Mammoth Lakes, California - September 10th to 11th, 2024
The Mammoth Lakes area was a great place to regroup and resupply between Yosemite National Park and Death Valley National Park. In addition to the great views, there was an inexpensive campground right off the highway at Crowley Lake.
Tuesday was a travel day, from Hodgdon Meadow Campground in Yosemite to Crowley Lake BLM Campground near Mammoth Lakes. However, there was still more of Yosemite to see. It was a beautiful drive on Tioga Road out the Tioga Pass Entrance of Yosemite, to the east. We covered Tioga Road in our previous post (Yosemite National Park - North - September 7th to 10th, 2024). The gorgeous scenery continued past the Tioga Pass Entrance, as the road descends quickly down to highway 395.
We stopped in the town of Mammoth Lakes for groceries and lunch. We were hoping there would be a nice little downtown area that we could stroll around, but we couldn’t find one. Giovanni’s Pizzeria was in the same shopping mall as the Vons grocery store, so we ate there. The pizza was pretty decent.
Before leaving Mammoth Lakes, we drove down Lake Mary Road to check out the lakes. The area is very scenic. A lovely paved bike path meanders from town and around the lakes. Unfortunately, we saw a bike path map that said Class 1 e-bikes are allowed. We’re assuming that means that Class 2 e-bikes, like we have, are not. Once again we felt frustrated that we came across a place that didn’t allow us to ride, especially since we don’t understand the reasoning why.
There are also several Inyo National Forest Service campgrounds on the lakes. If we had decided earlier, we might have reserved a spot in one of those. However, the original plan was to drive straight to Death Valley. It wasn’t until a couple of days prior that we decided to break up that long drive and spend the night at Crowley Lake.
Crowley Lake BLM Campground was just about half an hour from Mammoth Lakes. The campground is nothing very special. It is very exposed, just west of the highway, with vault toilets, a dump and a water fill. However, it did have a nice view of Crowley Lake and is just far enough from the highway that you can’t hear the traffic noise. The dump costs $10, but we can’t complain too much. Our site only cost us $5.50. Since we have a Senior park pass, we got half off the regular price of $10, plus a 10% processing fee for paying through our recreation.gov app.
Temperatures were in the 80’s, but we felt very comfortable sitting in the shade of Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO). Since we had some time on our hands and we didn’t want to cook in the heat while in Death Valley, we prepared what we needed for the next few meals. For dinner that night, we had hash browns with peppers and onions. While we had the Blackstone griddle (paid link) out, we grilled up some chicken thighs for chicken salad sandwiches. In the Instant Pot (paid link), we steamed some eggs and roasted some beets to use in a beet salad. Ann also used the hand immersion blender (paid link) to make her favorite cilantro lime dressing for the salad. Our planned meals for Death Valley included not only the chicken salad and the beet salad, but also gazpacho (a cold tomato soup) and Greek quinoa. The only thing left to cook was the quinoa, which we can cook in about 15 minutes on the induction cooktop (paid link) one of the mornings before the temps rise, then let it cool in the fridge during the day. A watermelon and ice cream rounded out our food for Death Valley. We were then ready for the heat.
Wednesday we drove from Crowley Lake to Furnace Creek Campground in Death Valley. Along the way, we stopped in the town of Bishop. Our first order of business was to stop at Erick Schat’s Bakkerÿ for a morning treat. The original bakery started in 1903 (under a different name), by a family who immigrated from Vienna in Austria. An immigrant from Utrecht in the Netherlands, Jack Schat, later worked for the bakery and eventually bought it. The bakery is named after one of Jack’s sons, Erick. The bakery was a little overwhelming. Half of the large bakery was bread with the other half full of pastries, deli sandwiches, and drinks. There were tables outside to eat at, but there was also another building with indoor seating.
It took us a while to take it all in and figure out what we wanted to get. Apparently they are known for their Sheepherder’s bread, so naturally, we bought one. Then we each had a croissant with our chai latte’s. Keith’s croissant was strawberry while Ann’s was almond. We sat at a table outside and enjoyed our sweets.
From there, we drove a few blocks to the laundromat. It didn’t take us long to get our three loads done, about an hour and a half, including folding. Then we wanted lunch. Google Maps showed an interesting Latin American food truck called the Rolling Chef 395, but, to our disappointment, it was closed that day. Instead we drove back down near the bakery and went to the Holy Smoke Texas Style BBQ. We both had the pulled pork with a side of slaw. The food was OK, but it filled our bellies.
Now that we were recharged, we were ready to tackle the next national park on our itinerary, Death Valley National Park. Bring on the heat!
Check out our related video: Mammoth Lakes, California
(Ann)