A quick weekend camping trip to Mammoth Lakes in September for the Mammoth Tuff gravel bicycle race. Marty was participating in his first Mammoth Tuff gravel race. He did the medium course of 70.7miles, over 3,916 feet of elevation, with a mixture of road, gravel, sand, and mountain riding.
On Friday, I went into work at 4am so we would be able to leave by 10am. We made the five and half hour drive enjoying the view as we headed in land and North. One of the craziest things we saw was at a rest-stop, was a motorcycle pulling a trailer, with a kayak, canoe, cooler, storage bins, and dog case. Even the long-haul big-rig drivers were taking photos of the setup. A short time later we made it to The Village At Mammoth for the riders meeting and dinner. Then we headed out to find a dispersed camping site for the night.
Saturday, we were up and out early to get to the start line at The Village. After seeing Marty and a friend take off for the medium course, I hungout at the start line to see a few friends off that were riding on the short course. Once all our friends were off riding a friend and I climbed into the truck to go sight seeing and a little trail exploring.
Y and I took the scenic Lake Mary Road to Twin Lakes Vista and explored the Lake Basin Path. We complete the mini loop and drove to the end of Lake Mary Road to Horseshoe Lake. There are about 120 acres of dead trees next to the lake due to higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels being released from deep under Mammoth Mountain.
It was time to head back to The Village for coffee and to cheer on the finishing riders. The riders recovered and it was time for dinner, showers, and relaxing with some friends before heading out to find a campsite for the night. We looked for a new dispersed site but ended up at the same site as the night before. It was an early night snuggled up in the rooftop tent.
Sunday, morning we took our time to pack-up and then we did a little sight seeing. Before heading out of town we stopped at the Mammoth Fire Department to borrow a tool to tighten the bike rack that had loosen. We swapped our bike racks with our friends that went because they needed to carry more bikes than the one bike were bringing. Mammoth Lakes being a small town and it was a Sunday, not much was open. Something I learned young, even before I was driving, I was taught to go to a fire station first if you’re ever lost or need help because unless they are on a call, they will be able to help.
