After waking up next to the Travertine Hot Springs in my buddy Jay's van on Thanksgiving morning, we headed to Mammoth Lakes for some much needed adventure time in the snow. We loaded up on body fuel (re: carbs) at the incredibly amazing Schat's Bakery and settled on calling the Crystal Lake trail our hike of choice for the afternoon. The hike would be extended by a couple miles due to the fact that the access road was closed and covered with snow, but we didn't mind as we had just downed our body fuel (re: carbs).
The snow covered road leading us to the trailhead.
When we made it to the actual trailhead, we came to discover that the trail was covered in multiple feet of fresh powder in places. This did not deter us even though we did not have snowshoes. The snow was very light and fluffy and the air dry which meant we probably wouldn't have to deal with the snow melting. Strapped with an external battery for my phone, I used the All Trails app and GPS to help maintain our course. We were only concerned with reaching the top with enough light to follow our tracks back down.
Early on in the hike we discovered we'd be blazing our own trail, sans snowshoes.
The first half mile or so brought us up some long switchbacks through a heavily wooded area. We'd veer off course every now and then, but I'd have my phone out and if our dot got off course, we'd right the ship immediately. Pouncing around in the light fluffy powder was fun. Initially I was a bit worried about my boots as I had been meaning to buy new ones and I had had trouble with snow melt penetrating the leather in hikes past, but they persevered.
The fresh snow from the night before coated the trees so perfectly.
After a bit, we emerged from the woods and got our first view of the lakes below. The blue bird sky peeking out behind the fluffy white clouds made for a nice backdrop. Naturally I made Jay pose on a rock and he happily obliged.
Jay looks out at one of the lakes below.
California has some pretty large trees.
Continuing on, the trail turned back into the woods and we trudged ahead to our own beat and perhaps on our own trail. The feeling of being completely surrounded by snow covered trees while knee deep in powder was exhilarating and filled my mind with memories of being a kid in New Hampshire.
Emerging from the darkness.
In the interest of time and daylight, we made a team decision to cut the hike short before reaching Crystal Lake and that was mostly made an easier pill to swallow because of this view we had at our turnaround point.
Our final view. Pretty beautiful.
The hike down was very enjoyable. Normally I much prefer the journey up over the way down because of the impact on your knees, but with the presence of powder, we were able to toss ourselves down the mountain. Hiking in snow is the best.
