Summer in the Mammoth Area 2025

On Thursday morning, August 14, bright & early, we met George Graham and headed north on 395 to our campsite not far from the southern end of the June Lake Loop. The Grimsley’s and Martin’s joined us mid-afternoon.

Friday morning we decided to take a trip to Bald Mountain on the back roads of the area. While driving through the beautiful area we were also looking for future campsites for a larger group. When we arrived on the tip top of Bald Mountain, there was a Volunteer Ranger at the Fire Lookout who gave us a tour of the facility and explained that this was the first year in a long time that they reopened the Ranger Station for fire lookout.

After lots of photos of the beautiful 365-degree view, including Mammoth Mountain and the Minaret’s Peaks behind Mammoth Mountain, we headed to Mountain Spring Road and Big Spring and onto 395, where we headed into Mammoth Village for lunch at our usual watering hole, Burger’s Burgers.

After lunch, George, Bill & Kathy, and By and I headed for the Minaret’s Lookout while Jerry & Mary chased down a pharmacy to pick up Rx meds to help Mary’s new cold be stopped in its tracks. We finally all met back at camp to relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

On Saturday our destination was to head to Kavanaugh Ridge. We traveled north of Mono Lake, up to the Conway Summit, where we turned up the Virginia Creek Road toward Virginia Lakes. We turned off before the Lakes on the Dunderburg Mine Road which heads north, then started the steep climb toward Kavanaugh Ridge. We stopped by the small glacier fed lake midway for a quick break, then made the final pitch to the top, where we were rewarded with the outstanding view down into the basin of at least 5 lakes. It is a view that must be experienced in person. After all of our photos, we took a short trek over to “Mary’s” glacier fed pond, of which the small glacier was larger than we’ve ever seen. The view going back down the mountain is spectacular, where we could look across and see Bodie off in the distance.

We headed back to camp to relax, and shortly thereafter, Gary Luckeroth pulled into camp to raise the amount of laughter to a much higher level.

On Sunday, we decided our destination would be to the Log Cabin Mine. We drove back up to the south end of Lee Vining, where we turned onto the Tuolumne Meadows Road to Yosemite, driving about a half mile to our usual wide spot to air down.

Right across the road, we jumped onto the Log Cabin Road, and immediately started climbing up the hillside. We went through a small neighborhood of cabins nestled in amongst a variety of very large pines mixed in with Aspens and Oaks. So pretty! We kept climbing the steep trail, eventually turning off for a short by-pass to check out the old log cabin to see how much more had deteriorated over the past winter. It was thought by those who have been here many times, that the roof was even more collapsed than last year. Sad to see!

Going back out to the main road, we continued our climbed to the saddle, where we decided we had all been to the big mine, and decided to continue on to the old Boy Scout Camp that has been boarded up and not used in several years. We drove on by and drove out to a high-point overlook toward the end of the trail. Then back to the Boy Scout Camp for a quick lunch.

It had been decided before we left home, that Monday our vehicles would head north to Mt. Patterson, so we headed up Hwy 395 north to Bridgeport to go on to the Sweet Water Ranch, where we aired down and headed up the trail to the top of Mt. Patterson. We stopped for lunch at our first historic stop, the 2 cabins at Belfort and Boulder Flat. It’s a long trail, sometimes switch-backing down one hill, through a canyon, then up past tree-line, over the tundra terrain, to finally what looks like the surface of the moon.

Absolutely amazing to be so high at 11,606 feet. Weather was perfect … a slight breeze. The 2 American flags were lightly blowing, with the top flag having been replaced by Del Albright a week before. After staying for about an hour, we then headed back on down the back side to Hwy 395 and went through the sleepy little town of Bridgeport, surrounded by beautiful pastures with lots of grazing cattle. This area is always so beautiful and peaceful.

Tuesday morning, we set our sights on the trail to Laurel Lakes. Aired down, we proceeded up the road that was narrow, steep, and rocky. At the top, overlooking the top lake, there were a couple of tight turns that required maneuvering forward and back to get around. The lake was absolutely beautiful.

We headed back down the trail to a stand of Aspens where we stopped to find a shady place by the creek to have lunch and watch the fish waiting for the bugs to land. We stayed about 30 minutes and then headed back to camp. Kevin & Desiree Rowland stopped by our campsite for a 2-hour visit, before they headed back to their campsite at Silver Lakes, where they were staying for about 10 days.

Well, Wednesday came too quickly and it was time to pack up and head for home. Everyone left, while the Grimsley’s finished packing up. We all made it home safely, refreshed after the week in the cooler weather, only to be greeted by the heat of the high desert. It truly was a wonderful trip for all.