June 4 is the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day, the country’s largest celebration of trails. National Trails Day events take place in every state across the country and include hikes, biking and horseback rides, paddling trips, birdwatching, geocaching, gear demonstrations, stewardship projects and more. Here in Mammoth Lakes, we’re going to celebrate by giving back to some of our precious local treasures, the trails of the Mammoth Lakes Trail System up on Panorama Dome.

The snow is melting and the Mammoth Lakes Trail System (MLTS) team is preparing for a productive season of trail work. Thanks to the support of the community, its leadership, and strong partnerships, we have the resources to make a real difference out on the ground in 2016. Our team will be working hard to improve trail facilities with a focus on soft surface trail maintenance and installing new USFS standard signs throughout the trail system. 

My good friend Stan Bales who works as a Recreation Planner for The Bureau of Land Management decided to come visit us in Mammoth Lakes. Stan loves the great outdoors and always tries to fit a lot into each day (life is short). I wanted to take him hiking and skiing and he only had one full day to spend here. Well, Mammoth Lakes delivers on opportunities close to home and we decided to take a beautiful hike and ski in the same day.

The sunsets in Mammoth Lakes have been beautiful lately. We took a hike on Doe Ridge following dirt roads to watch the clouds interact with the Sierra Crest yesterday evening and were delighted to see this.