Beaver Pond Loop

I headed towards Mammoth on my day off yesterday in search of a trail with little enough snow to be hikable. The "beaver pond loop" starts and finishes near the Mammoth Hotel. The hotel is closed for the season now so I had the trail all to myself. It climbed up above the hotel area for some nice views of the Gardner river canyon.
It then wound in and out of Douglas fir stands to a series of beaver ponds. This one was the largest of the ponds. Two dams were visible creating a large upper and small lower pond.


The route back was though a high sagebrush covered plateau. At one point I came across this herd of elk. Right after I took their picture they realized I was there and all went running off. I tried to assure them that they could safely stay bedded down but they weren't convinced.