S of Duck Pass Tr. (895) to Mammoth Lakes (904)
Miles today - 9 PCT + 3.5 side trail = 12.5
Fairway, Houdini, and I had a short hike into the town of Mammoth Lakes this morning.
Most years you can take a shuttle or hitch into town from Reds Meadow a few miles further up the trail, but this year the road is closed because of a huge storm in November that blew down thousands of trees. These blowdowns not only blocked the road, but also the trail. Trail crew have been working hard to clear the trail, but for the past few days there have been areas where we needed to climb over, duck under, or scramble around downed trees. Yesterday as Fairway was climbing over a tree he took a branch to the face, breaking his sunglasses and leaving a big gash under an eye. This morning his eye was swollen shut.
We took a side trail over Mammoth Pass to a trailhead where we immediately got a ride into town from Sleeping Bear, who was also trail angeling at the campground in Independence last week.
Mammoth is an upscale ski resort town. We were pretty excited to come here, but it's a lot more spread out than we expected. The three of us are sharing a room at Motel 6 for $20 each. It's the third Motel 6 we've stayed at already.
I had a gigantic plate of nachos for lunch, which I couldn't come close to finishing. I was just talking about wanting nachos yesterday.
Then I had some pesto chicken pasta for dinner. And a free pint of Mammoth Epic IPA after the waiter forgot my order!
Today is the first day of summer, but it still feels like spring to me. It's as if time has stood still ever since I started and I'm still stuck in April.
Wow, those nachos look delicious.
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