This past weekend Claire and I went on a Mammoth trip up to… Mammoth. Joining us in our car was our new road tripping buddy, Aman. I could tell you all about the weekend which was filled with friends in a cabin, some serious snowboarding, at which I’ve gotten much better but Claire still kills me down the mountain. But no, this post is about the Epic Road Trips that it took to get to Mammoth and back.

The drive there had us go nearly to South Lake Tahoe, dip through Nevada and drive 30 miles an hour at times because of slight snow on the roads. Total time to get to Mammoth, including stops for dinner, chains, gas and my small bladder, was 8 hours. This would normally be a 5 - 6 hour drive. The moon was out, shining full and bright, reflecting of the fresh fallen snow.

*insert weekend here*

So we wake up Sunday morning and it has snowed two (2) feet over night. The cars have snow up to the windows, thus making a quick getaway not so quick. After a few hours of Mike Nowak and Claire digging out the cars, and Aman and I putting on our chains, we finally begin our journey home.

The thing is, the roads are closed going the “fast” way home, which is north, which is the way we came in, which was not so fast. So we go south, very south. Bishop, Independence, California City. This drive is incredible; you drive between Yosemite and Death Valley pretty much the whole way until you head west.

West: Edwards air force base, Tehachapi, North: Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced. West: Livigston, North: up the 5 and back to the Bay area. Whole trip home: 10 hours.

The first nine (9) miles took us one (1) hour in the snow with our chains on. This really was an Epic Road Trip: Aman had hurt his arm skiing so Claire and I took the shifts, napping and red-bulling. I took some video of the day in timelapse and when I get the chance I’ll throw a little video together.

P.S. California is a huge state. It felt like we circled all of California, and we only circled central California.