From Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan tickets booked months in advance to Outdoor Retailer, August was a pretty jam packed month for me. I took a look at my calendar, saw one free weekend and knew I had to capitalize on it or be sad forever. I texted my friend Bobby and put together a game plan. We were going to head to Mildred Lake up Convict Canyon for some epic and mellow backpacking.
The last weekend of May, some friends and I headed to down to Mammoth for some mellow peak bagging fun. “Mellow” by their standards, less so for mine. First stop on our list was Red Top Peak outside of Mammoth Lakes.
Devils Postpile National Monument is a gem of the Eastern Sierra. Once a part of Yosemite National Park, Devils Postpile is now its own standalone national attraction. The name refers to a cliff of columnar basalt exposed by glaciation. The NPS website does a far better job of explaining the formation of the columns, so I won’t even go there.
The Eastern Sierra is chockfull of bubbling hot springs waiting to be soaked in. I mean, really, you can’t beat the soothing hot temperatures and mountain views and the price (free). I stopped by a few of the Mammoth hot springs on the way home from my 25th birthday Eastern Sierra roadtrip extravaganza so I could share with you.
There’s a dirt road that will take you to the majority of them. You’ll just need a bit of clearance. I won’t publicly post directions, but get in touch if you’re unable to find them. These are fairly well known, and tons of beta is available on the internet.
The Crowley Lake Columns are a little Eastern Sierra secret. If you’re a good internet creeper, you’ll be able to find directions to them with enough digging.