Boots on · wedding week
Every hike we love around Mammoth — from flat river strolls to Larry’s favorite grind up to Duck Pass. All optional, all gorgeous.
Pick your effort
Seven of our favorite hikes around Mammoth. Filter by how much climbing you feel like doing. Stats are from AllTrails — and check the recent reviews there for current trail conditions before you head out.
A flat ramble along a slow, glassy river winding through golden high-desert meadow, with the whole snow-streaked Sierra crest standing up on the horizon. Go as far as you feel like and turn around whenever — the view barely changes and never gets old.
View on AllTrailsAn easy stroll beneath the Sherwin cliffs — sage and golden meadow grass, pine shade, and a quiet little lake glittering at the end. Our backup meadow walk if we don't get to it earlier in the week.
View on AllTrailsA short, shaded climb from the Horseshoe Lake trailhead to a still green pool ringed in lodgepole pine, with the pale granite wall of Mammoth Crest rising straight out of the far shore. The best scenery-per-step in the basin.
View on AllTrailsA gentle wander up from Lake George to two pocket lakes cupped beneath the spire of Crystal Crag — clear green water, granite slabs to sit on, and short enough for the littlest legs.
View on AllTrailsKyle’s favorite. A quick, steep run of switchbacks that suddenly opens on the whole Lakes Basin glinting below — then Crystal Lake itself, held in a bowl of rock beneath the crag. One of the most popular climbs in the area, and it earns it.
View on AllTrailsTurquoise lake after turquoise lake strung down a wildflower valley ringed by 13,000-foot peaks. Enormous alpine scenery for a remarkably mellow grade — the trail barely climbs the whole way in.
View on AllTrailsLarry's favorite, and the big one — a steady climb past Arrowhead, Skelton, and Barney Lakes up to the pass, where Duck Lake spreads out impossibly blue against bare granite and sky. Start early and bring layers.
View on AllTrails
the Owens River, looking west