Re: Mammoth Lakes

For those on the 395 side of the Sierra.

Does anyone have any current info about the accessibility of the campgrounds in the Mammoth Lakes district. I have reservations for the family in the Twin Lakes campground for 6/24-28. I am curious as to how much snow is still on the ground? I can't seem to get a straight answer from the Visitor Center, the rangers, or anyone else. I saw the photos of the plowing of Lake Mary Rd from 6/9 and hope the melt has dealt with the snow in the interim. Any information about current conditions would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.
GO BRUINS

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Bruins Rule
For those on the 395 side of the Sierra.

Does anyone have any current info about the accessibility of the campgrounds in the Mammoth Lakes district. I have reservations for the family in the Twin Lakes campground for 6/24-28. I am curious as to how much snow is still on the ground? I can't seem to get a straight answer from the Visitor Center, the rangers, or anyone else. I saw the photos of the plowing of Lake Mary Rd from 6/9 and hope the melt has dealt with the snow in the interim. Any information about current conditions would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.
GO BRUINS

no idea, but go bruins!!!!

Forget it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I spent the last 4 days in Mammoth. You can't access Coldwater Campground at all (snow), thus no access to Duck Pass. Lake McDonald, Upper Twin Lakes are also closed.

Twin Lakes campground IS open, just upper TL is closed. Conditions not the best... patches of snow in shady places.

Thank you for the update. OPEN is GOOD. My main concern is a snow free site for the tent, since the wife and kids would prefer not to sleep on the white stuff. If I may prod for more info. How much snow was under the trees on the east side of Lower Twin Lake? Just a few inches here and there, or large patches a foot deep or more?

We have been in Coldwater Campground 2 of the last 3 years, just beautiful, especially when the Creek is flowing good. I had dreams of going up to Duck Lake, though I presume that would be quite a trek for the kids. Went to Barratt, TJ, Crystal, Heart, Arrowhead & Skelton last year. Also went up to Crystal Crag, not like anything in Yosemite, but it was really beautiful for a short half-day trip. The view towards Bishop is tremendous.

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Bruins Rule
I had dreams of going up to Duck Lake, though I presume that would be quite a trek for the kids..

How old? If at least 7, they can do it. Tough part is getting out of the boredom and work of the no-view trail starting at Coldwater. Once up some, the views should help lift one higher. You do not need to get all the way to Duck Lake, just to Duck Pass where you can see all of Duck Lake below on one side, and most of the Mammoth Lakes on the other. It's a ten mile round trip. Say, 5 hrs for well-acclimatized folks, plus as many stops and breaks as you want.

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Bruins Rule
Does anyone have any current info about the accessibility of the campgrounds in the Mammoth Lakes district. I have reservations for the family in the Twin Lakes campground for 6/24-28. I am curious as to how much snow is still on the ground? I can't seem to get a straight answer from the Visitor Center, the rangers, or anyone else. I saw the photos of the plowing of Lake Mary Rd from 6/9 and hope the melt has dealt with the snow in the interim. Any information about current conditions would be helpful.

There is still a lot of snow at Lake Mary and the campgrounds there are very closed. I didn't look at the Twin Lakes campground.

You can still go skiing...

Devils Postpile postponed its opening until June 29 and the campground opens July 1 according to their Facebook page

Going up to Duck Pass will not be possible. You can't access the trailhead because Coldwater is closed and there is no way that campground is opening by next week. The snow there was heavy in the campground, you can't drive in and the Duck Pass trailhead is about 2 miles from the beginning of Coldwater.

I'm sorry I can't answer your question about the exact tenting conditions at lower Twin Lakes, I didn't pay close attention. But there were people camping there and I saw no snow. There's no snow by the Tamarack, just plenty in all the other campgrounds. Hope that helps a little.

Thanks for the info folks. We are leaving early tomorrow and it appears from everything I have been able to read is the we should be okay for tenting it. Duck Pass might not be in the plans. I am familiar with the hike up to the trailhead at the end of Coldwater, easily an extra mile plus in the snow "uphill each direction" .
GO BRUINS

Bruins, I am in Mammoth now and walked the 1.4 miles from the entrance of Coldwater to the Duck Pass trailhead. I was only able to go about 3/4 mile before encountering fairly heavy snow and also areas of deep water, so I turned around. I've hiked in Mammoth every year since 1992 and I have never seen snow this heavy in late June!

I was in Mammoth last weekend. Here is a photo of the entrance to Coldwater. We saw several fisherman hiking back out from the the lower lakes, Skelton, etc.

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btnicholas
I was in Mammoth last weekend. Here is a photo of the entrance to Coldwater.

That's a lot better than it was the week before.

I talked to the plow guy yesterday. They are plowing Coldwater this week, I saw the plowing in the Lake George campground. According to what the plow fellow told me, the campgrounds will be open Saturday for the 4th of July weekend. The camp hosts are in place in 2 of the closed campgrounds already, putting up the "reserved" tags on various camping spots, Snow everywhere, but I guess it's better than nothing for the campers.

I tent camped Mammoth, last July, for the first time and all I can say is that it was cold and breezy. At night I wouldn't doubt it dropped into the 30s. My sleeping bag (rated at 30 degrees) didn't keep warm. My husband was even cold and that's saying a lot, considering he's always hot. It was an odd year the desert floor only reached 100 degrees that week.

We set up camp in a freaky thunderstorm, so be prepared for anytrhing, even snow in July. The upper sierras are turbulant.