I've been bugging John about going and doing wilderness things for a few months now. I've always wanted to go camping because I've never been on a legit camping trip besides Coachella (which is eh, still not really camping). Since I've been gone for awhile to Europe, we decided to take trip together, destination MAMMOTH. This was my chance to get some wilderness in me, to get away from the city life I've been living. It was both of our first times visiting Mammoth lakes. We didn't get to camp which was okay with me, backpacking through Europe got me tired and I just wanted to relax.
Day 1, Friday
From San Diego, Mammoth is about a 6 hour drive. Packed with snacks and a full playlist of music, we set out on our long drive. Honestly, the drive wasn't too bad. We perfered it way more than the desert drive to Vegas which always feels ridiculously long and relentless. We only stopped twice, once in Riverside for breakfast at Lee's Sandwhich and a bathroom break at a gas station. You get to go through this small desert cities which makes you wonder what it's like to live in the desert in the middle of nowhere. The road going up is not too windy, unlike going to Big Bear which always makes me a little dizzy. We got to our hotel accomodation, The Village. The room had a separate bedroom and had fully equipped kitchen. It was very cozy. We explored the little village in the complex. It isn't peak season so we were practically in a ghost town, not many people were walking around and the lifts weren't open since it's not ski season either. Starting to get hungry we ate at Tooney's. For being a little restauarant with cartoon font on their logo, their food has the typical touristy area price but was very delicious. I had the fish and chips while John had some kind of fish burger. Both of our dishes left me wanting more. We called it a day and started planning our day of hiking.
Day 2, Saturday
Unfortunately, leading up to our trip it was forcasted to rain with possible thunderstorms and Saturday was supposed to be the worst, but we were determined to get some hiking before the down pour. We drove towards the Heart Lake Trail and began our journey through nature. The best part of hiking in the fall is being about to see the changing of leaves. Living in California, we don't get to see seasons very often, but here in the nature of Mammoth you can breathe in that brisk, fresh air and get that glimpse of how nature moves from summer to winter. We made sure that we never strayed away from the trail because we didn't want to be the next victim of one of those missing in the woods stories. The path was marked very well, with horse poop decorating some parts of it. Our favorite section of the hike was walking through this grove of yellow leaved trees, it was like something off of a calendar. Above us, the clouds would tease us and kept us unsure of when it would actually rain. We quickened our speed and eventually got to the heart lake. It was a beautiful serene place, stillness was in the air but then a little drops hit my face and we had to go back. Thankfully we only got a little sprinkling and then it stopped. The Heart Lake trail is accompanied by the Mine trail which is only 0.25 mi. so we went to check out the abandoned mine. After checking both we decided to drive to a few of the close by Lakes. Lake Mary had fishermen on the lake and on the shore, they were all bundled for the cold, rainy weather. On the map, Horseshoe Lake is one of the biggest lakes, however when we got there we recieved a different site. The lake was very small. The affects of the California drought really gave example at this lake were you can see from the land around it where the lake water used to reach. It was noontime, lunch time. We couldn't really have a picnic outside since it was cold and there was still the taunting dark clouds. We parked at a lake and ate our packed turkey pastrami sandwhiches and dried fruits. As we ate, it started to rain cats and dogs outside. Everyone who was viewing the lake ran back to their cars. It was actually nice sitting in the car, eatting and watch the rain roll down the windows. The weather stopped for our activiity for the day so we went back to the hotel. The Village has a game room which we took advantage of by playing some Marvel game and Halo. The weather started to clear up again in the evening and I there was a jacuzzi time. After hiking, it felt soothing being in the hot water. Dinner time was approaching and we had brought groceries from back home. Chef John prepared steak and sweet potatoes for our dinner and for dessert we had mini apple pies. John is a big Lord of the Rings fan and he brought his film box special edition set. We finished the first The Fellowship of the Ring that night.
Day 3, Sunday
We still had some bacon and eggs from our breakfast the previous day so we had that before leaving. We packed our things and our Mammoth trip came to a close. Driving back down from the Mammoth the mountains looked a bit different. The mountain tops were frosted white. The rain we got was cold enough for the mountain tops to get some snow. Bye Mammoth!
Before going back to San Diego we took a pit stop to LA.
»Experienced: October 16, 2015 - October 18, 2015 «
Have you ever been to Mammoth? Where's your favorite place to visit in the fall? Which is your favorite Lord of the Rings movie?
