Hiking in Mammoth Lakes

epetti

I just bought a new camera -- the Canon Powershot S5 IS. The next day I headed off to Mammoth Lakes to do two long hikes up there. Took lots of pictures, and thought I'd share a few.



The first hike was 15 mile round trip starting at Devil's Postpile and going to Minaret Lake at the base of the Minarets, a series of jagged mountains in the Sierra Nevadas.



There were plenty of stream crossings and waterfalls along the way including this one, where I was testing out the panorama photo stitch on the camera.

And below was our first view of the Minarets, still a ways away.



We travelled through forests, lush green meadows, and up mountains.



This particular tree struck out as being an odd win with its twisted yellow bark:



I got a chance to test out the full 12x zoom on the camera with these two pictures:





Our final destination was a gorgeous little island in the middle of a mountain lake surrounded on all sides by mountains:







I also got a chance to make good use of the articulated LCD display to get some low to the ground shots like this one:



The second day we did an "easy" hike -- an 8 mile loop around about 20 lakes off of the Tioga Pass entry to Yosemite, starting at Saddlebag Lake and ending at Shamrock Lake, and then back. Gorgeous day made for some great pictures.









I also had a chance to try out the macro mode. It claims that super macro can go down to 0 cm. I didn't get quite that close, but got some great macro pictures.





Summer wildflowers were blooming all along the trail, even in the rockiest sections (and there were some very rocky sections), which made it almost impossible to take a bad picture.





Some more of my favorites from the lake hike:













It was a fantastic experience with gorgeous weather and scenery, and great food (no pictures of that). Full the full gallery with lots more pictures, check them out here:

http://epetti.smugmug.com/gallery/3241939

I'd love any comments or thoughts. Hope I didn't post too many pictures. :-)

Ernie

Awais Yaqub

These are great photos and congrats for your new cam
enjoying your gallery

ian408

The Eastern Sierra is one purty place!

DId you swing by the bakery in Mammoth???

epetti

Which bakery would that be? We went to "The Good Life Cafe" for breakfast, a great barbecue place called Angel's for dinner, the must stop of the Mobil Restaurant -- Whoa Nelly Deli just at the junction of Tioga Pass near Yosemite the second day. That's the best restaurant out there, easily. And then stopped at Schott's Bakery in Lone Pine on the way back. That's a great bakery. I know there's another one in Mammoth named the same thing but I believe it's a different owner, and the one in Lone Pine is the original and really, really good bread.

Ernie

ian408 wrote:

The Eastern Sierra is one purty place!

DId you swing by the bakery in Mammoth???

ian408

Shott's in Mammoth. I think they might have been the same family some time back. Either one is really good.

What'd you get at Whoa Nelly? I had the Fish Tacos with Mango Chutney last time :drool

ian408

This is what I had...

epetti

Still waiting to get the pictures from one more person who was on the hike, and he has all the food pics. I got the pistachio-encrusted lamb. Others of us got the halibut, the wild elk, and the world famous fish tacos you show in your picture.

Oh, and I think I made a mistake with Schatt's. I believe it's in Bishop, not Lone Pine.

ian408 wrote:

This is what I had...