV park.

I woke up a little before 7:00 and made mini waffles for breakfast. Then we got the Minnie ready to leave. Larry dumped the tanks and filled the water. After everything was ready Larry finished his book. I did some Sudoku puzzles. I walked down to the convenience store to return the restroom key and get our $10 dollars back.

At 9:30 we were on the road. We started in Nevada and in less than a mile we were in California. When we got to the border there was a gate you have to go through to check for plants, fruits and vegetables. We got there and started to stop when the gentleman waved us through. We drove a two lane mountain highway with a couple of passing lanes. After the mountain range we were back in the desert. As we drove we saw gorgeous fall colors in the valley and the mountains with snow on their peeks in the back ground. Larry stopped and I took a few pictures. Afterwards we continued down the road. A car flashed their lights on and off to warn us about something. It didn’t take too long to figure what the problem was. Some sheep were in the road and on both sides of the road. Some how they got loose. A couple of them weren’t too smart. They tried to cross the road in front of cars but the cars were at a stop so it was ok. Not a bad delay. Then we drove through another beautiful mountain pass. We saw a huge lake called Mono Lake. We stopped at the viewpoint so I could take pictures. The lake was a little hazy because they are doing controlled burns in the area. The closer we got to our turnoff we saw more smoke and actually some of the fire. The smoke was thick but we continued on. We took the exit for Mammoth Lakes. We drove through the town of Mammoth Lakes.

Fall colors in the valley

Mono Lake

Controlled burn

As we drove through Mammoth Lakes we saw a lot of people bicycling and jogging. There was a lot of places to eat. They were building a lot of new homes. It looked like the town was growing fast.

We were about 3 miles from Twin Lakes Campground when our GPS took us down a narrow and steep road. Larry figured it was taking us to the wrong place. He turned around and we went back through a couple of neighborhoods. We found a place to pull over and Larry rerouted us to where we should be going.

We got to Twin Lakes Campground and found our site. The road around the campground is very narrow and the sites are small. As we were backing in our site the hosts came by and asked us about our reservation. Larry got his e-mail up and found it. We were a day early but we were in luck, the people who were in our site were gone and not coming back. We just had to pay for another night. Later figured out how he got the reservation wrong, it was a three day weekend and the park required everyone to book all three days. He did not know this, when he had the website up he assumed the days that everyone had booked were Friday and Saturday so he selected the day first open day thinking it was Sunday, nope, it was Monday. Fortunately everything worked out terrific.

After setting the Minnie up Larry did everything he could to get a cell phone / internet connection. Sometimes he could get the hot spot to work enough to get email or check the weather but most of the time it wouldn't work at all.

After he gave up we went for a walk around the campground to find the trails for our hike tomorrow. There are trail maps all over the place but they were all different and confusing. There is a paved trail around the campground that goes to different trails. The trail has a divided line in the middle for bicycles. The campground is full and town is close.

Larry barbecued some pork for dinner.

Mammoth Mountains

Monday 10-9-23 Hiking at Mammoth Lakes

Last night when I went to bed I turned off the Wave3 because we like it cool when we sleep. Larry turned in on when he got up at 6:00. He said that it was 54 degrees in the Minnie. It didn’t get as cold as they predicted, which was 32. It only got in the 40s.

I crawled out of bed at 7:00, it was very comfortable. I got dressed and then I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We waited until the sun came up to go on a hike. At 7:45 we went on a 5.5 mile hike. We started at the campground on the Mammoth Lakes Trail, which was a paved trail for bicycles, e-bikes, hiking and dogs.There weren't many people up yet. We walked the trail uphill for 2.5 miles to a day area, from the day area there were more trails.

View of the mountain with a cave

Deer in the campground

Our hike first took us by Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit, in the summer they offer horseback riding and pack trips. It has been running for over a hundred years. It was started by The Pioneer Summers Family when Charley Summers bought the land. In 1915 his son Lloyd opened the Mammoth Lakes Outfit. He ran it until 1945, where his son Lee took over until 1960. Then he sold it to Lou & Marye Roeser. They ran it until 1967 when they sold it back to Lee’s son John. It is still being run by the Summers Family.

History of Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit

Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit

The trail then took us to Mary Lake and lower Mammoth Falls. The lower falls starts out at the dam. It looks like an overflow part of the lake. Then it falls down the mountainside. Mary Lake was a beautiful small mountain lake. We continued on the trail to the lakes basin, which is a day area for people to hike trails around a few lakes and other trails. Using his trail apps Larry found the Mammoth Pass Trail, which takes you back to the campground. This part of the trail was a dirt trail that went up the mountainside. It was very challenging. We rested when we needed to catch our breath and to look at the scenery. We saw gorgeous views of Horseshoe Lake, Mary Lake and other lakes. The mountain range was beautiful with snow on some of it’s peaks. Once we were on top of the mountain we had climbed about 1100 feet in elevation, we were very high, about 9600ft. Early on we had seen what we thought was a cave in the mountain but from above we discovered it was actually an arch that expert skiers can fit through. It was awesome and the rock formations were unbelievable. Then we started our descent to the campground. When we got to the last .5 mile the trail it was closed due to removal of trees. We weren’t going to go all the way 5 miles back and up 11000 feet so we watched them cut trees. We waited about a half hour and when they shut off their big machine Larry whistled to get their attention. He explained we didn’t know the trail was closed when we started from the top. One of the workers said they just closed it this morning and it was going to be closed for two days. He said they didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He said they would stop working and let us pass. Larry complimented him on his equipment. In return the guy complimented us on our hike. By the time we got back to the Minnie we were tried but we had a super hike.