Still at Mammoth Lakes
Well, it’s still the holiday weekend, so we’re still
here at Mammoth Lakes. After a lazy day yesterday, today was a day to
wear ourselves out. We went to the Devils Postpile National Park – the
main feature of which is the ‘giants causeway’ style pile of rocks.
But we didn’t bother with that, and went straight to the Rainbow Falls
trail. The trail is 1 ½ miles to the fall, and 1 ½ miles back. Charlotte
walked all the way (although not without more than normal complaints!)
and Emily managed to get there, but had to be carried back in the backpack.
The waterfall was fantastic, because there had been rainfall overnight,
so there was a fantastic chute of water coming over the ledge. Being
in the backpack was fine for Emily (although she complained she was
‘tired’ from the backpack), but it was difficult for me, to carry her
plus my new American-fast-food weight, up a staircase cut into
rock, and along the trail, all at 8,000 feet.
On the way back we had to walk through the fire-hit forest again,
which was hot and dusty, with no shade. We passed a group of horses
and mules, making off for a one week trail across the Ansel Adams Wilderness,
and all wished we could hitch a lift back. Still, we all made it back
to the Red Meadows cattle ranch café, and had a sandwich. The guy behind
the bar was very friendly, and soon the girls had managed to get themselves
a free chocolate milkshake, as well as hear lots of stories of forest
fires, bears and huntin’ n’ fishin’.
And the late afternoon was devoted to the pool, to wash off the sweat and dust of the morning. By the pool Charlotte was telling an American couple about the ‘long walk’ she’d done in the morning, but they’d just arrived at the hotel after a 12-day wilderness hike, so they weren’t that impressed!
On the way back we had to walk through the fire-hit forest again,
which was hot and dusty, with no shade. We passed a group of horses
and mules, making off for a one week trail across the Ansel Adams Wilderness,
and all wished we could hitch a lift back. Still, we all made it back
to the Red Meadows cattle ranch café, and had a sandwich. The guy behind
the bar was very friendly, and soon the girls had managed to get themselves
a free chocolate milkshake, as well as hear lots of stories of forest
fires, bears and huntin’ n’ fishin’.And the late afternoon was devoted to the pool, to wash off the sweat and dust of the morning. By the pool Charlotte was telling an American couple about the ‘long walk’ she’d done in the morning, but they’d just arrived at the hotel after a 12-day wilderness hike, so they weren’t that impressed!