More photos here!
Many experiences are worth repeating on this trip
(luckily!) and the Westin in Mammoth was certainly one of them. As we were celebrating our 14th
wedding anniversary, we treated ourselves to two nights in a Heavenly Bed and
dinner out at The Tamarack Lodge. Both
proved to be as exceptional as our first experience of them.
These two nights involved a lot of sitting in a Jacuzzi,
gorging on NY style bagels from The Old New York Deli & Bagel Company and
dogs sleeping on their own Heavenly Dog Beds.
But we did do one hike: Up from
Horseshoe Lake (half dry) to Mammoth Pass (not as scenic as you might imagine)
and over to Lake McCleod (gorgeous.) A
short hike day, but enough exercise to completely enjoy an entire bottle of
wine during dinner!
Having eaten fresh-caught trout every night
since we arrived in the valley, we ignored all the fish options on the Tamarack
Lodge menu and opted for Venison Osso Buco and Angus Ribeye. Delicious.
And prepared by someone else. And
cleaned up by someone else. (And, let’s
face it, killed by someone else.) A
perfect treat.
But soon enough we were ready
to hit the open road; we hitched up Salt (the Westin graciously allowed us to
park her in front of their hotel in the Valet Only area) and drove a whopping
20 miles back south on 395 to McGee Creek.
The USFS McGee Creek Campground is lovely, each
pitch with a built in shade shelter and asphalt pitches!! Yahoo!
I forgot the thrill (and cleanliness) of having Salt perched on asphalt
rather than dirt. The creek behind the
campground is a lovely fishing area (even better than Rock Creek in my opinion)
with a lot of pools and, now, a few less fish (Alan, of course, caught dinner
each night.)
We hiked up McGee Creek Trail
which was enjoyable for its incredibly colorful mountains (rivaling those found
in the Artists Palette in Death Valley) as well as the fall leaves. Sadly, the trail did not follow along the
creek as we had hoped and it was terribly hot.
So we kept it a short two miles in and out.
The next day we upped the ante
heading up Convict Lake Trail and attempted to make it to Mildred Lake. After about four miles of a gentle but
constant climb and a half mile of scrambling straight up over rocks, we threw
in the towel. No Mildred Lake for
us. The best views on this hike are
about one mile passed the trailhead at the back of Convict Lake. So stop there if you are after a scenic hike
and not a strenuous one. We figured our
total hiking mileage to be over eight miles that day. Rosco did about half of that (which is great
for him.)
Next stop is the June Lake area;
despite having been up and down Highway 395 numerous times in our past, we have never
even driven the June Lake Loop. Here
goes!
-K
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