Beaver Ponds

Yes, we've done this hike every year. No, we've never seen the beavers. This is prime bear country and the beavers can be seen at dawn or dusk which means you have to hike in the dark for 2 miles to get to see them...maybe. We'll just assume they are alive and well and living in the pond named after them.



We did this hike for the butterflies that we heard were all over the flowers. For starters, we've never seen a fraction of the flowers on this hike as there were this year. There were plenty of butterflies that Bob was able to get pictures of.










He also got a few more flower pictures and then there's the scenery of course.













There was quite a bit of this flower along the way. It is called Bull Thistle.












Just to prove the "bear point," this is a log that had bear claw marks all along it. It isn't the only one we saw. Fortunately, this is a very safe hike due to the constant traffic on the trail...in the daytime!









There are 4 ponds in the Beaver Pond loop. This is the first as you hike in from Mammoth. The  water has been low and scummy in past years. The water was pretty and cleaner which is evidence of more snow melt this past spring.







Here is pond #2. It still has the scum on it, however, still not as bad as in past years. The 3rd pond was as bad as ever. It didn't get the clean up your act memo!











There was quite the field of flowers before getting to the actual beaver pond. This flower is Alpine Forget Me Not. They grow in groups as a rule but since it is later in the season, all but a few were gone.









This is the Common Paintbrush.













Here is the Goldenbanner.











And this is Yarrow. It starts out white and turns a lovely pink/orange color before going to seed.












Here we have Red Baneberry. A bear berry. Hiking through a field of this stuff can be quite nerve racking...(What was that sound?...I don't know, walk faster).








Here is Beaver Pond. It had some ducks on it. This was our view for lunch. Not bad even if no beavers were about.











Well look at that, the hand/side railing just fell off. Actually, it was in really bad shape last year, the winds or something helped it to fall into the creek below. This log is very sturdy, about a foot wide and nice and flat, still I was not happy having to cross it.






Here is a shot of the mountains east of the ponds. This is the last 2 mile 'leg' of the hike. Again, you can see the smoke infiltration.

The mountain in the foreground is Everts Mountain. That's the goal for this year.








There is one last copse of trees below the trail as we near the final mile in. We spotted a small herd of maybe 7-8 elk down below resting in the shade.









And here is the view of Mammoth as we close in on the end. Even though it is a common hike, close in and heavily trafficked, it has a lot of pretty vistas and is a good way to re-acclimate to the altitude.