05-14-2025, 06:46 AM
Free breakfast at the hotel and then farewell to the Wayfinder in Bishop. They had these nice Nalgene bottles with the Wayfinder logo and motto "Slow is Good" on them. The desk clerk had no idea of the price so he couldn't sell them to me.
This was another day to be thankful we didn't bring El Señor with us.
Our first stop was right out of town, right off the highway, an easy hike to the Rosetta Stone. Plus, there was a bonus cave for the Queen to crawl into. No idea why this particular petroglyph is called the Rosetta Stone but that is its name. Oddly on this empty stretch of freeway a car pulled in after us. At first I thought the other driver pulled in to see if we needed help. Then I feared he was there to rob the car once we left for the trail. Turns out he was a bird photographer and was probably pissed we were disturbing his private bird trail.
Crowley Lake is known for its weird columns. I've seen pictures. I thought it would be fun to see. When I mentioned we were going to Crowley Lake to the guide at the Bishop, she asked "why?" When I mentioned the columns, she accepted that as a good enough reason to go.
We never made it to the columns. A third of the way into the drive, the paved road gave way to gravel. Not a problem. We'd done gravel roads on the trip. Then it started to washboard. Also done on this trip. Then we came to the giant sandy undulations in the road. I gassed it and made it up the first one with minimal tire spinning. The second set stopped me. I felt I could have goosed it up but I didn't think it was worth it. Especially if we bottomed or got stuck. It was about a three mile walk to the nearest people. Plus, my envoy is old and tired and didn't deserve this treatment. We did one bounce so hard that the check engine light came on. I turned the car around and head to spot two.
We did stop on 395 at a scenic vista spot. The Queen got out her spotting scope and we were barely able to see the columns across the lake.
Next stop was famous Convict Lake. It's famous for some shootout or other. It was another quick drive up to 8000 feet. The setting for the lake is spectacular, but much like at Lake Sabrina, the winds howled and the temperature dropped. There is a path to walk around the lake. We were satisfied to stand at the dock and take pictures before retreating to the warmth of the car.
As many of you know, Mammoth is very geologically active and they do have hot springs. Hot Creek is one such area. We drove down another dirt road to see them, much less treacherous than the road to Crowley. The river runs through a narrow gorge so it was a bit of a walk to the river side. Plenty of signs warned us not to get too close to the bank or the pools. The most colorful one was across the river, but we could all sorts of bubbles coming up on our side of the river as well. A posted sign for the fisherman stated this was a catch and release stretch of the river because this was a stream with rare wild trout in it. I called bullshit on the 'Wild Trout' because we passed a fishery on the way in along the creek. Needless to say, we bumped into a lot of fly fishermen lining the banks of the river a little ways up from the active thermal area. It's in a beautiful spot.
Since, we were going through our itinerary, we decided to head to a spot mentioned by The Queen's hairdresser. It was the Obsidian Dome trail. Supposedly there was a ton of obsidian along this trail and otherworldly. Okay. Why not?
Well, the why not was another poor trail that kept getting worse and worse. Plus the occasional snow flakes we had been seeing turned into snow flurries. And the 'beautiful obsidian dome' looked like a giant pile of rocks with a few shiny bits. More retreating.
We had lunch at the Warming Hut with a waiter who should have been named Moonbeam and was baked out of his mind. But he did do an excellent job. Sun gave way to snow as we ate. We drove up to lakes that are part of Mammoth Lakes. Snow got heavier. The Queen scheduled a massage for the afternoon. I dropped her off and went back to the lakes in the hope of getting in a hike. No such luck. As I sat there, the car became covered in snow. I feared I might be trapped up on the hill so I went back down. I tried to drive to the Ski Resort but the conditions just kept getting worse.
I ended up going to the hotel to see if I could check-in. The exterior of the Cinnamon Bear Inn was not promising after what we enjoyed at the Wayfinder. My room was ready and they did let me check in. The place is old and kind of kitschy. I feared the Queen would hate it but when I picked her up and brought her back she did not completely hate it. I think the best feature of the room is its own little gas powered fireplace.
