There’s really nothing quite like camping in the mountains. Waking up, knowing that just outside your motorhome door lays a world of adventure waiting for you to embark upon. Your campground looks like this: a circle of motorhomes and trailers with dirt bikes and OHVs littering the spaces in between; a grill (or two, or three) beside an array of picnic benches and folding tables covered with coffee pots, solo cups and finger foods; a few pieces of last night’s dinner trash sitting in the fire pit; there is undoubtedly a dog laying in the dirt somewhere within eyesight. I recently spent 9 days in exactly this fashion, up in Mammoth Mountain.
The first half of the trip was spent at Shady Rest Campground; the second half at Glass Creek. We spent the first couple of days of the trip getting in some fishing at Twin Lakes. I should note that when I say “we” I do not mean that I actually did any fishing, but that I sat with my Dad and our camping buddies as they fished. Josh and I also enjoyed exploring the area around the lakes and had a few drinks at the lodge, which was a really neat little place. We also spent some time fishing and hiking around Lake Mary, in the first few days. We froze all of the fish until the last night of our trip and had a big camp fish bbq that was excellent!
In the middle of the trip Josh and I, and our friend, Ryan, took the Mammoth Adventure Center tram to the Devil’s Postpile National Monument hiking trail. We hiked from Devil’s Postpile to lower Rainbow Falls. From the trail head to the lower falls and back to the tram pickup, the hike was roughly 6 miles. The high altitude makes this short hike a bit of a trek- but it’s totally worth it. The Devil’s Postpile portion of the hike is not really a “hike”, but more of a short walk on a dirt trail. From where the tram stops, to the Devil’s Postpile is less than a quarter of a mile, so if you’re wanting to see it but not sure if you’re up for the hike, I would highly recommend trying this part out. The Devil’s Postpile is really a spectacular sight to see. The hike to Rainbow Falls is a little over 2 miles from the Devil’s Postpile. Unfortunately, when we visited, the stairs that lead down into the water were under construction. This is why we decided to hike am extra mile and a half down to the lower falls, which are accessible. This was a really fun hike, and a highlight of the trip for me.
After our hike, we moved camp over to Glass Creek, where we met up with more of our camping buddies to get some trail riding in. My dad and his buddies really like to trail ride on their dirt bikes, while the rest of us enjoy driving the Razors around. We rode trails for a few days, always with a lake marked as our destination. After we reached this lake or that lake we would crack open a few beers and hang for a couple of hours before heading back to camp to grill up some dinner.
After all that trail riding, and 9 nights in a motorhome with 2 men and a dog… I was ready to get home to my shower and clean sheets. Don’t get me wrong, I love wilderness living and I would happily put in more than 9 days if I only had a shower (we had no hook-ups at Glass Creek so showers were limited to light rinsing only. I’ve got 15″ hair. Needless to say, I need a shower shower). Over all, this trip was so fun and presented me with so many gorgeous photo opportunities! Most of these pictures were taken on either the GoPro Hero 3+ silver, or the iPhone 5.
Jackie of All Trades 