June lake loop (~35 miles)
I did this ride on 05/17/08 after the Marine Warfare Training Center 5k. It was just a fun ride to see the area...I race in the morning then ate lunch in Lee Vining and parked on the road just past the Mono Lake viewing area (which I visited later in the day). So the route was basically up the 395 to the top of the June lake loop, past the three big lakes (June, Silver, and Grant), then back to the car.
The climb up the 395 wasn't that bad...there was a nice shoulder and a nice tailwind. From a distance, it looked like June Lake still had lots and lots of snow.
I made the right onto the loop and a couple of mile down the road I took a right onto Northshore drive which cuts around the far side of June lake. About a mile along Northshore, I took a left to get beach access and I was able to ride right up to the lake edge. The water was pretty cold, but quite beautiful. There were a *lot* of boaters for such a small lake, but I imagine that it only gets worse as the summer goes on.
East shore of June lake looking WSW
Continuing along Northshore, the road merges back into the June Lake loop right around the parking lot for June Lake ski resort. It's hard to believe that I was skiing here only a few months ago. No matter what the resort looked like from the 395, there was not a patch of snow to be seen on the lower runs. Don't worry...I'll be back when it snows again! The next big lake is Silver lake. It was a bit narrower than June lake, but the mountain behind it was beautiful.
North shore of Silver lake looking S
Me by Silver lake
At this point, the scenery became less tree-y and more scrub-y. The upper reaches of Grant lake were dry (we had an average rain year in the central Sierras but one of the driest Mar-Apr-May stretches on record). Grant lake as a whole was the largest of the lakes but if was not nearly as scenic. The marina looked like it had just been moved down a bit (as the lake water level was so low) and it looked more like a speedboat/jetski lake than the fishing lakes of June and Grant.
North shore looking S
Then, it was a breezy (headwind) downhill ride back to the 395 and then to the car. After I loaded the bike in the car, I drove down a dirt road to the Mono lake rock viewing area and here's my best shot of the iconic Mono lake tufa spires. It was definitely a long day and by the time I got to the Motel 6 in Mammoth, I was completely exhausted. A quick pita at the Pita pit and it was time to hit the sack so I could get up early for some Tele on Sunday.
Mono lake