2022 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

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Rolling through Independence, Winnedumah Hotel, est 1927

sprawling Downtown Independence, California

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I just thought it looked cool

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I skipped the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. This was such a cool place I stopped at a year ago.

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First rays of sun coming over the mountains. Deserted roads.

My goal was to reach Crowley Lake

So cool, I was excited, what a view

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Crowley Lake is famous for the Crowley Columns. Bad news is I couldn't get there without a 2 mile hike or a 4WD as it's all dirt roads to get to the trailhead.

On the eastern shore are these unbelievable <natural> columns.

Someday I will make it there.

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Rode to the end of pavement near the lake... Tempting, but no.

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I'm also at an elevation of 6800' and temps are in the 30s.

Roads are dry and clean though.

Another day I'll check out the Crowley Columns

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one more quick pic, super cool place. zero people.

Crowley Lake. Quick clue of what lay ahead was the whitecaps on the lake.

Long Valley Caldera is a local basin resulting from a volcanic explosion so big is covered the western United States in ash.

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A caldera is similar to a sinkhole, essentially a giant hole or depression that results from a volcanic eruption, but on a much larger scale. Magma chambers are large pools of liquid rock beneath the earth’s surface. Calderas like the one we’re riding across are formed by the inward collapse of a volcano. Long Valley Caldera is considered one of the earth’s largest calderas, running 20 miles long and 11 miles wide, creating this broad valley that Benton Crossing Rd flows across. Ash from this eruption 760,000 years ago blanketed much of the western regions of the United States.

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Nearing Mammoth, the wind coming over these peaks was starting to really pick up. My plan was to stop at Hot Creek again.

However, March is a little too early. I had to ride through this giant puddle full of broken ice, but then...

Was stopped short.

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Hot Creek is a super cool place hidden behind the Mammoth Airport I had never heard of it & ridden past it countless times. It's literal. The creek is warmed by magma chambers under the creek. The water is boiling.

This is the photo I wanted to take.

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Best I could do for today of Hot Creek

Parked in soft rocks. Better ease out of these.

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Another attempt via different road. Thwarted again.

Fine, I give.

Mammoth Ski Hill

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Riding over 8000 ft Deadman Summit

Seemed like the perfect opportunity to ride the June Lake Loop, known as the Switzerland of California. This is a short 16-mile loop off the main highway and normally very scenic.

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Switzerland of California

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Wanna guess how this house sized rock estimated at 150-tons got here? Glaciers.

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Nuts. I was a few days early. The road opened up a week later.

Although, I was quite fascinated with the powerhouse right behind me. I rode right in.

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The cable tramway is one of the more interesting things I've researched in writing articles. Cool to be standing on it. Small rail cars are pulled all the way up the mountain side with steel cables.

This tramway is still in use today by the power company to maintain the dams on Agnew & Gem Lake. The steep railway was originally an elevated wooden trestle. In the 1950s, the elevated wooden railway was torn down and the slope back-filled then graded smooth, being completely rebuilt with the tracks on the ground. The incline tram is pulled up the mountainside with a single steel cable powered by an electric motor at the summit at a max grade of 60-degree incline. The steel cable on the Agnew Tram is 1-mile long. Train cars pulled up supplies to build the dams at Agnew Lake and Gem Lake. The lake was name for Theodore C. Agnew, an early settler, and is a glacial lake left behind from the Rush Creek Glacier. A short Y-switchback spur was added in 1953 to allow the tram cars to divert to Agnew Lake Dam.

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June Lake Ski Hill

This area is known for high winds coming over the range. Takes about a 60mph gust to blow over a semi trailer.