Spring in Mammoth

This year we barely made it up for our annual Spring Mammoth trip. First the weather caused us to postpone our trip, then our work schedules were such than we only had a 4 or 5 day window to go and we were weighing whether it would be worth it or not. Everyone was telling us how bad the snow would be prior to going up. And though we knew it would be bad we never anticipated just how bad it would be. The bunny slope had no snow and was closed, in fact the entire mountain was closed with the exception of Main lodge which had patchy areas at best. We all felt pretty bad for Eden  - we thought there would be at least enough for her, but there wasn't, and she had been begging us to take her snowboarding since last year! (Urghh!!) But she handled the disappointment pretty well, and we have vowed (yet again) to take her next year, but this time, while there is still legitimate snow. 

Day One/Drive Up

Alabama Hills

Mammoth/Lake Mary & Camp

How are these shoes of Zion's? He got them in Dec, making this 4 months of wear. 

Day Two

Bike Ride to Breakfast

Lake George

I probably walked past this 50 times back in our climbing days and never noticed it. When I saw it on this trip, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the words.

Trifle Towers

An Eden Pic

June Lake

Bachar Boulders

Back at Camp

Day Three

Bike Ride to Breakfast

Clark Canyon

Eden Pics (next 3)

Can you tell who walked on there own for the entire trail and who was carried??

June Lake

Skate Park

Lake Mary

Day Four

Benton Crossing

Hot Springs

We tried to go to some hot springs on our last day, but just ended up driving for what seemed like hours to no avail. The first spring we went to had only one other guy headed out to it, we thought the chance of nakedness would be high so we moved on. The next place we ended up had quite a few cars, it seemed hopeful, but after a long trek out we saw there was a lot of nakedness. The kids were devastated when we made them turn around so we kept looking. The next hot spring we found was called the Crab Cooker, and it certainly lived up to its name. It was so hot that it was scalding - certainly it could kill a small child or at minimum leave them with 3rd degree burns. All that to say, I think that is the end of our hot spring days. But as you can see our time was not entirely wasted - just look at all those beautiful views!

Eden gazing into the crab cooker - so forlorn...

Lake Mary 

I don't know if you can tell with the size of this pic but look at all those fishermen!! We have never seen the lakes so impacted. 

Afternoon bike ride from the lakes to the Village. The trolly wasn't running so Jon and I took turns doing this with the kids. He did it one day, and I did it the next. This was Zion's first trip riding his own bike. It was SUPER stressful but really cool for him. He was really proud of himself and I could feel his sense of empowerment. Can't wait to do this ride with him again!

Back at Camp

To make up to the kids the fact that the hot springs were a bust, I took them to the camp swimming pool. This pool is such a novelty to the kids - being that it is indoors. I can't blame them for loving it so much. It is pretty rad to swim inside a wood cabin with bright open windows and surrounded by beautiful pines.

'Petting Zoo'

The gass station on the drive home (I'm pretty sure it's in Lone Pine) has a bunch of animals that the kids look forward to visiting every time we drive through. We stopped to see them on our way out to round out another great family adventure!