Sunday in Mammoth Lakes

Sunday morning we got off to a slow start in Mammoth Lakes. We slept fitfully Saturday night, the altitude and dry air causing lots of congestion and difficulty breathing. As a result we didn't rise from bed until after 8am. Then we puttered around the room for a bit before going downstairs for breakfast. Free breakfast in this fancy hotel is a perk of my Marriott Titanium status. (Yes, really, it's called Titanium. They ran out of precious metals naming so many status levels.)



After breakfast we still weren't ready to go hiking. We were ready for some outdoors time, though. So we put on our swimsuits and went down to the hotel's hot tub. Actually there were two hot tubs (the nearest and farthest pools in the photo above) so we had one all to ourselves even though there were a few other guests on the pool deck.

The water felt great but the air outside— especially when emerging wet from the pool— was cold. Although it's June the temperature was not even 50°, a combination of the high altitude (7,500' elevation) and the cold snap in California the past few days.

Our morning lethargy continued after we returned from the hot tub. We stretched out in the room with our computers. As noon approached our conversation turned to, "Where do we want to hike today?" We decided on Ruby Lake.

The trailhead for Ruby Lake was about 20 miles away. It was an easy drive over there. Five miles but half the driving time were spent ascending along Rock Creek to the Mosquito Flat trailhead at just over 10,000 feet elevation. We were afoot on the trail just before 2pm.



Although the trail starts at a lofty elevation nearly 2 miles above sea level the trail to Ruby Lake goes up, up, up to more than 11,000'. The views are, of course, amazing. I'll post more about the trail & more pictures soon.

We got back to the trailhead just after 6pm and drove back to Mammoth Lakes. We ate dinner at a local brew pub. The beer was delicious and the food was good, too.

After dinner our plans for the evening evaporated. "Let's use the hot tub then come back to the room and stretch out on the floor in front of the fireplace for a while while enjoying dessert," I had proposed. Then we didn't actually have the energy to visit the hot tub, and the fire in the fireplace was just background scenery as we took turns taking showers. Dessert stayed in the fridge, and I was in bed by 10pm.

Monday in Mammoth, Mono Lake, Yosemite, and Home

Monday morning we got up a bit earlier than Sunday, having slept a bit more soundly Sunday night than Saturday. The uber-dry air continued to be a challenge for both of us but we'd gotten partially acclimated. Just in time to go home! 😒

We made a simple breakfast in the room from groceries we'd brought or bought. I didn't want a repeat of Sunday's hotel breakfast, even though it was again free, because it was too carbs-heavy for me. One of the hallmarks of adulthood is passing up delicious free food when it's not the right food.

One thing we did repeat from Sunday was a morning dip in the hot tub. Ahh, that felt nice. And the air outside was a bit warmer today... by which I mean about 50° instead of closer to 40. 🥶

Back at the room we relaxed a bit, not being in any particular rush to get on with the day. That felt kind of weird.... There was so much we could do but we just felt like relaxing instead.

Checkout time served as more of a motivator than anything else. We packed our bags and left the hotel just before 11. Lacking any stronger plan for where to go we headed north, back toward Lee Vining and Mono Lake. In Lee Vining we returned to the Mono Cone burger stand for lunch, where we ate on Saturday. "So nice it's twice," I quipped.

After lunch we drove around to the south side of Lake Mono. The main visitor area is on the south side. That's where you see Mono Lake's famous tufa spires. We've been there a few times before, most recently in 2017 (link above), so we didn't want to just repeat stuff we've done. Instead we drove to a lesser-visited area, Navy Beach, and saw sand tufa. Then we drove around to an area called Panum Crater and hiked up around a volcanic rhyolite plug.

Around 2:30pm we started heading for home. The scenic way. Which was also the fastest way. And by scenic I mean through Yosemite National Park. On the one hand it was retracing our drive from Friday night/early Saturday morning. On the other hand today it was daylight, not midnight, so we saw a lot more stuff. We pulled off to the side of the road several times to appreciate the beauty and take pictures.

After Yosemite... well, what can I say... it was a few hours of driving through not-Yosemite to get home. We walked through our front door at 9:15 and were completely unpacked in about 20 minutes. Now it's 10pm and I'm going to take a shower to clean off and cool down, then go to bed. It's been a nice 3-day weekend, but tomorrow morning it's back to work with a completely full schedule for the day!