After a little looking around Vermont’s only National Forest on our last trip, we decided it was time to check out neighboring New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest. With a birthday to celebrate and couple days off along with a favorable forecast (can you say 60’s and sunny in November?) we hit the road. In my opinion there’s no better way to celebrate another successful orbit around the sun than to get outside and see something new.
Note: If you missed part 1 you can read it here: https://occidentalist.org/wandering-ca-395-2018-part-1/
After a day of checking out Bodie and Mono Lake we thought we’d spend the day hiking somewhere in the Sierras. We headed south a bit and thought maybe a trail in the Mammoth area would get us up in the mountains for some good views. As we pulled though Mammoth Lakes we started to notice that there were quite a few people about, and as we reached the main lodge area the parking lot was starting to look full. Here it was well more than a week before Thanksgiving, and Mammoth Mountain was in full operation spraying ice on the mountain for people to ski on. I was caught off guard with such a crowd flocking to ski on manufactured ice in the fall.
It always baffles me that people are so excited to ski when there isn’t any snow, but in the spring, when the snow is at its deepest and the weather is at its best, the crowds move on to other endeavors.
Due to the resort being open the road was blocked and we were thwarted from our original plan. We quickly broke out the maps and picked out another trail with a few lakes as a destination. Before too long we were on the trail to Emerald Lake.
