Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Mammoth Adventures

After an extremely active trip to Mammoth this past weekend, I rested and just hung out with friends today.
I've been excited to recap the amazing trip I had this weekend. In my "about" section, I talk about how I am trying to live a healthy lifestyle. This weekend I felt like I achieved that healthy lifestyle. From the moment we got to Ali's cabin on Friday, we were up and moving.
The road trip took place in my beloved car! I'm proud to say I drove 4.5 out of the 6 hours. Luckily, I had my traditional Egg Mcmuffin for breakfast to fuel my drive. 


Once we finally got to Mammoth, we immediatley decided to go for an easy bike ride around the neighborhood. The ride was really fun until my clumsiness got the best of me. It's been awhile since I last went bike riding, and I braked too hard/paniced a little and fell. Luckily, I didn't get hurt besides a few scratches and bruises. Don't worry the story we told was there was a big rock in the way ;)
All bandaged up...and being Spock.
Sadly my bike drama did not end with the fall. After 10 more minutes of biking, the bike broke when I was switching gears. The four of us ended walking the bikes to the nearest bike shop to get the bike (and my hand) all fixed up.
It ended up being a funny story, and we spent the rest of the night swimming at the pool and jacuzzi.

Saturday was spent hiking to Rainbow falls. Scott, Ali, Grant, and I took the tram down to the hiking area, and started our hike at Devil's Postpile.
We walked the next 2.5 miles to the beautiful Rainbow falls. We had originally planned to go swimming in the falls (which my family did a few years ago), but with so much snow this winter the falls were much stronger and did not look safe to swim.
Luckily, Scott suggested that we hike an extra half mile to Lower falls to go swimming there since we were already wearing our bathing suits. Once we got there and ate our picnic of pb&j's, we took off our tennis shoes and made a quick discovery: the water was freezing. The second we put our feet in the water, it was like pins and needles until our feet became numb. Some onlookers were definitely laughing at our shock ;)
Ali was the first one to brave diving in and I jumped in after. The boys were the last ones to get wet, so I think we showed up them this time! While the water was shockingly cold and the rock bottom uncomfortably sharp, it felt so amazing to cool down and warm back up on the rocks before heading back.
The overall hike was 6 pleasant miles. We spent the rest of the night watching the new Jersey Shore episode. My love for Jersey Shore is no secret. I am SO EXCITED for this season. It was such a good episode.


Sunday started off with a quick (but very painful) hike up to the base of Mammoth rock and climb to the top with our group and Ali's brother and cousins. The views were incredible, but the hike was super painful for me. I don't always do extraordinarily well in high altitudes so I was panting a little heavier than was comfortable.
Mammoth rock is the boulder sticking out there
After getting back from the hike and grabbing lunch, the four of us headed over to June Lake where my grandpa has a cabin. We hung out on the lake and went canoeing over to the boulders on the side of the lake. There we jumped off the boulders, tanned, and swam in the lake. We canoed around the lake for a little bit longer before heading back home.



This was definitely my favorite part of the trip!
That night we went out to eat at Whiskey Creek (I got fish tacos and sweet potato fries), and Scott and I took a quick detour from the cabin to go visit some of his family friends who live in the area.

Even though we were planning on leaving Monday at noon, Ali's parents invited us to go on a morning bike ride with them. I was super nervous about the bike ride because I was warned that it was a difficult uphill ride. I'm proud to say that I completed the 6 miles of pure uphill. I had to motivate myself to just keep pedaling and telling myself I could do it on the last part of the ride. The views from the trail was absolutely beautiful and seeing the lakes brought a bit of relief too. The downhill ride was super easy since I didn't have to pedal once. 

I was really proud of myself for completing the ride, and it felt good to have my legs a little tired once I got in the car for the 6 hour drive ride back (Scott took the wheel for the four of us this time).

This weekend was amazing, and I'm so happy that I was invited to experience a fun weekend vacation!


5 comments:

  1. Sounds like an amazing trip and experience!! There is nothing better than getting out into Nature -- I really wanted to go camping this summer but tough luck didn't let it happen. Swimming in those ice cold falls waters looks incredible!

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  2. Beautiful photos! Looks like you guys had a great time!

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  3. What amazing pictures, looks and sounds like you had a great time! You should be proud of yourself for finishing that bike ride...sounds tough!

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  4. YOU JUMPED INTO FREEZING WATER?! craziness! but i wish i had your courage. my life is lacking excitement :(

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  5. You look like you had so much fun! AND your pictures are gorgeous!!

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