Mammoth Summer 2015

Pics from our August Mammoth trip. Such an adventure from beginning to end. From driving around for two hours when we first arrived only to find that every single campsite in Mammoth had been spoken for, to the very end - having our trailer locked inside an evacuated campground due to a nearby fire. Despite the adventures, or perhaps because of them, we yet again had one of our best trips to date. It's a wonder to me how these trips just keep getting more and more fun. After over 10 years of coming to Mammoth - over and over again, I am still waiting to get sick of it. These pics are in semi-order. The details are fuzzy in my mind as I am actually posting this on Dec 31 (even though I have post-dated it back to August).

Our campground in the woods, on BLM land for the first couple of nights while we waited for the campsites in town to clear out. 

Zi loves standing next to this little bear at the local coffee shop and comparing his height to it. One of these days, we will blink, and he will be taller than it.

Bailey Crew

For the first few days we got to hang out with our buddies the Baileys. They were staying at a condo in town so we got the best of both adventure and luxury while they were around. It was fun to share some of our favorite things with some of our favorite people and the kids really thrived having their buddies to share adventures with too.

Skatepark Mornings

These pics are from a combination of mornings at the skatepark where we went nearly every day.

The Looking Wall

These pics are from a combination of days at The Looking Wall. This was such a fun easy place to climb with the kids this trip. An easy approach and some challenging but not too challenging sport climbs for Jon and I. 

The best part of camping, or any family adventure for that matter, is how closely it draws these two together. It's fun to have friends around, but so good for Eden and Zion to be on their own too. They help each other, love each other, and entertain each other in a way that they just don't do if their friends are around.

Smoky view of the Sierras - this smoke was from a fire in the western Sierras, it made the air quality in town pretty bad on a few days but we seemed to be able to dodge the worst of it well enough. 

Rock Creek

Our last stop with our friends. Still feeling so super grateful to have had that time with them...

Rainbow Falls

This felt like the most touristy thing we have ever done as a family. At first I couldn't understand what had possessed us to embark on this crowded trail that felt like it was straight uphill, but once we got there it was all worth it. I can understand why so many people go to this beautiful spot, and I'm super proud of the kids who hiked it on their own the whole way with minimal complaining.  

Lake George

This is a lake that we have always wanted to paddle in. Jon and I used to climb above this lake quite a bit, and I always remember looking down in awe of the colors. 

Ellery Campground

This marks the second portion of the trip. We towed the trailer up to the toga pass and camped at Ellery campground. We used to spend a lot of time camping on this pass before kids and have always wanted to camp with the kids here. It was incredibly special to be here with the kids. There is something so pure about this area...

Do or Fly - this is a climb I have dreamed of always. With a lot of prodding from Jon I {very bravely} asked some guys who had set it up if I could take a turn on it. This turn was not very successful for me but it really motivated me to try for another turn on it which {amazingly} I got a few days later thanks to a good buddy of ours, Kenny Card.

Zi found this dead snake in the rocks - he was pretty pumped on it. 

Deer

This was our first morning in Tuolumne after camping on the pass. Eden was super grumpy and difficult - we thought she was just tired and overstretched from too much fun on the road. She ended up spiking a pretty high fever with really no other symptoms. We didn't know what was going on with her but in the end we think she was suffering from altitude sickness, as that was the first time we had ever slept at that altitude before. 

Even with her fever and altitude sickness she was out there...

Below - the kids were putting on a skit for us. In the skit they held hands and proclaimed: 'Blessed are those who stay together forever!' This was so random and completely out of nowhere but also the cutest thing I have ever seen!

This is a new area we went to scout on our way to visit with Kate and Tom. While we were out here we started to see the smoke from the fire that would eventually 'threaten' our camp. The helicopters were already dumping on it and ash had been raining down on us while we were down wind. Nonetheless it seemed small enough at the time and in relative control.

Our friends Kenny and Mozel who went on the explore with us that morning.

We met Kate and Tom at Virginia lakes. It seemed like a good half way point for us both. Several people had been telling us we needed to get up there. I have great memories of the place as a young child catching fish after fish. It was a beautiful spot but not one I foresee us visiting again. 

There she goes, all by herself. Eden is the most cautious and calculated person I have ever met, but she is also brave - so incredibly brave in ways that are really hard for me to grasp...

From the far side of the lake we could see the fire's header and we decided we had better pack up and go check on camp. This is what the fire looked like on the way to camp. I've never seen a big fire like that so close. You could actually feel the wind generated from the flames. There was so much power coming from it. For the first time I had a real sense of how very dangerous these fires are. 

This view of the fire is closer to where we were camped. The kids were mesmerized. We all could have just sat here and watched it for the rest of the day.

Instead we decided to fish

These pics were taken from camp

Saddlebag Lake Loop/20 Lakes Basin

One of my favorite places in the world. At the risk of sounding incredibly morbid, I have often thought that this is where I would like my ashes to be spread. You can see from the pics that the kids thrive here too. The direction we take is pretty steep, but this year they just charging right up it. Holding hands, skipping, and humming the entire way.

After a long day of hiking we could not resist a dip in our favorite swimming hole. Our friends met up with us there too and ended up climbing that climb that I had always dreamed of - Do or Fly. We ended up staying late into the evening so that I could take a turn on it (which is so unlike us, anyone who knows us knows that we like to eat at five and have the kids to bed by 6:30). But on this auspicious evening we skipped all that so that all my dreams could come true. We skipped dinner, we even skipped bedtime. But guess what?! I got the climb! It was AMAZING and oh so much fun! All was sort of well except for our extremely hungry and tired kids until we got to the park gate only to find that they had closed the road leading to our camp and evacuated all the campgrounds on the road. We talked the ranger into letting us onto the road to retrieve our trailer only to find that our trailer had been locked away. Thank God for our dear friends Ron and Jim at the Tioga Pass Resort who let us pitch a tent on the property for the night and feed our bellies in a kitchen that was trying to close. What an adventure that day was. One we will never forget!

Kenny on lead

There I am! (:

All in all we pretty much scored on a campsite for the night - broken tent and all.

Another view from our tent

Hiking Pot Hole Dome with the kids.

Whenever I see these little ones pretending to hitch hike I can't help but fast forward 15 years and wonder about life to come..

Below: the kids' first time gazing up at El Capitan. While Jon and I were climbing we never really had a desire to take on this beast. But I can't help but wish we had now. And I can't help but think that maybe I will climb it one day...

Ron (left) and Jim (right) a couple of old dear friends from our climbing days. A couple of the most beautiful souls I have ever had the privilege of knowing..

Back to Mammoth

After the whole trailer debacle and the fires raging to the west of us we decided to take the more predictable route home through Mammoth. Which was wonderful of course, as we were able to get in some last climbs, last bike rides, last skate park and hot spring sessions, etc..