Mammoth
I'll format this for LJ even though #Planet will just choke anyways.
So our annual trip to Mammoth has come and gone again. Another 4 days of "camping" and fishing. I use quotes for camping because while I do sleep in a tent, sorta on the ground, and we do cook outside it's pretty civilized camping. We stay at Shady Rest Campgrounds which is right on the edge of Mammoth Lakes off of highway 395. We're a block from the hospital, 4 blocks from the supermarket, across the street from Rite-Aid and depending on which condo we're at, 5-10 minutes from a hot shower. As usual we left Thursday morning early and came back Sunday evening.
Thursday - I woke up at dark o'clock in the morning. I think it was 4am but it doesn't really matter since I didn't go to sleep until about 11:30 the previous night. I wanted to get in and make sure my online stuff was done before I would be net free for 3 days, then take a shower and time it so my second cousin would be arriving in time to load the rented minivan up so we could leave. Brian got to the house around 5:20 and by the time we were done packing the van it was 6:30. Headed to church to meet up with more people and do a quick prayer for a safe trip and then hit the road. We were in Mojave around 9:30 and stopped at our usual McDonald's to have breakfast and get ready for the long haul. As a side note McDonald's chicken biscuit isn't bad but it's not great... it's missing something to spice it up. It's a long boring drive up the 14 and 395 to Mammoth and you pass through a lot of one stop light towns and quite a few with no stop lights at all. I had to make a stop in Independance to get a bulb for my truck. The previous night while loading the truck we found out that one of my tail lights was out so I needed a new bulb. $4 later I had a bulb I couldn't install because it involved un-bolting the lens from the inside of the truck which was loaded up. Drive is uneventful, stop in Bishop for gas while the other 2 cars stop at Schat’s Bakkerÿ for sandwiches. Drove up the mountain to the camp site, pulled in and unloaded stuff, had lunch, set up camp, some people went fishing while some of us stayed at the campsite to prep dinner and take stuff to the condo. This year we had 2 condos because Erin had her baby, John, John's parents and sister together in one condo while my mom, Diane, Roger and Maya stayed in another. So I went up to the condo with my brother, Diane and mom to haul stuff up 3 flights of stairs. This normally is not a problem but 1) it's at elevation so it's more work than it seems, 2) we're lifting filled to the brim 20 gallon ice chests full of food. This year I was smart and took a hand truck with me to make the lifting easier. Dinner was marinated tri-tip, grilled shrimp, baked Yukon Gold patatoes and some white corn. I think I went to sleep at 10, I was dead from the day and wanted to sleep for the next morning.
Friday - I got up at 4 because we wanted to be on the road by 5:15am so we could be at the lake at 6 when the gates opened. Actually I got up at 3:59, sat up, looked around and then heard an odd chime sound. It was my phone alarm ringing and since I'm not used to hearing it I was pretty confused. Here's one challenge when you're camping in the woods, it's damn cold first thing in the morning and the bathroom is not nearby. From where I set my tent up I was only about 15 yards from the bathroom but it's damn cold in the morning. So I had to think for a second if I wanted to put my jacket on and go or run without it because I REALLY needed to go. It was cold enough for me to put the jacket on. Brushed my teeth, put my contacts in and then went to build a small fire for the morning. My uncle and his brother in-law woke up shortly after me and we roused everyone. We were late leaving but we were on the lake by around 6:30. We had a pontoon party boat with 8 of us on it and one small boat with 4. Fishing for me stunk, not even a nibble, but 3 of our newbies caught nice Crowley fish. Alan even caught the monster for the weekend, a 3lb 3oz, 21 inch rainbow trout. We headed back to camp, had lunch and then we split up for fishing in the afternoon. A few people went back to Crowley while a group of us decided to head to our usual spot at Convict Lake. Well we got a call from another group who had headed over and found out that we could no longer beach a boat on the opposite side at the inlet. The shallows were just destroying the prop on the motors so we would have to hike all of our lunches and gear around the lake. We decided to the the beach area which is on the boat dock side. Well the clouds rolled in and it started to sprinkle, then it hailed briefly, then it just sprinkled. We carried our gear down to the beach and set up in a light rain... which quickly became a heavy rain... which then turned into a torrential downpour. At this point I though about stopping, fishing in the rain usually is not productive. So holding on to one of my umbrellas I stood near my fishing pole when the winds kicked up. The winds were strong enough to cause my umbrella to start closing in on itself. That was my cue to call it a day and we all packed up and scrambled out. Hit the camp site to clean up stuff and start dinner, hit the condo for a nice hot shower. Dinner was Victor's special marinated chicken, cooked rice and green beans. Some people had some smores, I just headed to bed.
