Little Lakes Valley

 

Between Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, CA lies a small resort community called Tom’s Place. If you head west off Hwy 395 on Rock Creek Rd at Tom’s Place and drive up, up, up for 10 miles passing about 9 Forest Service campgrounds, the road finally dead ends at Mosquito Flats and the trailhead for the Little Lakes Valley. At 10,200’ it’s the highest paved road and trailhead in the Eastern Sierra. Several people recommended this hike and some said it’s their favorite trail. It’s very similar to the 20 Lakes Basin trail we hiked from Saddlebag Lake in that there is not a huge change in elevation, and that’s one reason it’s such a popular trail.

That and the beauty of the many glacial-carved lakes surrounded by rugged mountains. Our goal was to hike about 3.5 miles to the Gem Lakes, although the trail continues on for many more miles. The one nice thing about out and back trails is that you can turn around whenever you want, and the scenery always looks so different on the way back. We usually set a goal but if we’re having a bad day we might cut it short.

There is a fairly large parking lot for the trail, and if you don’t get there early the next parking area is a half mile back down the road. On Monday at 9:15 when we arrived we were surprised at the number of cars already there. Most of the trail lies in the John Muir Wilderness, so there are lots of backpackers spending the night, and plenty of day hikers like us.

The trail ascends fairly gently beside Rock Creek, then rises steeply along a path of rock steps. After a half mile there is a fork in the trail, where you can turn off towards 12,000’ Mono Pass, or continue on the Lakes trail to 11,000’ Morgan Pass. We took the easy way, heading towards Morgan Pass.

We passed through a pine and aspen forest, where there was some early color change. Then a string of lakes appeared. First we saw Mack and Marsh Lakes.

Then Heart Lake.

Box Lake.

Long Lake.

And finally the Gem Lakes. Many people hike the 2 miles to Long Lake and turn around, so we had this all to ourselves and stopped for a snack.

After we ate Jim said he was going to continue up the main trail to Morgan Pass. It was less than a half mile, and since it was there and we were so close we decided to go for it. It was a series of fairly steep switchbacks.

Debbie almost at the top of the pass, at just over 11,000’.

This was not a pass to climb to for the scenery, but the rocks and boulders were certainly impressive.

Jim heading back down.

It was downhill most of the way back, and we ended up with a total of 7.9 miles. Not too bad for us old folks. We definitely feel like we’re getting stronger, at least some days. It helps when the weather is cool and the scenery is so distracting.

We were discussing our favorite hikes in the Eastern Sierra so far, and decided that even though this was a great one, we liked the 20 Lakes Basin trail better. But our favorite has been the hike to Bennettville Mine and on to Spuller Lake, a much less popular but just as beautiful area. You really can’t go wrong hiking anywhere around here. More trails to come…

Devils Postpile National Monument

 

With such an intriguing name, there was no way we could pass up a visit to this national monument near Mammoth Lakes. Devils Postpile is a unique geological formation created about 100,000 years ago when a large lava flow began to cool. As the lava slowly cooled, contraction caused vertical cracks to form, which produced these basalt columns that average 2 feet wide and 60 feet tall.

The base  is covered with broken columns.

The trail to get to the postpile is easy and short (less than a half mile). From there you can take a steep trail to the top of the columns. This area later came in contact with a glacier which left a polished surface and glacial striations on the top.

Many of the columns are hexagonal, and reminded us of an old tile floor.

The trail continues on another two miles to Rainbow Falls and follows the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River.

Much of the national monument is in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, where the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails merge into one through the monument. There was a fire here in 1992, and a freak wind storm in November 2011 with 12 hours of 100-180 mph winds. Both of these events resulted in many dead and downed trees.

There is a lot of new growth since the fire, and some areas looked like a Christmas tree farm.

The trail to the falls was fairly easy, but if you want to go to the base there are almost a hundred steep steps to get down.

First glimpse of the top of the falls.

From the first viewpoint.

We’ve come 2.5 miles, what’s another 90 some steps.

It is called Rainbow Falls because the mist creates a rainbow when the sun is directly overhead. We were there too early in the morning to see it.

It’s quite an impressive 101 feet of falling water. Jim played photographer for a group of people and dogs.

The mist felt very refreshing.

If you want to visit Devils Postpile during the summer there is a mandatory shuttle bus. It runs to the Wednesday after Labor Day, so we waited until Thursday when we could drive our own car. We’re glad we did, as it is a very steep, windy road and we both tend to get a little queasy riding in buses on roads like that. The shuttle cost $7 per person, no discounts. Our entrance fee was $10 per vehicle, but free with Jim’s senior pass.

