Well, this would be, you know, a weekend ski trip with some people – it’s really never a bad time to go up to the Eastern Sierra. Definitely a fun weekend. I went cross country skiing in Mammoth, downhill skiing at June Lake, and got over to stare at the tufa at Mono Lake twice in one weekend. Outstanding!
General view across the way in June Lake – Carson Peak
Nathan and I drove up north on the 10th, and met up with Drew and Melinda and I think Jason at the Vons in Mammoth Lakes. We got some necessary foodstuffs and then headed over to June Lake. We were staying at the Fern Creek Lodge (cabins. nowhere near as upscale as the name perhaps implies.), and Jason successfully got us all checked in. We had dinner, and went to bed.
Hey now, every successful outing starts at the grocery store
The next morning I got up, and Nathan headed off to Mammoth quite early, to try and get a full day of skiing in. I was up before the others, mostly, so took a bit of a walk up the hill behind the lodge. Not all that far up it got a bit steep, but I got to look at some pretty rocks, and just generally enjoy the view. Finally, after everyone got up, I headed with Melinda and Drew over to Tamarack where we planned to do some cross country skiing.
Enjoyably colored rocks on the hillside
We got all signed up, sorted up, kitted up, and paid up, and I have to admit I really liked the comfort of the x-country skiing boots, and the skis are definitely some skinny little things! The area around there sets up a lot of trails that cover areas that are partly trail, but largely roads that they don’t plow. We started with an easy loop around the lake, passing some buildings along the way that were completely covered in snow. I guess those are cabins, during the summer 🙂 As you go around, you also start seeing road signs and stop signs that are mostly buried, with ski guidance signs plopped into the snow at a higher height 🙂 We then tried out a couple slightly more difficult things…having to go both uphill and downhill, and I did some Vs uphill, and learned how to go downhill with one foot in the track, and using the other one out to slow you down a bit. I only lost a little bit of control a few times, though a couple of those involved some tumbles 🙂
Pretty sure there are cabins under there. Fairly sure.
Groomed track. I think you can ignore the speed limit if you can’t see it.
And I suspect a paucity of winter horses, but I’ll keep an eye out
At some point we stopped in at the Lodge itself, and got a soda and had our lunch. Sometime before or after that, we also did a longer loop that had…a fair bit of uphill (and I guess downhill after), and ended at what looked like a nice open meadow, but upon a few seconds of reflection, was a clearly frozen lake, covered in snow. I stopped at sat at a picnic table that was sitting there, after which I realized that someone had had to put that *on top* of the snow, because it otherwise would have been very clearly buried 🙂 We also did a loop on the near side of the lodge, where I did this whole great downhill section, perfect and in control, got to the bottom, stopped…and then fell right on my ass, right next to Drew. Good job, Anna! From there, we headed back to Mammoth town, and stopped in at the Mammoth Brewing Company, where we took some time to sample their lovely wares. Mmmm, delicious.
After that we headed back north, but instead of going right back to June, we went to South Lake Tufa at Mono Lake. Actually, we first went right past the turn off, but then figure it out. We drove out to the parking area, and started walking. We also ran into Michael and Anna there, which was funny. We did the simple loop walk, and I really thought it was wonderfully beautiful, in the late day sun, and the tufa glowing, and the air crisp and clear like winter does. It didn’t feel like a “repeat”, it felt wonderful to be there. After that, we went back to the cabins, and generally had an evening in. We all had dinner together, and then played a couple of games, and eventually went to bed.
Hanging out with tufa, ski pants on, squinting into the sun
Sun across the landscape
Water is life. A few feet can change precipitation so much.
The next day I went to June Mountain with Jason and Nathan. We got our tickets, and rode up to the main building, where I… waited a bit in order to be able to rent my skis. Eventually I got all set up, and we headed out for the day. The snow was definitely a bit crunchy, but I made some reasonably successful runs down some of the greens there. The best part is that the longer green run, which I enjoyed more, started from one of the two high points on the mountain, so we got some really nice views from up there. I also tried one of the blues, but it was pretty steep and icy, and I definitely lost some of my control on the way down. That was definitely less fun. I didn’t actually crash, but it wasn’t a great experience. I then split with Nathan, and went down the green a few more times on my own, in addition to trying one of the blue areas again , but an easier one. I then spent some time hanging out in the main building, getting a beer, returning my gear, and sitting and enjoying the view. It really was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed looking around. I met back up with Nathan, and we couldn’t find Jason, so we didn’t know if he’d gone back yet. So we actually went all the way back down, back to the lodge, realized he wasn’t there, and hadn’t taken a ride with anyone else, so we went back and rode back up and then managed to find him. That evening we all just sat around the place.
Nathan and I. I…seem to be rather monochromatic. Oh well.
View down from one of the easy runs. Yes, I will take that view. Any day.
We were driving home the last day, but Nathan also wanted to check out the tufa, so we went over there again, and had another walk, though it was less gorgeous than the prior day, it was far more overcast, so the light wasn’t as super awesome. It was definitely a bit brisk out, too. But still, the tufa looked cool, and we had the nice little walk around the area. On the way south, we went into Mammoth again and headed back to the brewing company again, so Nathan could check it out, and had a bunch more samples, and it was basically all delicious as always 🙂 After that point, we headed on home, with just a stop in Bishop to get some bread goods at Schats.
The road is, you know, closed after this point.
Nathan surveying the landscape on a much greyer day
The ski runs on June Mountain are visible in the midground
