Mile 903 to 909 Mineret Falls + 3.5 miles on the Mammoth Pass/Red Meadows Trail.

We left Mammoth with reluctant hearts and heavy footsteps. Mike and Vanessa had generously taken us in for 4 nights and let us crash their vacation in Mammoth.

The two of them had section hiked the John Muir Trail a few years before, and we all connected over our shared interest in the outdoors. On the first night, we arrived after dinner, but Mike ran to the store and picked up some chicken to grill and we all traded stories of our backpacking adventures. That night, as we were getting cleaned up and showering, the ski resort started shooting off fireworks and we all ran outside to watch.  Bedazzled had been looking forward to this for weeks, but when we looked around, there was no Bedazzled. To our, and later her, dismay, the fireworks had started and ended while she was in the shower. But all was not lost because we would end up seeing fireworks twice more. Once in downtown Mammoth while we were at Mammoth Brewery and again on the 4th of July down at Lake Crowley. The latter was particularly impressive because of the setting. To the left was the eastern Sierra, in front was Lake Crowley, and to the right were the Inyo Mountains. I couldn’t imagine a better place to see a fireworks show. They even had patriotic music playing over one of the local radio stations that synced up with the fireworks. I was so happy that Bedazzled got to experience a real 4th of July fireworks show!

Earlier that day, we watched a 4th of July Parade in Mammoth and bought various patriotic paraphernalia while getting our faces painted too.

Thanks to Mike and Vanessa this group of sweaty and stinky hikers had a better 4th of July than we could have ever hoped for. Their hospitality and generosity touched our hearts, and we loved hanging out with them and their friends Mark, Peggie and Vanessa’s sister Sue.

We even got to chop some wood. You can see my skill with an axe below.

Leaving town wasn’t only hard because of the great stay we had, but our heavy packs were full with 10 days of food and making it hard to leave literally. We weighed them before we left and both Fun Dip and my packs came in at 53 pounds. Bedazzled’s was 54 and Vipr’s was a surprising 41 pounds. It was pretty shocking. More shocking, however, was the fact that our packs felt better than when we left Bishop. God only knows how much they weighted then.

We started back on the Mammoth Pass Trail, but somehow ended up at Red’s Meadows Resort. Not sure where we took a wrong turn, but we weren’t too chocked up about it since we ended up 3 miles further down the PCT. While getting back to the PCT, we walked through an area of foreat that had first been burned and then hit by a localized wind storm with winds in excess of 100 mph that snapped the trees in half like match sticks and had strewn them along the hillside.

After reaching the PCT, we entered Devil’s Postpile Natonal Monument, which was created to preserve these hexagonal basalt columns that formed when the basalt cooled.

Motivation to keep going was low and we ended up chatting in the shade at the foot of the post piles for about 90 minutes. When we finally started moving again, we were just looking for a nice campsite. Before we could find one, however, we reached Mineret Falls, which we had heard could be a problem. We crossed a couple hundred meters below the falls using trees to cross some of the smaller sections. We crossed the final large secton of river using a fallen tree as a hand rail and wading across water that came up to our waists.

We set up camp still within earshot of the falls and made dinner. Sadly there wasn’t tri tip or baked salmon for dinner tonight. Instead, we ate a mix of avocado and cheese burritos, pasta, and oatmeal. I have a feeling we will be missing Mammoth for a while.