Breathtaking I…read morewent on a 3 day, 2 night backpacking trip to Ruby Lake located in the John Muir Wilderness. No permit required for day-hiking but you do need a permit to camp. The Forest Service reserves 60 percent of permits for advanced reservations and the other 40 percent are available to walk-ins 24 hours before the day of adventure. Trip Details: 3 days, 2 nights Distance from Venice, CA to Mosquito Flats Trailhead: 302 miles Money spent on gas: $128.62 Time of Year: August Weather: 80's during the day, and 30's at night Permit: no permit for day hiking but a permit is required to camp Elevation gain : 908 feet Distance to Ruby Lake from Trailhead: 2.1 miles Dogs: Dogs are allowed Water Temperature: 39 degrees Day 1: We parked in the parking lot at the beginning of the Mosquito Flats Trailhead at the end of Rock Creek Road. We started our hike around 1:00pm and arrived at Ruby lake at 3:30p. When we got to camp, we setup our tents, jumped in the water and then prepared dinner. The weather during the day was in the 80's with clear skies and a nice breeze. The temperature at night was in the high 30's low 40's with very little wind. The night was bright because of the full moon, very minimal wind noise. Day 2: Hiked to Mono Pass and hungout at summit lake before heading back to camp. Weather was also in the 80's during the day and high 30's/ low 40's at night, very little wind. Day 3: The morning before hiking out was very windy and cold in the morning, we hiked out at 9:30 am.

As the other guys wrote: amazing. A great hike with minimal people contact. I hiked up on Sept 3…read moreand there was still lots of snow leftover from last year. I kept going past Ruby Lake to a second, smaller lake. From there one has easy access to the back country. The parking was a little ugly at the trail head: the masses tend to hike to a larger lake on the valley floor. After this hike and on your way back to Mammoth stop off at one of the hot springs near the airport for a soak. This is what I did and my muscles were very grateful.

This was the most fun I had on a bike park. Off the Top is an absolute beast of a trail but…read moreseriously fun to ride down. The wind blows hard at times and you feel like you are about to get carried away off the top of the mountain especially with the loose soil. The view is stunning but as you ride down you try to determine whether it's worth stopping to get a better glance at the beautiful scenery and disrupt the awesome flow of your ride. It's so much fun riding down, do you really want to stop? On the other hand you think, I'm going to miss the view though, the view.... So what to do? Well, only one solution here, I take the gondola up the mountain again and ride Off the Top a few more times until the arms and body give in. That is the answer. The soil here is super loose, so wear all the safety gear you can handle. Also, wear a pair of goggles that can help block the wind. There are many many other trails and most that I have ridden on did not have any gnarly jumps that were mandatory, and you can ride around them. There are drops for the most advanced trails. Bike riding isn't the only thing available to do. Hiking was fun as we brought our dog with us. Leashing is required of course. Zip lining and rock climbing were available but we didn't do any of those. If you stay at the resort just note they don't have air conditioning there, but honesty the temperature during middle July didn't seem to require it. They do have a fan in the rooms. Guess I'll write a separate review for the resort later but it's 100% recommended (a little pricey) as everyone who worked there were super friendly. I'll be back there again, ride on!

The trails are good, there is no signage wether a trail takes to to the middle of the city or back…read moreto the gondola so you better memorize a map. Shuttle attendants are rude, after waiting 30 mins at the end of "smooth operator" trail, we called and they said the pickup is about a mile from there (again no signs), we get to the bus and the driver said with a rude tone "go around and scan your pass there" (again no signs), then I'm lifting my bike up the trailer and he yells "don't stand on the trailer" (again, no signs). It is very confusing, and they're rude if you don't know. Also nobody has answers, they'll just hand you a map. So many other bike parks to visit, don't make this a destination.

+ Pleasant trail. Beautiful lake scenery just like in the photo…read more . 4mi hike took 2hr. . Lotta switchbacks. + Good amount of shade throughout the trail. - Lotta mosquitos around Mammoth Lakes hikes. - Wish they carved an optional route straight up the switchbacks for a fun challenge. . 2 restrooms by the trailhead. Moderately maintained. - No hand sanitizer or sink. + Spacious parking.

Epic. Great hike. Took about 50 minutes uphill with multiple switchbacks. Beautiful lakes…read more Beautiful views. Perfect hike.

This review is for Panum Crater Trail which was a ~2.5 miles round trip that took ~1.5 hour to…read morecomplete. This was an unique hike that takes you to the rim of the crater overlooking Mono Lake as well as to the center of the crater filled with obsidian rocks! The trail was mostly sandy and a little rocky closer to the summit. The best views of Mono Lake are on the rim trail! AllTrails GPX route doesn't take you to the summit. Follow the trail for another ~0.2 miles to reach the summit for a brief view of Mono Lake. Required to drive ~0.5 miles on dirt road. Short video of the hike for those interested! https://youtu.be/VurvIs-_Cnw

STEPH JUDGEMENT: One of my favorite hikes in Mono County…read more I've been back several times now, and my appreciation for this place grows each time. And I've finally managed to remember "Bitch Hill" (a term I coined) on my last visit. For some reason I totally blocked it out from my first visit--maybe because I was trying hard not to be blown off the trail by a freak spring storm--but it's a section on the Rim Trail that's quite steep that'll definitely elevate your heart rate. I always start out with the Plug Trail to see all the rocks, and then go back down and do the Rim Trail for the views of the lake. It's not a long hike, but there is that "hill", lol.