Also there are some places to pull over along the way to get a good view of the Minarets, a series of jagged peaks in the Ritter Range of the Sierra Nevada. On the way up it was obscured by clouds, and on the way down the light was wrong, but it was a nice view anyway.

As with so many of the national parks, this one’s existence had been threatened. It was originally part of Yosemite, but when gold was discovered near Mammoth in the late 1800s it was removed from the park. Luckily the columns were spared when the mountains were dynamited for gold.

Then in the early 1900s a hydroelectric dam was proposed, which called for destruction of the postpile. A group of conservationists petitioned President Taft, who finally proclaimed it a National Monument in 1911. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Our big wildlife sighting on the trail. Maybe one day a Steller’s Jay will sit still long enough for us to get a good photo.

Crystal Lake Hike and Boondockers Welcome

 

Although we made a few trips to Mammoth Lakes for shopping while we were staying near Mono Lake, we hadn’t really explored the area. So what better way than to take a hike on one of the many trails. I had selected Crystal Lake, as it was short (a little over 3 miles), scenic, and didn’t sound too difficult.

We drove through town and onto Lake Mary Rd. This is a beautiful area, and Mammoth Lakes is a very tastefully done tourist town, with miles of paved bike trails and shuttle buses that stop at all of the Forest Service campgrounds and trail heads. We passed Lake Mary and came to Lake George, the start of the trail. On Labor Day there were lots of people around, but not as many on the trail as we were afraid of.

The trail starts at 9,000’ and gains over 600’ of elevation, which felt like more to us as we huffed and puffed our way up the steep switchbacks.

Sights on the way up: Crystal Crag at 10,403’.

Views of Lake George and Lake Mary.

Our only wildlife, again.

And there’s Crystal Lake.

Guess this is why so many hikers had their dogs along. Nothing better than a dip in a cool alpine lake.

There is a trail that goes off from the lake trail which takes you to the Mammoth Crest, just another couple miles and a thousand more feet of climbing. We think it’s the ridge on the other side of the lake. Perhaps some other day…

Many of you may have heard about or already belong to Boondockers Welcome. This is an online organization that gives you the opportunity to boondock for a night or two on another members property. I remember reading about it last year on another blog (The Good Luck Duck, I think) but didn’t consider membership at the time as we were getting ready to spend 5 months workamping in Texas and I knew we wouldn’t be traveling.

I had completely forgotten about it until a few days ago when we received a special invitation from Marianne Edwards. Some of you may also know her from her blog frugal-rv-travel.com, and from the Frugal Shunpikers RV Boondocking Guides, of which she is the author. I have looked at her blog and also considered purchasing the guides, but that’s another one of those things I never got around to. Since she made us an offer we couldn’t refuse (a free years membership in Boondockers Welcome), I am posting this in case any readers would also be interested in joining.

I searched blogs for any mention of it and found several posts where people had either stayed on someone’s lot or had other RVers stay on their property. Everyone I read about praised the idea and said they met the nicest people by doing so.

It is something we are looking forward to trying out in our future travels, since we prefer not to stay at WalMart parking lots or truck stops. And it sounds like a good way to meet new RV friends on the road.

If anyone out there is already a member and has taken advantage of this, please leave a comment about your experience. We would like to hear about it.

And for anyone interested, if you use this coupon code: FORFOLLOWINGME , it will give you a 10% discount off the cost of a membership. Happy boondocking, and thanks, Marianne!

Convict Lake Trail

 

We wanted to take a little hike Friday morning before the holiday weekend crowd arrived, so we went over to Convict Lake, where there is a resort, Forest Service campground, and boat rental. This is a popular fishing lake, since you can drive to and park right beside it. A three mile trail circles the lake.

And you get the added bonus of these views. In fact it was used in a Nature Valley Granola Bars commercial in 2007 and 2010.

This is a fairly easy trail, with a few ups and downs but on mostly level ground. Halfway around is an intersection with another trail that enters the John Muir Wilderness and climbs for miles into the mountains.

The area has a colorful history. On September 23, 1871, a group of inmates escaped from a Carson City, NV prison. A posse from Benton, CA caught up with them on Monte Diablo Creek, now Convict Creek. A shootout took place and the prisoners evaded capture, but two posse members, Robert Morrison, a Benton merchant, and Mono Jim, a Paiute guide, were killed. The towering peak over the lake was renamed Mt. Morrison, and the smaller one in front is now Mono Jim peak. The convicts were later captured in Round Valley.

Also on February 19, 1990, four teenagers from a nearby youth camp fell through the ice after being warned that it was too thin. Only one of the boys was able to get out of the freezing water, and four adult rescuers died along with the other three teenagers.

A few more photos from this picturesque hike.

We got a little haze and smoke from the Yosemite fire yesterday, but it is supposed to move out this afternoon. It did make for a nice sunrise.