Mammoth Lakes and June Lake Scenic Loops......................

On a cool, rainy Mother's Day, we took a drive over to Mammoth Lakes and the June Lake area to do some recon for future hikes. We stopped in the Mammoth Lakes Visitor Center, where the ranger was very helpful....guiding us to some hikes that sounded pretty cool. Ah, but for another day!

Being that it was Mother's Day, we were going to go out for a nice lunch. Surprisingly, though there were a lot of restaurants, most weren't open or were only open for dinner. That's A-OK though! Its the phone calls and facetimes that make Mother's Day awesome! This is a shoulder season here in Mammoth Lakes.....there is still spring skiing going on, as well as fishing and some hiking on trails that aren't snow-covered.

We drove through the Scenic Loop in Mammoth Lakes, and took a detour to check out the Inyo Craters. Unfortunately for us, the road had not yet been groomed, and there was no way we were making it down the rutted, snowy road in our little car. So....we continued on the Scenic Loop, and then ended back on 395.

heading into Mammoth Lakes

we noticed the forests along the roadside were cleaned up and had piles of debris randomly (to avoid forest fires?)

beautiful scenery

still lots of snow on the mountainsides

the road to Inyo Craters.....not happening in our little car!

its disturbing that the snow sticks are still up in May!

On our way back home, we passed by the June Lake Scenic Loop, which is right off of 395, and decided it was a good time to check that out! We weren't prepared to hike, but it was nice to see where some of the trailheads were, and to see if our little car would be able to handle the roads to the trailheads. 

lots of stores and restaurants are just starting to open for the season

very scenic...lots of lakes and mountains

June Lake

entering June Lake

a bustling little vacation town

trees are just starting to leaf out

the waterfalls are really flowing now!

look up to see the waterfalls!

oh...and another waterfall!

good time of year for waterfalls in this area

This relatively short drive is very scenic, at least this time of year when you can see through the trees. Also, the waterfalls are hard to miss when they are flowing like that! Surprisingly, we did not see too many fishermen out today on all of these lakes. Maybe it was too late in the day for fishing? 

Silver Lake

a beauty!

The road meandered along the mountains, and we had some gorgeous views around every turn. There were plenty of places to stop and just take it all in. So we did!

driving through the canyon

the river down there leads to another lake

looks Devil's Postpile-ish   -  Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls is closed until June :(  

there are so many lakes in and among these hills-and lots of places to stop to admire the views

the water is flowing into (or from) Grant Lake

Grant Lake

more Grant Lake - the last on this scenic drive

Heading back home. See the rain over Mono Lake? We are camping right across from it

After stopping for a delicious sandwich, we headed back to the camper and hunkered down with our books and warm afghans, a benefit of being a crazy knitter. We were warm and cozy waiting out the weather, and we were happy it wasn't snow.