A Mammoth Dose of Fun — YOFO Adventures

We loved hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We ate lunch by the lake then headed up to Mono Pass.

This is yet another catch-up entry since we slacked on the blog for a bit. Waaay back in October (yep, this blog is like reading ancient history!), after playing in Bend, Oregon, we were headed south, en route to our volunteer gig in California’s Central Valley. We also were trying to time our next stop to receive some general delivery mail (our absentee ballots) from a post office. We picked Mammoth Lakes, California, because it seemed like a fun place to play, especially if we timed things wrong and had to stay a little longer waiting for the mail. We’re very glad we did as it turned out to be a super fun place to hang out, and as it turns out, the mail was slow in arriving.

After crossing into California, we passed thru the Susanville area and spent an enjoyable evening at Eagle Lake in the Lassen National Forest. Lakes and big trees seem to be a source of joy for us, and the campground was nearly deserted for reasons we honestly can’t fathom.

While on a ride we caught a view of our campground and the YOFOHome at Convict Lake (look for the kayaks on the truck).

We arrived at Mammoth Lakes, and after a near disastrous campground recon in the town of Mammoth Lakes (RV friendly on paper but nearly unnavigable in reality), a friendly Forest Service Ranger suggested we try the campground at Convict Lake. It was a few miles south, but turned out to be a perfect home base while we played, checked the mail, played some more, checked the mail, and played some more until our ballots finally arrived. The campground had a spot big enough for us and with plenty of sun exposure for our solar panels so that we could boondock. There were definitely some cooler evenings and mornings with frost, but the days warmed up brilliantly and temps were more than manageable.

We did a bunch of hiking and have to say that the area does it right - trail maps everywhere, an excellent visitor center with knowledgeable and friendly rangers and plenty of puppers to pet out on the trails (the Forest Service generally allows dogs on trails - unlike the National Park Service). There’s enough stuff to do that we would consider this a destination place and not just a stopover. From Mono Lake’s volcanic features in the north to June Lake’s poke (Hawaiian food) truck and brewery excellence, to Mammoth Lakes amazing trails, to Mono Pass’s challenge, to a local geothermal area - it’s got something for everyone. And we didn’t even get to see the Devil’s Postpile since the road was closed for construction. There is a wide variety of hikes, everything from short 2-3 mile flat routes to day-long adventures up mountains, and you can even find multi-day route options. And we saw a couple of bears cross the road just outside of town, so nature is an integral part of the vibe. We’re sure the skiing is great there too. We were probably lucky we didn’t get snowed on in Mid-October!

Absentee ballots completed and returned, we headed south again on scenic 395 but did go far, stopping just south of Bishop. It’s a long-ish drive up the side of a mountain, but we wanted to see the Bristlecone Pine National Forest, located southeast of Mammoth. We’re glad we did; it was amazing. It protects a lot of very old trees, among them is the second oldest tree in the world, “Methusalah,” at 4,851 gnarly years! The Forest Service keeps its exact location a secret, but it is surrounded by friends and offspring that are in the same age bracket (along with some “youngsters” that are only a couple thousand years old). It’s awe inspiring to walk among and touch the oldest living things on earth; trees that were saplings about the time the Stone Age ended, the wheel was invented, and Egyptians wrote with hyroglyphics. We wish trees could tell stories (kind of like the Ents in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings)! We loved our day trip up there while camping in a town campground just south of Bishop. We enjoyed a great loop hike and fantastic visitor center staff who took the time to explain lots about pine cones to us!

Shame on FDR for signing Executive Order 9066. Racism at its worst.

Continuing our trek south, we made a special detour to see the Manzanar Internment Camp. This was one of many relocation centers (some historians call them America’s concentration camps) where the US basically incarcerated citizens of Japanese descent during WWII. There is nothing fun about such a visit, but it is powerful and a shameful part of our history that should be exposed and taught. The Visitor Center and outbuildings are incredibly well done. It drives home the destructive power of dehumanizing prejudice and how easy it is for citizens to turn on their neighbors. (Side Note: the US also detained Japanese residents who had not quite earned their citizenship because the US had an official policy of not granting citizenship to Asians, in order to favor European immigrants. The Korematsu Supreme Court Decision that upheld this policy is one that the Supreme Court flat got wrong, and has since reversed.)

This little hitchhiker woke us up one night.

After that rather sobering visit, we made one final stop to re-provision at the Naval Air Station at China Lake (a repeat visit for us) prior to arriving at Success Lake - our winter volunteer gig.