Mammoth is the only place we were staying for one night, so we had to get our exploring done before lunch. I had hoped to hire mountain bikes to try out the world famous bike park at Mammoth Mountain, but it had closed for 2015 the previous weekend – annoying. Instead we took the car up the mountain, first calling in at the earthquake fault, which isn’t an earthquake fault, but just a fissure in the earth’s surface – still impressive though. At 9,000 feet above sea level we struggled with walking in the thin air. Our next stop was Devil’s Postpile, a geological formation of basalt columns, thankfully lower down in the valley as there was a half mile hike in from the car park. A further two miles down the trail is Rainbow Falls, pictured above, which we continued on to. The forest is still recovering from a fire in 1992, so there was plenty of young growth on the ground – perfect for chipmunks to scurry around in, we enjoyed watching them as we walked through the forest.

Hiking done, we returned to Mammoth for more Mexican food at the Good Life Cafe before getting in the car and driving to Yosemite. Our route took us over the Tioga Pass, at 9,945 feet above sea level, with stunning views from each corner. The beautiful scenery and great roads continued all the way to our hotel at Wawona at the south end of Yosemite national park.