7 min
Overview
If you think sparkling aquamarine lakes and shimmering frosted peaks are the stuff of faraway epic adventures, you’ll be surprised at just how quickly you’re immersed in stunning scenery on this spectacular hike just a short drive from the bustling ski town of Mammoth Lakes, California. Your journey begins at the Duck Pass trailhead (elevation 9,128’), where you’ll find ample parking, flush toilets, garbage cans, and a water spigot. In the summer months, you can take the Lakes Basin Trolley (orange line) from Mammoth Lakes to the Lake Mary Marina. From there, you’d walk east on Around Lake Mary Road, then take a right on Coldwater Creek Campground Road, reaching the trailhead at the bottom of the road in about a mile. The soft, dusty trail follows a stone-lined path to left of the bathrooms where you’ll quickly reach a T-junction – a path to Emerald Lake branches off to the right, but you’ll head left towards Duck Pass, and eventually, Duck Lake. The trail wastes no time racing uphill, so give your quads a pep talk and keep it slow and steady, since you have a sweaty trek ahead. As you move up through thick lodgepole pine forest, you’ll reach the John Muir Wilderness boundary at just under a quarter mile. From here, keep your eyes peeled for breaks in the trees – you’ll be able to make out hulking Mammoth Mountain poking through back to the north, and will eventually start to catch glimpses of reddish cliffs to the east. The area you’re traveling through sits just outside the still active Long Valley Caldera, a volcanic depression caused by an eruption that occurred a mere 760,000 years ago, and the bright color is likely a mixture of rhyolite and basalt dug up from that ancient volcanic activity. As you climb, you’ll start to hear the soothing sound of water flowing far below – that’s Mammoth Creek, which links together the chain of lakes you’re strolling through, and you’re just about to hit the first one! Ignore a use trail at 0.8 mile and look for a fork at the 1-mile mark – if you want to make a detour to
Trail Stats
17.0 km
1009 m
3278 m
2795 m
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