Mammoth

The Friday before Christmas we went to Mammoth with some friends that Brandon grew up with. We've had an abnormally cold and wet winter so far, and there was snow along the freeway as we started heading up out of the valley. Everything was covered in snow most of the way to Mammoth including the high desert areas of Hesperia and Adelanto. Brandon has spent a lot of time in these areas and has never seen snow here before. It was a nice day and Brandon had fun pointing out several areas he's spent riding dirt bikes and hiking in the mountains. We even stopped by Ransburg, an old mining town along Hwy 395. The town looks the same as it did when it was built back during the gold-rush days. We stopped at Kramer Junction at a gas station and Brandon was jealous as there was a KTM club of about 20 riders on enduros that were riding through the desert. They had stopped to eat and get gas and were heading out as we were pulling up. (Jared- Brandon wants to do a Vegas to Reno ride this Spring. He said you better get ready) We also spent a significant amount of time on the drive on the phone with United Airlines. We were trying to cancel some tickets that were fraudulently purchased with the company card by a former employee where Brandon works. Every time we called, we spoke with someone different and consistently received inconsistent responses.

We stayed in a rented condo with about 12 other people. Friday night we hung out and played some games while some of the guys got plastered on Makers and Coke.
I was amazed how much time some of the people there spent playing Rock Band. We spent the night sleeping on a twin bed on the bottom of a bunk bed. Tough night.
We made up for it though the next day and had some awesome runs on the mountain. This was both our first times skiing Mammoth; we had fun exploring around. The lift prices were insanely expensive but we had a lot of fun and the snow and weather was great. We mostly skied alone but met up with some of Brandon's friends for lunch and a last run together before I had to head off the mountain. I had to work Sunday so Brandon drove me down to the Mammoth airport where I caught a Horizon flight to LAX. It was perfect timing as Horizon just started flights out of Mammoth earlier that week. The airport is in the heart of X9A, a hunting zone that Brandon has been able to hunt deer in several times. After he dropped me off, he drove around and saw several does and fawns out in the sage and scrub. He had brought his gun also so he setup in an area he where he had seen a couple coyotes back in September. He was able to call a big one in but was never able to get in a good shot, as the dog was about 350 yards out and was positioned between Brandon and the highway. Brandon loves being outside and still had a great time being in the hills and hiking around.
Brandon spent a couple more days on the mountain and headed home Monday night. He took Sunday off but boarded Monday. It snowed all night Sunday so the mountain was covered in fresh powder on Monday. It was cold, but he had a great day. He and his buddy Fred headed home later that night.