My summer at Reds Meadow

Yes, I know it has been forever since I last wrote, but I had a busy busy summer with slow internet so didn't even try to get into my blog to write! But I will update you on my summer and what is coming next in my life.

Summer in CA was great. Mammoth is my "home away from home" and I always have a hard time leaving it. I got maybe 4 days off total throughout the 2.5 months I was there, and worked hard enough to lose 12lbs, but it was worth it with the amazing crew I worked with, and the animals I have grown up with. The season started off with the Spring Horse Drive, where we herded all 93 animals (horses and mules) from Bishop, CA to Mammoth Lakes, a total of 45 miles. It took 3 days, where we stayed in 2 different camps. It was the most fun I had had in a long time. I stuck in the front line where people dressed to me with a mule named Emma, and the front line kept the rest of the herd from escaping ahead of us. Then people along the sides and back would keep the herd from escaping out of the sides and behind.

The rest of the summer I spent as a dayride guide for the horseback rides out of Reds Meadow. I took out 2-hour rides, half-day rides and full-day rides into the backcountry. The country is beautiful and I can never get enough of the scenery there. (Click on the pic to enlarge.)


I was able to go on one pack-trip this summer to Thousand Island Lake for 2 nights with some of my closest friends, Bryce and Jake (Bryce was the packer and Jake was the trail cook). It was nice to get out of the pack-station for a few days and camp with some pretty great people in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
3 of the 4 of my days off I spent hiking or relaxing by a lake with a good book, but one I spent with some old friends that I worked with at Devils Postpile National Monument in 2006 (see first 2 pics below). We went to see the ghost town of Bodie, and to Convict Lake, both within 45 miles from Mammoth.








All in all I had a wonderful summer that went by far too quickly. I made some new friends I think I will be very close to for a long time, and saw things I had never been able to see before. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as planned, but alas, there is always next year.