Mammoth Mountain

Here I am, on top of the incredibly gorgeous Mammoth Mountain, at 11,053 feet! I was not planning to visit this mountain, and how I got up there was purely by accident.

A few weeks prior to this journey, I saw a newsletter from Cheryl Strayed, one of my favorite authors, in my email inbox. I scanned it and saw a sentence announcing a writer’s workshop at the Mammoth Yoga Festival. I did a quick check to see where Mammoth was and learned that it was about a four hour drive from Sacramento. I decided this was the chance of a lifetime so I registered for the seminar and booked two nights at the resort the yoga festival was being held at, thinking it would be easier to just stay where the seminar was so I wouldn’t have to stress out and drive and find it. More on that later. 

I left a couple of hours early from work on Friday and hit the road, trusting my GPS to do all the thinking for me. I got to the resort four-ish hours later. I thought it was odd that I had clearly been routed through Nevada, as I could see the “Welcome to Nevada” signs, but I was so exhausted I put that thought aside and limped up to the check-in desk. I felt like a zombie and my brain was fried, so I did my best to understand all the instructions, signed all the paperwork, and figured out where the heck my parking space was. They actually have a genius underground parking garage with parking areas for each section of the hotel. I got into my room, dumped all my stuff, rested for a bit, then set out to explore the resort. 

If you are ever in the area on the off season, definitely consider The Village Lodge Mammoth. It is brilliantly designed, with all the shops and restaurants right there in a village setting, so everything you need is within a few minutes’ walk. I had a look at the souvenirs, then got some groceries at the local grocery store; much cheaper than eating out. 

I went back to my room and settled down to figure out my strategy for the next morning, the morning of the seminar. This is where things got… interesting. 

The first thing I discovered was that despite all my planning and cleverness, my seminar was not going to be held at the resort. Great. My anxiety level shot up as I started strategizing for the next morning. I am completely paranoid when it comes to these type of events, and will go ridiculously early to ensure that there is no chance I might be late. So I decided to go a full hour early, (it was only a five minute drive to the venue), scope out the place and sit and read while I waited. 

The next morning I got up early, grabbed some snacks from the grocery store, and headed out. As I was getting closer to where it was supposed to be, I saw something incredible; skiers on the hill. Did I mention this was in the summer? Then I started to see something concerning; cars parked on the road for at least a mile. I kept driving, hoping that this was not going to affect my schedule. I got to the venue which turned out to be a ski lodge, and was told by the parking attendants that I had to go all the way back down the hill, park, and catch a shuttle bus back up the hill. Oh crap. Suddenly my extra hour was not so comforting. I was now in a race against the clock. I drove back down past the rows and rows of cars that seemed to go on forever and finally pulled into the first spot available. The parking attendant had said the shuttle signs were lettered A-E so I started my long walk up the hill. Mind you, I am not in great shape, my anxiety at this point was through the roof, my heart was pounding and my blood pressure was probably scary. But I was determined. I started walking. I had to stop frequently and rest because did I mention I was at 6000 feet elevation? I employed all the mind tricks I have learned from years of training martial arts to keep going, and after what seemed like forever, I saw a sign marked C. I leaned on a car and caught my breath and started to worry about whether the shuttle would really come or not. At this point, I had about 30 minutes before the seminar started and I knew that time would go quick. I stewed for a few minutes and a couple walked up and asked me if this was the shuttle stop and when it would come. I said I didn’t know so we stood there together and worried. Fortunately the shuttle did come after a few minutes and we rode up to the lodge. Whew! 

The lodge was a long building that was maybe three or four stories high. I hopped out of the shuttle and ran up to the attendant and said “I’m here for the writing seminar; where is the conference room?” He replied that it was at the far end of the building and up two floors. Ugh. I only had about 15 minutes to spare. So I started out. Up one staircase, walking as fast I could not knowing where I was going, hoping I wasn’t going the wrong way. I found the kitchen they mentioned, then up the second staircase (I was so exhausted by this point but I was going to make it if it killed me). I finally reached a nice lady sitting at a table and said “Is this the writing workshop?” She said “yes” and I let out a big sigh of relief and said “Oh my God!” She apologized and said none of them knew it was going to be this busy. Just then Cheryl walked by and I heard the facilitator explain to her that a lot of people might be late because they did not foresee all the crowds. Mind you, I had started a full hour early and only just made it. There were a few people already there. I found a good spot, more people filtered in and we started the seminar. It was everything I had hoped it would be and to hear one of my favorite authors speak was an incredible treat! 