The snow was really coming down by the time we braved the elements to go out for dinner at a local pizza place. We spent the rest of the day reading. I tried valiantly to not go to sleep too early.
This was another day to be thankful we didn't bring El Señor with us.
Our first stop was right out of town, right off the highway, an easy hike to the Rosetta Stone. Plus, there was a bonus cave for the Queen to crawl into. No idea why this particular petroglyph is called the Rosetta Stone but that is its name. Oddly on this empty stretch of freeway a car pulled in after us. At first I thought the other driver pulled in to see if we needed help. Then I feared he was there to rob the car once we left for the trail. Turns out he was a bird photographer and was probably pissed we were disturbing his private bird trail.
Crowley Lake is known for its weird columns. I've seen pictures. I thought it would be fun to see. When I mentioned we were going to Crowley Lake to the guide at the Bishop, she asked "why?" When I mentioned the columns, she accepted that as a good enough reason to go.
We never made it to the columns. A third of the way into the drive, the paved road gave way to gravel. Not a problem. We'd done gravel roads on the trip. Then it started to washboard. Also done on this trip. Then we came to the giant sandy undulations in the road. I gassed it and made it up the first one with minimal tire spinning. The second set stopped me. I felt I could have goosed it up but I didn't think it was worth it. Especially if we bottomed or got stuck. It was about a three mile walk to the nearest people. Plus, my envoy is old and tired and didn't deserve this treatment. We did one bounce so hard that the check engine light came on. I turned the car around and head to spot two.
We did stop on 395 at a scenic vista spot. The Queen got out her spotting scope and we were barely able to see the columns across the lake.
Next stop was famous Convict Lake. It's famous for some shootout or other. It was another quick drive up to 8000 feet. The setting for the lake is spectacular, but much like at Lake Sabrina, the winds howled and the temperature dropped. There is a path to walk around the lake. We were satisfied to stand at the dock and take pictures before retreating to the warmth of the car.
As many of you know, Mammoth is very geologically active and they do have hot springs. Hot Creek is one such area. We drove down another dirt road to see them, much less treacherous than the road to Crowley. The river runs through a narrow gorge so it was a bit of a walk to the river side. Plenty of signs warned us not to get too close to the bank or the pools. The most colorful one was across the river, but we could all sorts of bubbles coming up on our side of the river as well. A posted sign for the fisherman stated this was a catch and release stretch of the river because this was a stream with rare wild trout in it. I called bullshit on the 'Wild Trout' because we passed a fishery on the way in along the creek. Needless to say, we bumped into a lot of fly fishermen lining the banks of the river a little ways up from the active thermal area. It's in a beautiful spot.
Since, we were going through our itinerary, we decided to head to a spot mentioned by The Queen's hairdresser. It was the Obsidian Dome trail. Supposedly there was a ton of obsidian along this trail and otherworldly. Okay. Why not?
Well, the why not was another poor trail that kept getting worse and worse. Plus the occasional snow flakes we had been seeing turned into snow flurries. And the 'beautiful obsidian dome' looked like a giant pile of rocks with a few shiny bits. More retreating.
We had lunch at the Warming Hut with a waiter who should have been named Moonbeam and was baked out of his mind. But he did do an excellent job. Sun gave way to snow as we ate. We drove up to lakes that are part of Mammoth Lakes. Snow got heavier. The Queen scheduled a massage for the afternoon. I dropped her off and went back to the lakes in the hope of getting in a hike. No such luck. As I sat there, the car became covered in snow. I feared I might be trapped up on the hill so I went back down. I tried to drive to the Ski Resort but the conditions just kept getting worse.
I ended up going to the hotel to see if I could check-in. The exterior of the Cinnamon Bear Inn was not promising after what we enjoyed at the Wayfinder. My room was ready and they did let me check in. The place is old and kind of kitschy. I feared the Queen would hate it but when I picked her up and brought her back she did not completely hate it. I think the best feature of the room is its own little gas powered fireplace.
The snow was really coming down by the time we braved the elements to go out for dinner at a local pizza place. We spent the rest of the day reading. I tried valiantly to not go to sleep too early.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm