Trail & Snow Conditions: Lake Mary Road to Lake George, Lake Barnett and TJ Lake

Yesterday (11/29/15), I hiked in the Mammoth Lakes Basin area, starting at the Lake Mary Road Closure near Twin Lakes. I will post a trip report later, but here are my observations regarding snow/trail conditions, as well as some pictures.

• The section of Lake Mary Road that I walked had decent coverage, except for the area where the road gets close to the lake. There were a few spots of pavement showing.
• Much of the area around Lake George and up to TJ Lake (I loosely followed the trail), has at least 12” of snow, with some areas having up to 2 feet.
• On my off-trail route between Lake Barnett and Lake Mary Road, I found sections that had 2-3 feet of snow, if not more.
• From the road closure until the off-trail route to Lake George, I used Hillsound Trail PRO Crampons instead of snowshoes (magenta line on the map). The parking lot was very slippery and I figured the Hillsounds would work better with the conditions than microspikes, and would also be much lighter on my feet than my snow shoes.
• I used my Tubbs Flex VRT snowshoes from the beginning of my off-trail route to Lake George, up to TJ Lake, down to Lake Mary and for part of the Lake Mary Road (green line on map). The snowshoes were very helpful for the entirety of this section, except for the road (red line on map). Since the temperature had risen significantly, my boots had plenty of traction on their own.

It was very cold (3 degrees F, when I started my hike), so it was an excellent opportunity to test some of my winter gear. I got some great first-hand experience with my Tubbs FLEX Vertical Snowshoes, Minus33’s Kodiak Expedition Full Zip Hoody and Hillsound Trail PRO Crampons in particular. I’ll post more info on my gear, as well as the hike itself, in an upcoming trip report.

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