Mammoth Adventure

Bob and Christine take in the scenery

This past weekend, Bob and I loaded up the new Acadia with camping gear, food and dogs, and headed north to Mammoth Lakes. Our goal: find a sweet camping spot at Silver Lake and spend the weekend hiking with the dogs and stream fishing for trout.

We didn’t realize we were in for an unexpected adventure. Late Friday night, we pulled into an all-but deserted Silver Lake and discovered that Bob’s favorite campground was…closed. In fact, all of the state park campgrounds had closed a couple of weeks earlier, according to a friendly local at Nicely’s Diner.

We got the inside scoop on an unauthorized camping area up a hill. So, in the dark, we drove off road down a dirt pathway. There, next to a creek, was a well-established camping zone. We quickly unpacked the car, popped the tent and fired up the barbeque.

The creek ran behind our campsite

By 10:00 p.m., we were sitting down with our freshly grilled steaks, roasted tomotoes and cheesy rice. And two glasses of very, very cold red wine. Turns out the temperature was 34 degrees! The weather forecast had predicted temperatures in the 50s. We pulled on thermals, layered up and crawled into the tent with our two Labs, Shelby and Sable, who quickly curled up on their beds, noses tucked under their blankets, and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, we headed to Silver Lake, an area Bob has spent a great deal of time exploring over the years. With PB & J sandwiches packed into our backpacks, we headed up the mountain during what turned out to the be sunniest, warmest few hours of the weekend. We made it back down the hill before the rain/sleet/snow began to fall. The dogs had a fantastic time running up and down the path and were exhausted enough by late afternoon to curl up in the backseat of the car without complaints.

We stopped for water and a group photo

We moved our campsite further up the mountain and further off-road that afternoon. The dogs took advantage of the extra space around camp and chased each other around, playing keep away with fallen branches and what must have been really good-smelling sticks. Bob and I set up the smaller two-person tent, which has a bit more weather guard than the four-person tent, lit a camp fire and grilled more steaks, tomatoes and rice. After polishing off the remaining red wine, we uncorked a bottle of icy cold Viogner and nibbled on fudge brownies.

After boiling some water, we filled two plastic bottles and placed them at the feet of our sleeping bags for a touch of warmth. With the dogs curled up at our feet and a down comforter to keep us warm, the tent quickly became nice and toasty. So toasty, in fact, that we didn’t notice until unzipping the tent the following morning that snow had fallen overnight and blanketed our campsite with a clean, pretty layer of white powder. The dogs went a bit snow crazy and chased each other around (perhaps to warm up?) while we cooked a satisfying breakfast of scrambled cheesy eggs, rice, pumpkin bread, coffee and hot cocoa.

The fire warmed our feet, but not the red wine

With full bellies, we returned to Silver Lake, where we embarked on a shorter hike up a different path to wear out the girls. Then, Bob and I pulled on waders, grabbed our fishing poles and stepped into the icy water to try our hand at stream fishing. Unfortunately, Silver Lake appeared to be trout-less, so we left empty handed. However, the experience of walking waist-deep through the lake surrounded by snow covered mountains and the simple sounds of the running current and ocassional flapping of coots’ wings was priceless. We had the place to ourselves. What more could you ask for?

Bob loads the Acadia for our weekend adventure

Sable voices her opinion of car rides

Bob cooks breakfast

Bob eats cheesy eggs and rice

Our camp site, covered in snow

The creek ran behind our campsite

Shelby curls up on a cold morning

Bob pauses on our hike around Silver Lake

We stopped for water and a group photo

Sable checks out the view from her perch

Christine, Sable and Shelby eye the vista

Sable waits for us to catch up

Shelby takes in the cool mountain air

Christine and Bob at Silver Lake

Silver Lake covered in snow

Sable and Shelby in a rare quiet moment

Christine tries stream fishing

The fire warmed our feet, but not the red wine

Bob and Christine take in the scenery