After a short stint on US395, we turn at Tom’s place (a 100 year old restaurant), and head down old 395 towards Mammoth Lakes.
Another Rest Stop
The climb from 395 to Mammoth Lakes up the 203 is my least favorite climb. It’s not all that steep, but it is on a 4 lane road, and typically into a stiff headwind. The wind wasn’t too bad today, but it remains my least favorite climb.
My bud wanted to be there for my 50th double, but didn’t want to do the whole thing, so she was to meet us there in Mammoth Lakes and do the rest of the ride with us. She was staying at our vacation home just a couple of blocks away.
We climbed up to the Mammoth Scenic Loop (not all that scenic, and it is really an alternate escape route put in after a series of earthquakes in the area), and from there, descended back to US395.
The next significant climb was to Deadman Summit. Great name, eh? It got it’s name for someone found face first in a local creek, clearly murdered. The likely culprit was a guy who had lured the victim by advertising that he had found gold and was looking for an investor. The victim came with cash, and the result is as expected. No gold. Murder. And the perpetrator was never found.
After summiting Deadman, there is a short section and then we turn onto the June Lake Loop. This is typically the highlight of the ride. It’s drop dead beautiful with alpine lakes, nearby mountain peaks, waterfalls, aspens ... and a beautiful, generally smooth road. It’s also generally downhill.
It wasn’t quite so beautiful this time though, with all the gray clouds about. We zoomed through and backdown to US395 to lunch in Lee Vining.
Lunch was the usual affair ... Subway sandwiches, cookies, chips, and the like. The Mountain Dew was really a nice touch.