<map>https://caltopo.com/m/LESJN

We were nearing the end of our six week summer workcation in Mammoth and I was trying to get out every evening after work to enjoy the town, or more accurately the areas around town. The previous day I had gone out to attempt a climb of Mammoth Mountain, California’s highest ski hill, but was left running around the Lakes Basin as thunder rattled off overhead. So I headed up to Tamarack Lodge again today to give it another go. The weather wasn’t great, but it wasn’t actively thunderstorming either, so I decided to give it a go, at least until the weather got worse.

Mammoth Mountain is quite a popular peak. Besides the skiers in the winter and the bikers in the summer, the trail running enthusiasts of the central part of the Eastern Sierra Nevada have blessed the Dragons Back route up this peak as a local test piece of sorts. A Mount Tamalpais of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Several of my trail running friends from the Bay Area have raced up and down this route during vacations in the area. While I wasn’t much interested in seeing how many minutes (hours?) slower I was than a professional trail runner up 2,500’ of sand, I was interested in giving this peak a try for the same reasons they pursued it: it’s easily accessed from town and the route to the summit is straightforward. It didn’t hurt that this peak is on the Vagmarken list as well, though I suspect that were the Vagmarken still around it would have been long since removed. In any case, I figured it was worth a few hours to see what all the hype was about.

So, I parked at the Tamarack Lodge, jogged down the road, across the bridge, through the campground, and started up the Dragons Back trail. I wouldn’t say I “ran” all the way up the peak, but I did run most of the way up to trail junction that branches off towards Mammoth Pass. Above here I continued up and up, the forest thinning out as the trail weaved between rocks and occasional ski resort constructions. By the time I was above 10,000’ it was mostly walking for me. In total, it took 45 minutes from the start of the trail to where it levelled off on a sort of summit plateau. I jogged over to the sign atop the mountain near the gondola to enjoy the view.

The sign atop Mammoth Mountain. The 11,053’ elevation is from the older USGS survey for the 15’ quads, the newer survey for the 7.5’ quads put the summit at 11,030’.

Unfortunately I couldn’t see much from this vantage point, except for the sign. The most impressive views would have been to the west, but they were blocked by the enormous upper gondola station. To the south/southeast was the summit plateau, much ski area construction, and the ridgeline of Bloody Mountain. Red Slate Mountain loomed above as well, but there wasn’t too much else visible. I lingered for a few minutes as a couple took some wedding photos. They must have been cold, it was maybe 50 degrees at the summit! Before long I succumbed to the cold and set off jogging back down the road to the Dragons Back.

I pulled off to a little vista point south of the summit where there were some signs. There was an impressive, unobstructed view of the Ritter Range from this point which I enjoyed. The evening light through the clouds added a nice effect.

The signs around here talked about the old Mammoth Mine, which was down near the Lakes Basin and, apparently, was named aspirationally after the mammoth size the miners expected of the lode. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite pan out as predicted and the mining town was abandoned not long after it was established. For many years this area was mostly vacant until Dave McCoy moved his budding ski resort from the slopes of Mount Morrison to Mammoth Mountain, lured by better snowfall and a favorable permit from the Forest Service. By the 80s there was sufficient demand to incorporate a town and parcel up the land for houses and condos, and that’s when the modern town of Mammoth Lakes came into existence. I don’t think that was all on the sign, I read some of it online or in other signs scattered around town and I can’t remember which tidbit came from the lovely vista atop Mammoth Mountain.

My history lesson finished, I plodded down the Dragons Back Trail back to my car, taking care not to trip and eat shit as that wouldn’t be a great way to end a lovely several weeks in the mountains. I would have taken some photos, but honestly the scenery wasn’t particularly inspiring nor was the light favorable. I was back at my car after an hour and forty-five minutes.

This outing was quick and easy as expected, but offered no real sense of adventure or wilderness. I thought the view would be a bit better from the summit, not having realized that this peak is much lower than much of the High Sierra to the south, though the view of the Minarets was nice enough. All-in-all a nice enough evening and one worth repeating under similar conditions, but if you have more time and energy there are a great many more impressive peaks to climb nearby!