The Eastern Sierra and hiking possibilities right outside of Mammoth Lakes Ca and Highway 395 are just simply spectacular and our latest passion. After 20 years of camping and backpacking, we are done with Desolation Wilderness, Emigrant and Yosemite and into hiking any destination off of 395. This year we decided to spend a week doing recon for our next backpack and after day hiking to several passes decided to backpack over Mono Pass (12,040) into Pioneer Basin--the Mono Pass trailhead is at the end of Rock Creek Road and 10,250 feet. With just 1,200 feet gain in 3 miles and beautiful views all the way,you make the pass...Like my little friend next door says.."Easy Peasy".
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Mono Pass is weirdly beachy looking because of all the sand and no foliage
but pretty up there with the true blue sky and horsetail clouds. |
The next day we hiked to Bishop Pass and Bishop Lake…a 10 + mile day. You pass lake after lake and it is really a beautiful hike. We plan to return next year to hike over Bishop into Dusy Basin.
We also hiked to Blue Lake from the Sabrina Lake trailhead. The trail was frustrating as it is used by stock and is very narrow and up up up with no chance to hit a stride. It's no fun to be dodging horse poo and trying to find decent footing. Besides that, the first half of the trail is in the trees with very few views. I'm glad we made it to Blue Lake but this hike helped me decide not to attack it with a backpack.
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| Looking back at Lake Sabrina…finally out of the trees |
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| Trail steps to Blue Lake…lots of em |
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| Dave crossing outlet to Blue Lake |
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| We stopped at Blue Lake for Lunch |
Some had some pretty dramatic cloud build up over Blue Lake…we scurried and outran any rain.
After Sabrina, we spent some time in the pool and the bartender told us that Cam Zinc was going to try and set a world record for doing a back flip on a mountain bike that night. We took the tram up the hill to Canyon Lodge…it was a fantastically fun atmosphere and the perfect ending to our trip. His jump was sponsored by MONSTER…and here are the MONSTER gals at Mammoth…(I asked them to pose not Dave).
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| The crowd was pretty family oriented. |
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Just waiting for the jump…you can see the starting point
at the top of the photo on the right and the ramp in the middle. |
Here's the jump! Just click.
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