So, here’s where I accidentally end up on the top of Mammoth Mountain. After the seminar, I noticed signs for a gondola. I remembered that my booking had included a free gondola ride, so I went to the counter to check it out. I had no idea where this thing was headed, but I figured, free ride, might as well take advantage. I had everything the hotel had given me, but there was no pass. Given my zombie state at check in, this might have been completely my fault but the guy at the desk was very helpful and called the hotel to confirm. I was all set and headed over to the gondola building. I got in the gondola and was told I could get out as many times as I wanted to at stops one and two but once I got out at the station, my ride was over. I didn’t really know what that meant but I agreed and off we went. It was breathtakingly beautiful. As we pulled in to stop one, they asked if I wanted to get out, but I decided I would get out on the return trip if I wanted to. Then I looked forward. The line went straight up, so far I couldn’t see where it ended. This leg was even more incredible than the first. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew it was high. I marveled at my surroundings and thought that even though I am not a skier, after this experience I have a new understanding of why people do it. The views are spectacular! I got off at stop two and took the picture in this post. There was a nice little cafe and mini museum with facts about the mountain. It was there I learned where I was and that this was easily the highest elevation I have ever been to in my life. I took some pictures and bought a t-shirt and rode the gondola back down the mountain. It was a very cool, completely unexpected experience. Once I had my feet on the ground, I was faced with the task of finding my car and getting back to the resort. The shuttle came around and I was able to identify where I parked and got back with no incident. I bought some souvenirs and made a bad choice of restaurants and had cold tacos, but otherwise had a nice evening. 

Later that night, I called my friend Leila who was 94 and had been camping and backpacking for decades all over the West Coast. She listened to my story and quizzed me on my route and was insistent that my GPS took me too far out of my way. She implored me to use a map to get home and I promised I would look at it. When I did, I had to agree with her. I did some internet research and decided I wanted to come back via State Route108. I spent an hour painstakingly writing down my route with towns and markers to look out for in case I lost my signal, and went to bed. 

The next morning I checked out and headed for my first marker, a town on the edge of 108 where I planned to stop for breakfast. I had breakfast and entered a town on the other side of 108 into my GPS. The GPS was trying to get me to go all the way around, hours out of my way. I tried several more times, but the GPS would not route me through 108 no matter what I put in. I checked the internet, and all the notices said the route was open. So I decided to risk it. I turned onto 108 and saw all sorts of signs warning large vehicles not to take that route, and immediately got stuck behind an RV going at the pace of a sloth. After a frustrating few minutes, I decided to stop at a turn off and take a break. After that, it was much better. 

Once I got into the pass, I was rewarded with some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen! Unreal vistas, with mountains and valleys and views that blew my mind! I started stopping at almost every turnout to take pictures because with every turn there was a new incredible view. Pretty soon, even though I had been careful not to drink much, I had to go to the bathroom. It started to become very uncomfortable, so I started to look for a turnout that had a place that I could hide behind. I finally found one that had a rather large tree with a little ditch behind it. Certainly not completely hidden from the road, but I was hoping that by the time passersby saw me, they’d be driving past me before they could figure out what I was doing. Plus, there was hardly any traffic on the road. I pulled over and got behind the tree, and did the deed successfully, went back to my car and continued my journey, feeling much better. Fortunately, that was the only time I had to do that. I kept stopping for pictures until I finally said to myself “you’d better drive or you’re not going to get home!” So I did. I stopped at a tiny little town, went into an old style diner and had chocolate ice cream, which tasted like the best thing I had ever eaten. They suggested I go downstairs and have a look around. It was an antique/bookshop but as I walked around, I could hear water running. I discovered that this level had been carved out of the hill and there was a natural waterfall that went through it! Another accidental, pretty incredible discovery. After that, I drove the rest of the way home, exhausted but very satisfied with my adventure. 

Lesson learned; GPS is fine for finding addresses around town, but for long trips into the country, plan your trip with a real map and make sure you know were you are going.