Epic Fail: Mammoth / Tioga / Lundy

My wife and I decided to head up to Mammoth to have a weekend off from the kids. Our plan was to ride some trails we had never done before. We decided since it had been such a light winter and since the passes were open we would try to head up to Tioga Lake and ride some trails up there. The first stop was Bennettville about 10 miles off the 395 heading into Yosemite. The trail was supposed to be a mellow four mile ride around Saddlebag Lake. Since it was so short we parked right off the HWY 120 and rode the 2.5 miles up the paved/dirt road. When we got to the lake, fail number one. The trail around the lake was 90 percent snow still [/URL][/IMG] [/URL][/IMG] [/URL][/IMG]

We are both looking forward to this ride in the future, but we are guessing that it might be really crowded with campers and hikers during the summer. It might be a good ride for September or October if no snow. Next, we headed up the road to a trail that starts just across from the Tioga Campground. We knew it probably wouldn't be rideable because it was at the same elevation as as Saddlebag. Unfortunately we were correct, fail number 2. [/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG]

Although it looked o.k. in the beginning, it turned to about a 10 inches of snow very quickly. We decided to head down the road and go north of Lee Vining to Lundy Lake. The trail here was in much better shape with one exception. After the first quarter of a mile the trail became somewhat steep with a lot of semi loose rocks, ruts, and bushes. It was completely rideable, but very strenuous. The trail was an out and back of only three miles each way with 2,000 ft of climbing. Once the climb started it never let up and 600 plus feet per mile at altitude seemed to kill me. Speaking of killed, the dear carcass about a mile up which had been torn up within a day ago kinda sketched my wife and me out a bit. We decided it was time to turn around, fail number 3. [/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG]

On Sunday morning we had to head home with the three fails fresh in our memories. We decided to go for the sure fire, never miss, most fun free trail in the area, Lower Rock Creek. We only did the top two sections because we wanted to hit some Mule Days fun down in Bishop but it was worth it. LRC climbing the road and riding down the single track is one of my favorite trails anywhere. I can't wait to head back up when school is out and ride all three sections. I know we could have ridden the park this weekend as well but after eating a season pass for skiing because of my wife's knee surgery we just weren't sure if we would get enough use out of it. ( I will convince her by the next trip that it is worth it ).[/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG]

 

Looks like you still had fun! Lower Rock Creek makes everything better in my book...

 

You had snow. It was too hot for me to ride.

 

Yosemite wasn't warm, but it was 90 degrees at Rock Creek at 1pm.

 

1. Thanks for posting the Ride Report.
2. Bike + Snow = Epic Success
3. Bike + Snow = Epic Memory
4. Totally agree with Rich----> LRC makes everything better!


5. Long time no see! :wave:

 

http://www.socaltrailriders.org/for...bag-Lake-Trail-Tioga-Pass&highlight=saddlebag

I have rode Saddlebag Lake going counter clockwise from the campground. That side of the lake is very rideable the other side is a fisherman's trail and not rideable. The A ticket is to ride out to the Hoover Wilderness sign, stash your bike and hike the lakes loop.

Dean

 

Awesome trip!!! As a kid I BMX'd my way up to Oneida Lake on that southern trail of Lundy that you were on. Lots of old mining equipment and mine shafts. The trail on the northern side of the lake connects to Saddlebag Pass(which goes to Saddlebag Lake) and continues on to Mt Conness and Mt Excelsier(backpacking-no bikes). Haven't been up there in 25 years or longer. Thanks for bringing back the memories

 

That was the plan to ride and then hike up to the mines, but we just didn't have the fighting spirt to climb on. I pretty sure that all three areas that we tried to ride connect by hiking only trails. Bummer that we can't ride those trails. I like to think responsible XC riding doesn't do much more damage the trails than hikers.