Saturday - We got up early and headed to Convict Lake again, the sun was nice out and we were hoping for good fishing. In my truck it was Kyle, my uncle Aki and his brother in-law Roy. We got there first and headed back down to the beach area where we fished the day before. Aki was out first and he headed back up calling for us to get our cameras. We headed down the short trail and in the trees were two does eating leaves calmly. I mean they were close, within 15 yards close. I stood up on a table to take a couple of shots while the rest of the crew showed up. Most of us (except my cousin who missed the whole thing entirely) stood there and took pics while they ate and finally left. We fished a while and got a whole lotta nothing. After breakfast at the camp we headed up to Saddlebag Lake which is next to Yosemite. Nice long drive up Tioga Pass, parking was bad, couldn't find a space. We asked someone at a info kiosk about other parking and he said "No other parking, but it looks like it'll rain in an hour so it'll clear out then.". We got lucky and I found a parking spot when someone left. We carried gear down to the lake, which isn't fun at 10-11K feet above sea level. Fishing was pretty damn good, people were pulling fish out quick. I got a nice bite that I lost on a rock but did eventually catch one fish. Maybe less than a pound, about 9 or 10 inches but it was a fish. It sprinkled and rained on us again but nothing like at Convict. Dinner was actual fish since we caught enough and I crashed early for the drive home.
Sunday - leftovers for breakfast, group photo, break down camp, load the vans and truck and leave. Thanks to some construction on the roads it was slow going down the mountain, got bacon and jerky at Mahogany Farms, filled up the tank and hit up Schat's for bread/cookies. We stopped at Manzanar since my cousin had never been there and took the quick drive tour to the cemetary and monument at the back of the camp. The southern drive down 395 sucked with heavy head/cross winds that kept me on my toes. Lunch ended up being McDonald's in Lone Pine, then a McDonald's stop for ice cream in Mojave. Got back home around 7:30, dumped all the gear out of the van and truck and got to relax.
All in all a fun trip, minus the torrential downpour. I had fun playing with Erin's 4 month old Remy (she was quite facinated with my watch... we think she has a thing for shiny objects) and generally hanging out with people. No major issues with the altitude thankfully so I think my blood pressure being somewhat in control has helped that.
So our annual trip to Mammoth has come and gone again. Another 4 days of "camping" and fishing. I use quotes for camping because while I do sleep in a tent, sorta on the ground, and we do cook outside it's pretty civilized camping. We stay at Shady Rest Campgrounds which is right on the edge of Mammoth Lakes off of highway 395. We're a block from the hospital, 4 blocks from the supermarket, across the street from Rite-Aid and depending on which condo we're at, 5-10 minutes from a hot shower. As usual we left Thursday morning early and came back Sunday evening.
Thursday - I woke up at dark o'clock in the morning. I think it was 4am but it doesn't really matter since I didn't go to sleep until about 11:30 the previous night. I wanted to get in and make sure my online stuff was done before I would be net free for 3 days, then take a shower and time it so my second cousin would be arriving in time to load the rented minivan up so we could leave. Brian got to the house around 5:20 and by the time we were done packing the van it was 6:30. Headed to church to meet up with more people and do a quick prayer for a safe trip and then hit the road. We were in Mojave around 9:30 and stopped at our usual McDonald's to have breakfast and get ready for the long haul. As a side note McDonald's chicken biscuit isn't bad but it's not great... it's missing something to spice it up. It's a long boring drive up the 14 and 395 to Mammoth and you pass through a lot of one stop light towns and quite a few with no stop lights at all. I had to make a stop in Independance to get a bulb for my truck. The previous night while loading the truck we found out that one of my tail lights was out so I needed a new bulb. $4 later I had a bulb I couldn't install because it involved un-bolting the lens from the inside of the truck which was loaded up. Drive is uneventful, stop in Bishop for gas while the other 2 cars stop at Schat’s Bakkerÿ for sandwiches. Drove up the mountain to the camp site, pulled in and unloaded stuff, had lunch, set up camp, some people went fishing while some of us stayed at the campsite to prep dinner and take stuff to the condo. This year we had 2 condos because Erin had her baby, John, John's parents and sister together in one condo while my mom, Diane, Roger and Maya stayed in another. So I went up to the condo with my brother, Diane and mom to haul stuff up 3 flights of stairs. This normally is not a problem but 1) it's at elevation so it's more work than it seems, 2) we're lifting filled to the brim 20 gallon ice chests full of food. This year I was smart and took a hand truck with me to make the lifting easier. Dinner was marinated tri-tip, grilled shrimp, baked Yukon Gold patatoes and some white corn. I think I went to sleep at 10, I was dead from the day and wanted to sleep for the next morning.
