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Convict Lake

We arrived at the Convict Lake Resort at the beginning of a snow storm. The buildings were all dark and not very welcoming in the late-afternoon twilight. I went into the office to check into our cabin and learned that the high winds had knocked out their power. So we spent the night in Mammoth instead.

The next morning, after digging out our car, eating breakfast, and stopping to buy candles and matches and extra batteries for our headlamps, we headed back out to Convict Lake. I walked into the resort's office-slash-store to see the beer refrigerators happily humming. We must have brought the power back with us, they said, because it came on just as we arrived. We checked into our cozy cabin and went out for a hike in the fresh powder that had fallen overnight.

It's just a few miles from Mammoth, but Convict Lake might as well be in the middle of nowhere. The lake itself is a glacial tarn, with a background of dramatic granite peaks. We were the first people to walk on the fresh snow covering the trail around the lake. We left the lake trail at the far side and hiked a mile or so up another trail that connects to the John Muir Trail. Exactly a year ago we did a little hike at the far north end of the Muir trail, which made us wonder how many trail miles Convict Lake is from the trail's end in Yosemite.

The resort is a cluster of cabins tucked amid aspen trees, plus an excellent restaurant. We spent the evening enjoying fresh-baked bread and roasted garlic, local trout and New Zealand wine, and cocktails in front of the fireplace before stumbling back through the snow to our warm little den.

Getting back to San Francisco the next day was hair-raising, as highway 395 tops out over 8000' in several places, and the ice and snow from the storm had not yet cleared. We are now experts at chain installation and removal. We are also, unfortunately, pretty good at half-assed chain repair. Which reminds me, I need to get some needle-nose pliers for the car. Never know when we might need 'em.

Many more photos on flickr.

December 30, 2006 4:27 PM