Jun 14, 2016 Last minute, late spring trip to Mammoth
Last weekend, Wendy and I celebrated our tenth anniversary of being married by going to Mammoth. At this time of the season, there is only a sliver of the mountain open to skiing and snowboarding and we knew the trail conditions wouldn’t be great. But for years while we were dating we had season passes and went up often. Wendy got to know my family very well during those road trips, and also improved from being a beginner to an expert on the slopes. So the road trip was fun and appropriate even if our shredding was confined to the front and back of Chairlift 3 and some top-to-bottom Gondola runs starting at Cornice.
With plenty of cloud cover to keep the snow from getting slushy and no lines at all, we squeezed in 15-18 runs before it started raining around noon. Then we packed it up and had some lunch. (The lifts closed at 1:00 anyway.) Afterwards, we decided to check out some of the natural sites that we typically ignore when we’re on the slopes. Twin Falls were going off with the melting snowpack!
There’s a network of lakes linked by bike paths (that we drove by and walked around) with a lot of gorgeous views. There were idyllic spots, like a log cabin, but I really dug the scenes that could have come from a black metal album cover. Nearby Horsehoe Lake is rusty shack surrounded by dead trees afflicted by a freakish amount of CO2 in the soil. It could be a horror movie set, and a small sign taped to the restroom warns against sunbathing or picnicking on the ground, especially on windless days, because death could come in minutes.
It was really lovely afternoon, and along the the way we saw handfuls of other visitors fishing, hiking, and biking. I wonder if it gets really crowded over the summer. I’d like to go back with bikes and enough time to see the Devil’s Postpile. That must look amazing, and could a landmark get such an awesome name like that these culturally conservative days? Likewise, could a band like Black Sabbath or AC/DC even become mainstream? All that nature and fresh air sure leads to deep thoughts.
We had arrived after 11:00 on Friday night and by the time we hit the road at 7:00 on Sunday morning it was pouring rain. That won’t help the trail conditions for the hardcore skiiers and snowboarders who go to Mammoth between now and when the lifts close after the Fourth of July weekend, but we saw an amazing rainbow in Big Pine on the way home. Happy anniversary to us!
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