Friday - I got up at 4 because we wanted to be on the road by 5:15am so we could be at the lake at 6 when the gates opened. Actually I got up at 3:59, sat up, looked around and then heard an odd chime sound. It was my phone alarm ringing and since I'm not used to hearing it I was pretty confused. Here's one challenge when you're camping in the woods, it's damn cold first thing in the morning and the bathroom is not nearby. From where I set my tent up I was only about 15 yards from the bathroom but it's damn cold in the morning. So I had to think for a second if I wanted to put my jacket on and go or run without it because I REALLY needed to go. It was cold enough for me to put the jacket on. Brushed my teeth, put my contacts in and then went to build a small fire for the morning. My uncle and his brother in-law woke up shortly after me and we roused everyone. We were late leaving but we were on the lake by around 6:30. We had a pontoon party boat with 8 of us on it and one small boat with 4. Fishing for me stunk, not even a nibble, but 3 of our newbies caught nice Crowley fish. Alan even caught the monster for the weekend, a 3lb 3oz, 21 inch rainbow trout. We headed back to camp, had lunch and then we split up for fishing in the afternoon. A few people went back to Crowley while a group of us decided to head to our usual spot at Convict Lake. Well we got a call from another group who had headed over and found out that we could no longer beach a boat on the opposite side at the inlet. The shallows were just destroying the prop on the motors so we would have to hike all of our lunches and gear around the lake. We decided to the the beach area which is on the boat dock side. Well the clouds rolled in and it started to sprinkle, then it hailed briefly, then it just sprinkled. We carried our gear down to the beach and set up in a light rain... which quickly became a heavy rain... which then turned into a torrential downpour. At this point I though about stopping, fishing in the rain usually is not productive. So holding on to one of my umbrellas I stood near my fishing pole when the winds kicked up. The winds were strong enough to cause my umbrella to start closing in on itself. That was my cue to call it a day and we all packed up and scrambled out. Hit the camp site to clean up stuff and start dinner, hit the condo for a nice hot shower. Dinner was Victor's special marinated chicken, cooked rice and green beans. Some people had some smores, I just headed to bed.
Saturday - We got up early and headed to Convict Lake again, the sun was nice out and we were hoping for good fishing. In my truck it was Kyle, my uncle Aki and his brother in-law Roy. We got there first and headed back down to the beach area where we fished the day before. Aki was out first and he headed back up calling for us to get our cameras. We headed down the short trail and in the trees were two does eating leaves calmly. I mean they were close, within 15 yards close. I stood up on a table to take a couple of shots while the rest of the crew showed up. Most of us (except my cousin who missed the whole thing entirely) stood there and took pics while they ate and finally left. We fished a while and got a whole lotta nothing. After breakfast at the camp we headed up to Saddlebag Lake which is next to Yosemite. Nice long drive up Tioga Pass, parking was bad, couldn't find a space. We asked someone at a info kiosk about other parking and he said "No other parking, but it looks like it'll rain in an hour so it'll clear out then.". We got lucky and I found a parking spot when someone left. We carried gear down to the lake, which isn't fun at 10-11K feet above sea level. Fishing was pretty damn good, people were pulling fish out quick. I got a nice bite that I lost on a rock but did eventually catch one fish. Maybe less than a pound, about 9 or 10 inches but it was a fish. It sprinkled and rained on us again but nothing like at Convict. Dinner was actual fish since we caught enough and I crashed early for the drive home.
Sunday - leftovers for breakfast, group photo, break down camp, load the vans and truck and leave. Thanks to some construction on the roads it was slow going down the mountain, got bacon and jerky at Mahogany Farms, filled up the tank and hit up Schat's for bread/cookies. We stopped at Manzanar since my cousin had never been there and took the quick drive tour to the cemetary and monument at the back of the camp. The southern drive down 395 sucked with heavy head/cross winds that kept me on my toes. Lunch ended up being McDonald's in Lone Pine, then a McDonald's stop for ice cream in Mojave. Got back home around 7:30, dumped all the gear out of the van and truck and got to relax.
All in all a fun trip, minus the torrential downpour. I had fun playing with Erin's 4 month old Remy (she was quite facinated with my watch... we think she has a thing for shiny objects) and generally hanging out with people. No major issues with the altitude thankfully so I think my blood pressure being somewhat in control has helped that.