Mammoth

I've been to Mammoth plenty of times (over the last 25 years), but never in the summer.

My wife and I decided to take the kids for a quick "back to school vacation", and naturally (to me) I'm planning to do some biking. This is more of a family vacation, but knowing the my teen princesses like to sleep in, I know I'll have and hour or two in the morning to explore.

I looked around Strava, Geo, MTB project ect., and I'm some what disappointed but the amount of public trails info I found.

I'm planning to rent a 6"bike, and check out the lift serve trails once, but what about some socal style XC trails?
Do I need to get a Pedal Pass for most of the XC trails? Does the altitude make riding/climbing a real PITA (I'm on a vacation after all)? I'm looking for 10-15 miles singletrack trails. Any info will be appreciated.

 

Mammoth Rock/Panorama trail is fun and you can ride right from the condo/campground in town. The trail starts just east of the lakes road after it crosses the Twin Lake bridge. Fun ride with great views. Starts in the forest with big trees and berms and roots, and then crosses Old Mammoth Road and becomes rocky and somewhat technical at speed. I prefer climbing the paved bike path to get to the trail head. Climbing the Mammoth Rock trail could be hazardous to your health with people bombing down the trail. Stava says I logged 9.4 miles and climbed 1,130 ft. starting on Meridian and Mono St. Moving time was 1:16:55. I took my time.

The Horseshoe Lake Loop is a beginner trail but is fun when you ride it fast.

I have also done the Mountain View Trail. Do it as a shuttle as the loose pumice is brutal on the climbs. Come to think of it the loose pumice was kind of brutal on the way down in some spots. Not as much fun as the Mammoth Rock Trail but it is fun too.

Info here: http://explore.visitmammoth.com/bucket-list-guide-to-mountain-biking-near-mammoth-lakes/

 

You can put your bikes on the town trolleys for a free ride up to the lakes area. To get to Mammoth Rock Trail. There is some extra stuff at the bottom of Mammoth Rock Trail that takes you around the most likely dry now pond. Some nice little sections of Aspens riding down there.

 

Dean is the "dry pond" you refer to Red's Lake? I vaguely remember that area back in the day...

 

Not sure but here is a picture of Crash Maxwell wading in it.

 

Definitely NOT Red's Lake. That looks much better! Thanks Dean!

 

Thanks,

Off we go.

 

The 3" tires on the new Stumpjumper 6Fattie worked amazingly well going down Skid Marks (and the rest of the mountain).

 

Some how I ended involved in organizing a guys trip to Mammoth in Oct.
One thing we can't figure out is when will they shut down the bike lift service. I called their reservation center, and they didn't have a definitive answer.
Apparently, last year the lift ran until the end of October.

Are we taking an unreasonable risk by scheduling a trip so late in the fall?
Would it make sense to add the Cannell Plunge on the way back?

 

October snowfall happens but it's usually not a lot. Use the link below and click "extended snow history" to see amounts per month over the years. There are years where they got a lot in and/or before October though. 2004/5 season saw 85.6" in October!


https://www.mammothmountain.com/win...ntain-information/snow-conditions-and-weather

 

We fish up there that time of year and its snowed once but light out of the last 8 or 9 years. Just a matter of the lifts staying open.

 

I could be wrong, but you might be fine without the pedal pass if you're riding first thing in the morning. There is a lot of variety on the mountain and I think it's definitely worth checking out.

Also, if you can get your family to buy in, Lower Rock Creek is worth the stop on the drive home. It's just off the 395 past Tom's Place. Super fun singletrack that takes about 45 minutes, about 90% downhill. They'll pick you up at the bottom and will be about 15 minutes closer to Bishop, so the net time it takes is only about 30 minutes. (Honestly, it always takes a little longer than that, but it's a good way to sell it).

 

I was looking at buying tickets for Mammoth and they wouldnt sell anything past the last weekend of September. Did you see the pics and recordings of their "Skiing in August" event? Even the campsites are closing earlier than normal too.

Bootleg Canyon in mid-late October is fun, the LBS in town shuttles it on the weekends.

 

We usually go to Mammoth around early September. I think that if you do go to Mammoth...you're missing out if you don't use the lift service. Even going as far ac McCoy Station and going down...its an amazing fun ride. We always stay at the Mammoth Mountain Inn. Its right next to gondola. We just ride over from our room to the lifts.

The altitude does mess with you. I was sucking wind just walking from the car to the check in desk at the Inn. You can always tell the out of towners from the locals as the low altitude dwellers are always gassed.

Here is a recent quote from a local that posts updates on MTBR.

Some pics from last year. These are trails that are on the left side of McCoy.

Except for this one.


The missus on "Seven Bridges"


The major sucking wind part.

 

Yes do go to Mammoth and do buy the lift service. You basically end up climbing 1/3rd of time and descending 2/3rd of time, which will enable you to go out and have fun for longer
The trails are in really good shape right now, thanks also due to the thunderstorms last week
More trail have been made too. A new blue trail called Midtown is quite a joy.
We came home Sunday night and already miss it :-(.

Brake Through, Juniper, Timber Ridge, Off the top are good blue trails

Skid Mark, Shotgun and Seven Bridges are good orange ones. Seven Bridges is the best

Twilight Zone, Velocity and Pipeline are good red ones. Follow Me was still a bit soft

The purple ones like DC-10 (not open yet) are over my head but i am sure they are fun if you can do it.

Four lifts are open. Gondola for Off The Top 1.5hr downhill fun, Gondola Midstation for all the techy fun like Twilight Zone plus entrance fo Brake Through to Seven Bridges / Lincoln Express combo. Discovery chair for the easy family friendly green/blue downhills. Chair 2 / Stump Alley for Recoil to Midstation and a often quicker way to get to the middle of the mountain since the gondala takes time to load. Chair 16 / Canyon Express for Follow Me and west side of mountain like Lincoln to Juniper is so much fun

Then try to combine the final downhill to town, if you stay in town with Panaroma Dome trails fo Mammoth RockTrail

 

But the question is, will it be open mid october?

 

Ah sorry, no I don't think so. We are going again last week of Sep when there is also the extra lure of Okotoberfest in the Village. Mid oct they need to start clearing the features to be ready for the snow season. They cannot risk doing it too late due to possible unexpected snowfall (I chatted with the manager up there, ran into him, that is how he explained it)

 

It think by the time September hits...it's pretty dead up there. We left on a Monday and the town was almost completely empty. We got there the day of the Mammoth Gran Fondo. The town was packed...the next day...it was crickets. I mean it could be a bit different this year. The park is opening up so late...but I think by the time October hits...they'll be prepping for ski season again.

 

Don't go during the kamikazee games in sept. A chunk of the trails end up closed for that and it's a bummer.

 

Loaded up with 6 bikes. Ready to roll.

 

Have fun. Headed up next week for some fishing and Lower Rock Creekin

 

Great set up!!!
Have a blast!

 

currntly snowing in mammoth, according to wathr channl.!

 

We did get some snow this morning.... we heading down to rock creek.

 

We did end up riding in the snow...... As long as it is under 4", and the general direction is down, it was a blast.

 

Who knew that the 2.8 Recons work so well as snow tires.

 

Awesome!

 

A few more pictures:

The Aspen forest at Lower Rock Creek.


Lower Rock Creek Trail


Mammoth Rock


Sherwin Meadows

We got some drone footage.



Mammoth Browing Co.

 

Did Rock Creek yesterday then road to Bishop. Trail was in good shape.

 

Beautiful!