Ahhhh such a beautiful lake ... but , did I struggle ugh …read more.... I'm an avid hiker but have been on a hiatus for quite some time and I have been out of the gym for a while and I suffered baaaaddd from it. Sigh. Anyways , you can park your car in a lot by the Tioga gate off 120. The trail head is right there by the Tioga gate . If you are coming from the park ( Yosemite) the trail head is on your left side of the road. It's only a mile to get to the lake but it's a pretty steep inclination and being soooo freaking out of shape right now , I had to take a break every 10-20 steps. I was out of breath , huffing and puffing , light headed and dizzy. Maybe from the high altitudes too . I was gasping for air. I had no problem doing Clouds Rest last year ... ugh. Anyways , the lake itself is stunningly gorgeous. Water is so clear , we saw some trouts gracefully swimming. Snow covered mountains in the background. Nice cool breeze felt good since I was sweating like crazy. There may be about 20 other hikers we saw. Some were struggling like I was climbing up on the way. It's up and then down to the lake. It should be easy peasy for experienced hikers but might be tough if you are a beginner because of the elevation gain but totally doable and totally worth it. The view is amazing all around not just the lake but the view of Mt Dana , Mt Hoffman and other peaks you can see from the trail. If you are out of shape like I am right now, just take your time and go slowly. It's okay , it's not a race. Enjoy the view and the smell and the sound of the mountains:))) ha ha One last thing , tons of mosquitoes when we were there on Saturday (6/23/2018). Highly recommend bug spray. I got tons of bites on my face and legs. Luckily I was wearing a long sleeve shirt so no bites on my arms.

Yawnnnn... A bit on…read morethe boring side for a Back Country hike. The hike starts out with some solid elevation gain, but after 15 minutes of hiking you'll be at the top of the peak and heading down towards Gaylor Lake. The lake is pretty big and beautiful with plenty of fish to be seen swimming in it. Due to the elevation of the lake it is colder than the lower elev lakes. Keep to your right and head up the trail to Upper Gaylor Lake. Not as big and pretty boring there. You can head left over the small mountain and see a few other small lakes on the other side or you can head straight up the trail to the old rock huts and mines and another small lake. After a 10 minute hike from Upper Gaylor Lake you'll crest the top and see several old rock homes. Go on inside and make yourself at home. Can you imagine people used to mine and live up here?! Our ancestors were definitely tougher than we are. Watch out for at least 2 mining holes. They have no warning or barrier around then and appear to be at least 20' deep WITH NO WAY OUT. The views on this trip are average at best. I wouldn't recommend this hike for the following reasons. IF you are coming Westward on the 120, the trailhead is at the Eastern end of the park, which is around 50 miles on Tioga pass road. The views are OK at best, not much too see. If you are coming in from the Eastern end (Highway 395) then it makes sense to check this easy hike off your list and then never speak of it again! There are only like 25+ better hikes off Tioga Road that come to mind. Hope this review helps those considering the hike.

This review is for Crystal Lake Trail which was a ~3.2 miles round trip that took ~2 hour to…read morecomplete. This was one of the more strenuous hikes in Mammoth Lake due to the continuous incline to the top with an overlooking view of Lake George and Lake Mary! Trail can be difficult to follow in some areas. Best view of Crystal Lake would be on the right before you follow the trail to the left. Crowded with limited parking available. Short video of the hike for those interested! https://youtu.be/aHW-s-pHAIw

+ Fun, easy hike. 3.5mi took 1.5hr. + Beautiful scenery…read more Pristine lake. Just like in the photo. + Whoa, the ants are huge here! - Lotta mosquitos around Mammoth Lakes hikes. - Very crowded albeit large parking. + Free parking. . 2 restrooms by the trailhead.

I use the all trails app to find this location. The road there can be bumpy but if a Tesla can get…read morein there you shouldn't have a problem. There is a reasonable size parking lot. 15-20 or so cars. There are bathrooms located at the parking lot. The hike from the parking lot to the actual craters is less than a mile and it's mainly flat, very little incline. The craters are awesome. One was easily seen than the other. The second one was surrounded with trees and plants. So it was hard to see. Worth a visit if your in mammoth!

Really neat place to hike to, if/when you can find it. No signs for the trail head besides a tiny…read morehand written sign you can only see from a few feet away. The protective fence around parts of the craters is torn down and some of the cement columns for the last metal fence along the cliff are fully exposed and literally floating/hanging in the air, posing a danger to anyone leaning on that fence. There's a fair amount of mosquitos, though not as bad as the Minaret Falls hike where you get swarmed and eaten alive. Great views of the craters on this hike though.

Pothole Dome is a great hike for kids. Like Lembert Dome nearby, Pothole Dome is a roche mountonee,…read morea dome shaped by the overlying glacier. It has a steep side and a more gentle side. A trail takes you from the road through the meadow and then sort of disappears to let you scramble up.

This is a fun hike for the family just outside of Tuolumne Meadows…read more You can park right next to the trailhead and even scramble up the dome if you're feeling the "vibe". Or you can walk around the meadows on the trail, which is what 98% of most people do. You can walk around to the lip and start to climb up the dome where you will be able to view the mountains, Tuolumne Meadows, and the Tuolumne River. As you reach the top of Pothole Dome, the scenery gets better and better. Picture time! If you keep hiking on the mountaintop (Northward) you can walk all the way to the top of another mountain, which is even taller and has better views. Most only hike to the top of Pothole Dome, but there are other mountains and areas to explore. You can even make your way down to the river. I will definitely do this again with family!