Oct 2015, I hiked up to Mt.Conness from Young Lake side. It is the easiest route to the top. From…read morethe trailhead in Tuolumne to Young lake is about 6-7 miles. No official trail from there to the top, but there is a used trail basically all the way to summit. Some portion is not clear, though. Some portion is scree and some scrambling but not so difficult. We started 2:30 pm and summited 5, then back to Young lake (camped) around 6:30 p.m. The view was stunning. Just beautiful. It is worth climbing.

The vast majority of people that visit Saddlebag Lake never get more than a mile or two beyond its…read moreshores, but if you're willing to put in some extra effort you can reach the summit of 12,590 ft Mt Conness. The summit can be reached by a number of technical and non-technical routes, from the Class 2 S Slopes (from the E) to the classic 10c Harding Route (SW Face). The N Ridge/W Ridge (5.6) link-up is highly recommended and along with Matthes Crest, is one of my favorite early season climbs. The S Slopes approach technically starts/ends from Sawmill Campground, but if you've parked at the lake to access the N Ridge you can cross-country to save yourself the pavement trek. Note that the road generally opens after Tioga Pass, so call ahead or expect some extra miles. Details on routes can be found here: http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150473/mount-conness.html

The best mountain I have ever climbed was Mt.Whitney. However, I remember Mt.Dana more often. I…read moreclimbed Mt.Dana to acclimatize two days before I climbed Mt.Whitney. Because the purpose of our trip was Mt.Whitney, I was not very excited about climbing Mt.Dana. I know that responsible hikers should always prepare for the trails they plan to hike, but I had been too lazy to print out the trail map of Mt.Dana. Another reason I thought I didn't need to do such preparation was that our leader had done the same trip six years in a row with exactly the same itinerary. So I was planning to follow him and actually I did follow him. It was quite an interesting trail. During the first half, we were able to see a lot of plants and flowers that were specific for high altitudes. On the last half of the trail were only rocks because plants couldn't survive in the higher altitude. There were no obvious trails through the rocks although there were some cairns and flags to show hikers a good path to the summit. I really like this primitive kind of trail. It was stereotypic Eastern Sierra summer scenery; bone dry, brown, and quiet, with strong sunlight. The higher we climbed, the thinner the air became. That made it harder for us to breathe and we stopped talking. I knew that it was only six miles to the crest, but I couldn't see the top. I felt like it would take forever to reach the top. That made me psychologically exhausted. At the same time, I got more time to think by myself. It was hard but I really like this solitude for some reason. When I finally reached the summit, I forgot all the pain. Surprisingly, I was able to see the whole Mono Lake from the top. I had been to Mono Lake but never saw all the lake at one time. It was the most beautiful lake I had ever seen. Because I had not looked up any photos from the summit of Mt.Dana, I was able to be surprised by the scenery. Nature rewards me with great scenery and several kinds of emotion that I never have in daily life. This is the reason I can't stop climbing mountains. Some people believe that mountains have some spiritual power and some places such as Mt.Shasta are known as power spots. I still don't really understand or feel that kind of power, but I got a sense of mountain's strength a little.

You won't find the Mt. Dana Summit Trail on your National Park Service map and you're unlikely to…read morefind it in your hiking guidebook either. What you will find on this trail however, is a challenging trip up the second highest peak in Yosemite National Park which rewards with some of the best panoramic views you'll experience anywhere.

Parker lake is a little trail that's a hidden gem just off the side of June Lake. It's an easy high…read morewith just a few hundred elevation gain. It has lots of shaded area on trail, a small creek stream, once to the lake it's a beautiful site to take in. Great for a beginner overnight backpacking trip. Great fishing and a dog friendly trail.

I hiked almost 4 miles on Parker lake trail with 640 feet elevation gain and it was a beautiful…read morehike! You have to drive a few miles on a dirt road to get to the trailhead but it's passable for a sedan. No fees or recreation passes needed. The hike starts uphill for a bit with great views of the mountains, then you hike along a creek amongst apsen trees, and at the end you get to Parker lake where it was super windy.

This really is an easy trail going up to some gorgeous views. It doesn't have switchbacks, but it…read morealso doesn't go straight up the hill (contrary to the other review). Instead, it gradually goes up at a cross slope. It was windy when we went here, so we nearly got blown away. A hint it to park by the Old Mammoth Lakes Rd, walk up the road for the water tower to where the trail veers off to the left. Nice little hike.

My family loved this short hike. There appears to be two trails; one for hikers and the other for…read morebikes. The trail is shady and easy to hike. Great views once you get to the top. We saw deer along the way up! The trailhead is located near the road and there isn't much parking near the trailhead. We parked at twin lakes and walked to the trailhead. Great for kids and photo ops !