The goal today was an easy family hike to Rainbow Falls and then a gondola ride up to the top of Mammoth Mountain. In our excitement to get in the car and get to hiking on the trails, we forgot directions to get to the trailhead. But since Mammoth has a visitor’s center, we decided just to go there for directions. Toby went in and found out that like Tioga Pass to Yosemite and Devil’s Post Pile National Monument, the road to Rainbow Falls has not yet been cleared of snow, and is closed.
Toby got directions to another hike around Convict Lake. There is a trail that winds all along the edges of the lake that is considered an easy hike. So we drove there, lathered up with sunscreen and loaded Weezy into the baby backpack. We started hiking, but Max was not happy. The beginning of the trail was asphalted. He wanted to hike on a trail, not walk on a road. Finally, the asphalt ended and we were in dirt. Max was satisfied that we were now actually hiking.
It is about a 3 mile hike around the lake, but at about the 1/4 mark, baby started fussing and Max told me he was tired. We pressed on to just short of 1/2 way, and then took a snack break. Although I would have liked to make it all the way around, we decided that it would be better to turn around and head back the way we came.
After lunch, we headed up to the gondola. As we headed up Mammoth Mountain, we passed a couple of ski lifts that were still running. It is June and the ski lifts are still running! We got to the gondola station, but found out that because Mammoth is between seasons, the gondola only runs on weekends. We will try again on Saturday on the way home.
Since we were in snow country, we got out and Max played in the snow a bit. It a little dirty snow but he had a great time anyway.
Then, Max got to have a special treat. He spent the night in the motorhome with Gran and GranDon (and the cat, Essie). When he came home this morning for a pancake breakfast, he reported that Gran was a loud snorer.