wasatch and beyond

July 5, 2011

2011 Summer Vacation Roundup

We're back from an EPIC vacation in California. For the last 10 days, we've been skiing, running, mountain biking, and hot-tubbing from Lake Tahoe to Mammoth Lakes.

I have about 400 photos in my picasa galleries, so I'll put the highlights here and link to the full galleries if you are interested in checking them out.

We had incredible weather and completely took advantage... skiing 8 straight days (including some STEEP lines on Mt Tallac and Ellery Bowl)... between running/skiing/biking, I estimated the total vertical gain at around 35,000 feet. So... we earned all the ice cream we ate (and somehow still each lost several percentage points of body weight... ridiculous)! I only ran ~10-11 miles per day the trip, but w/ the altitude (6200-9300 feet) and all the additional activities, it felt like the volume of a 150 mile week!

Here are all of the 2011 Summer Vacation Links, organized by the primary areas we visited:

South Lake Tahoe

North Lake Tahoe

Tioga Pass

Mammoth Lakes

Click on those links to see more pictures and descriptions of our adventures in those areas. On the last day, I also jumped in a road race: Mammoth Lakes Freedom Mile

Some highlights...

Now THAT is what I call a vacation!

Mammoth Lakes

We spent the last three full days of the trip at Mammoth Lakes. If you ever get the chance to go there, do it! There is a reason so many elite athletes live and train there. It is a mecca for running, biking, and skiing. The area also got plastered with some gigantic snowstorms this year, so coverage was superb, even in July!

July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sort of blurred together into a multi-sport extravaganza! We rode bikes at the upper lakes below the crest (which are gorgeous), and did a great mountain bike ride at Inyo Craters. We skied everyday, including a handful of fun, steep chutes. And as the pictures below show - the running was spectacular as well (in addition to lung-burning, since we were staying at the Mammoth Mountain Inn, which is located at 8900 feet of elevation! The views into the Ansel Adams Wilderness (one of our favorite stretches of the JMT that we hiked last year) were mind-blowing.

On July 4th, I ran the local road race (Freedom Mile) before the parade, and then we drove back to Salt Lake City.

I think I can speak for both of us when I say... MAMMOTH LAKES IS THE BEST!!!

June Lake, just north of Mammoth. Running the rolling hills around this lake was a good reminder that 7500 feet feels a lot different than 6000 feet!