Mammoth, and more…

Wow, what a weekend this has been.  We were invited to a wedding in Mammoth, California, so Susie and I hopped in the Subie and headed north on the 395.   I’ve always loved that road, but I’ve never been to Mammoth.   Folks, it is awesome, and one of things I repeatedly found myself thinking about this weekend is what a great motorcycle destination it would make.

I do that a lot.   When I’m a motorcycle trip, I sometimes find myself feeling guilty that I’m not taking my wife, and when I travel to interesting places with Sue, I sometimes find myself thinking about doing a rerun on the motorcycle.

Anyway, I’m convinced a run up the 395 to Mammoth would make a whale of a trip, and I’m throwing out feelers right now for who would like to go.   Before you weigh in, though, let me show you a few photos.

This is California Highway 395 north of Bishop.   Yep, it’s that awesome.

They call Highway 395 the Three Flags Highway because it runs from Mexico (or at least it used to) all the way up to Canada.   When the roadmeisters built Interstate 15, it pretty much killed off the part of 395 that ran down to Mexico, so today it really starts just south of Victorville in the southern Mojave Desert.  It gets real pretty real fast, but the best part starts around Lone Pine, and it just keeps getting better.

There’s the Manzanar National Park on the way up.   Manzanar was a World War II internment camp, when the feds rounded up US citizens of Japanese ancestry and incarcerated them in what was essentially a concentration camp (not our finest moment, to be sure).   The museum in interesting, and it’s definitely worth a stop.

Lone Pine is an interesting small town bisected by 395, and it has a western movie museum that I hear is great.   We wanted to stop there this morning, but we would have had to wait another hour for it to open.  Next time.

Bishop is amazing, and it’s one of my favorite places.   The Galen Rowell photography gallery is there and it’s a treat.   There are quite a few good places to eat in Bishop…my favorite is the Three Amigos (a Mexican restaurant) and the Schatt Bakery (they have a jalapeno cheese bread that’s worth a trip up there all by itself).

After Bishop, 395 climbs into the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, and it goes from awesome to incredible.

So, back to this weekend’s destination, and that’s Mammoth.  You know, I’ve probably smoked by the Mammoth cutoff (Highway 203) a dozen times on my motorcycles and I’ve lived in California for 36 years, but I’d never been to Mammoth until this weekend.   All I can say is: Wow!

Mammoth is an alpine town mostly known for skiing, but the roads and the scenery make it an ideal motorcycle destination.   This is but one of many lakes in the area…

Here’s another photo of another set of lakes..

We saw more than a few motorcycles in and around Mammoth this weekend…this is an older Honda ST1100…

So, back to the wedding.   It was at the top of Mammoth Mountain, and it took two cable-car tram rides to get up there.   It was 11,000 feet up in the air.   It was awesome.

This is a shot from the gondola car on the way up…

After two fun-filled evenings in Mammoth, we left at sunup this morning and pointed the Subie south.   We had a great breakfast in Bishop, and on the way home we spotted a sign pointing to the Cottonwood charcoal kilns.   I looked at Susie, she looked at me, and we were on our way.

I’d seen that sign a number of times, but I’d never stopped before.   It was a mile down a 4-40 corrugated dirt road (you know, the kind that shakes your fillings loose unless you’re either below 4 mph or above 40 mph).   Lots of soft sand, too.   It would be a real challenge on a motorcycle, and I immediately thought about doing it on the RX3.

I’d seen ancient charcoal kilns once before in Death Valley, and I’d always wanted to see these.  Susie spotted them before I did (I guess I was too busy concentrating on picking a line through the sandy washes)…

We were excited about finding the kilns, but a disappointed that they were surrounded by a chain link fence.   Until I walked up to the fence, that is.  It has a gate and the gate was unlocked.   Whoa, another lucky break….

And here’s one last shot I especially like.   After grabbing the photo above, I entered the kiln and took a photo from the inside out…

What I’m thinking about is a 4-day ride from the plant up to Mammoth and back, stopping along the way to explore some of the places I’ve described above, with a bit of dirt riding as part of the deal.

What do you guys and gals think?