+ Vons is a convenient grocery stop on your way between NP's and the ski resort here…read more - Though everything here is a lil pricier than back home. . Popular, crowded ambience. + Still, lot of cultural variety dining. + Pleasant town to walk around with your folks, especially at Mountain Center at Mammoth, whether on or off ski season.

My parents built a cabin in Old Mammoth in 1966. Now that I am retired, I spend about 50% of my…read moretime here. I have seen a lot of changes over the past 60 years...some good and some bad. The population back in the late 60s was 525 and now has grown to over 7,000. Mammoth Lakes is a beautiful mountain community with unlimited outdoor activities. In my opinion, there is too much development with construction of high end homes in areas that were once great places to hike and camp. Pine Cliff is an example which is now a high end subdivision. An increase in development comes with an increase in government and taxes. More people means more traffic and pedestrian activity. E-bikes are becoming a problem as in every other American city. All of this aside, Mammoth Lakes and the surrounding area is a great vacation spot with something for everyone. Everyone needs to at least visit the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mtns in their lifetime.

If you ever visit Mammoth Lakes area, please pay this geologic site a visit!! It's totally worth…read moreyour time! First of all, it's totally free! No parking fee, no entrance fee! And it's just a short 2.5-mile drive from the Wild Willy Hot Spring. Noted that the road leading to this site is unpaved and may require 4WD vehicles. However, my sister's Toyota Corolla did just fine as long as you drive with care and not speeding like 60mph ;) We arrived around 1pm on a Friday. The parking lot looked full but there were spaces for us. There are a few overflow parkings as well. There were restrooms and a few picnic tables there making the place look very inviting. As soon as you stepped out of your car, you'd be greeted with that familiar sulfur smell of hot springs. Step over to the ledges and you'd be wowed by the majestic beauty of the geologic site! Turquoise hot springs ebbs and flows against the silverfish brown volcanic mountain backdrops! A few greeneries here and there and some yellow wild flowers to complete a gorgeous painting by Mother Nature! If you're a nature lover like me, your eyes will be wide opened and your moth will shape into an "O" LOL. Honestly who needs to go to Yellow Stones while we have this mini version at your backyard ? A quick hike down on pave roads will lead you closer to the hot springs. Dogs are welcomed but they must be on leash and not allowed to come close to the hot springs. Spend as much time here to appreciate the majestic beauty of the site! Some of us even tried to touch the water and it was boiling HOT. So not recommended :)! Please don't miss out on this free, dog-friendly, beautiful geologic site if you're ever in the area!

I got from the Benton side and enjoyed the beautiful views of the mountains on the Benton Crossing…read moreRoad. There is absolutely no internet service. At the Hot Creek Geologic Site, they have restrooms. Then, we can walk down the path to see the hot creek. Very nice views but it smelled so bad. Not the best idea to check it out when you have a stomachache.

Really easy to get to, no mosquitos, and not crowded at all. An older gentleman there who I think…read morewas an off duty park Ranger or something told us all about the fault, cases of people falling in, and what to look out for, etc. He said it's more impressive looking from the other side of the main road (going from Mammoth Lakes to Mammoth Mountain), though we couldn't find any signs or trailheads for this part afterwards. Nonetheless this is a pretty neat, quick stop with no hike required to get to it.

I recently stopped by this earthquake fault to check it out while in the Mammoth area. It was easy…read moreto find, and parking was easy. Based on the photos, I was expecting this to be more like a cliff with a tall crack in it. In reality, it's more like a very long ditch. If you're into geology, or if you're super impressed by thinking about the earth splitting open, then maybe you should check this out. Personally, I wasn't very moved by this experience. If you didn't know that this was an earthquake fault, then there would be nothing impressive about it. It's just a very long gorge that is kind of deep in some places. I'm not sure if rappelling into the fault is allowed, but I thought it would be interesting to get a closer up view of some of the rocks and pools on the bottom. Honestly not really worth driving out of your way to see this unless you happen to be a geology fanatic, or are just dead set on seeing every possible sight near Mammoth.

This is an awesome and underrated hike in Yosemite…read more Not very many people come up to the Toulumne Meadows area. It was way less crowded than any other hike we did. It also had some of the best views, so you really shouldn't miss it. You go past May lake at the start of the hike. The hike to May Lake is fairly easy. The trail is not well marked at all. Once you get to May Lake take the trail on the left side of the lake to continue on to Mount Hoffmann. After May Lake the trail gets very rocky for a pretty long stretch. It's not well marked and hard to figure out if you're going the right way. Then the rocks go away and it's not as steep of an incline for a bit. Don't be fooled though because this is right before the rock scramble. To get to the summit, it's one big rock scramble which I was slightly terrified of. It's not at all marked so try to find the easiest way to the top. There are great views on the entire hike after the lake. They get better the higher up you get and there are 360 degree views at the summit. It's supposed to be a 6 mile round trip hike, but it felt way longer than that. It took us about 6 hours to finish. We hike pretty often and this one was fairly strenuous for us. It's definitely doable, but be prepared for a challenge, especially with the rock scramble at the end. The views are incredible and absolutely worth the challenge!

One of the greatest peaks in Yosemite National Park. The scenery from the top (10,845 feet (3,305…read moremeters)) is just gorgious. BEAUTIFUL. This route goes through May Lake. May Lake is beautiful, too. It is high altitude, so the air is thin, but not very long way. Also the last part to the top is not really easy. Need to climb rocks but no problem for 154 cm, very small girl with short legs! (=me)