THIS VIEW

I often ask myself what truly brings me solitude.

In my mind, happiness and solitude sometimes do not go together. Happiness is a feeling while solitude is a location. A place you can hang out at for a bit without pondering your next move or some list you need to tackle.

Looking out the window of a car and seeing nothing synthetic or structural, only mountains in the background and nature in the foreground.

That to me is pure solitude. You’re going somewhere yet your destination is a blank canvas. Very few things can easily provide that feeling quite like the mountains.

After 6 months of the Covid Circus with no definitive end in sight, I decided to go search for some solitude in the place I know it exists.

Getting away doesn’t always have to be Far.

Escaping to the mountains doesn’t always entail a cumbersome travel itinerary. Sometimes it’s as easy as a 4 hour drive.

Mammoth Mountain is roughly 300 miles outside of Los Angeles. It’s a world renowned ski resort due to its heavy snowfall measurements and proximity to the city, but during the summer is really when it showcases it’s talents.

If you feel the need to experience some fresh air, ignore your emails and get in touch with nature just hop in your car and go.

The reason we came up here besides the getaway was to Mountain Bike.

Mammoth is home to some of the best and most challenging man-made bike trails in the country. The same team that builds and maintains their ski runs and terrain parks in the winter, puts in equal effort to make some amazing and sometimes insane bike park obstacles in the summer.

The Mountains are a safe place to expand your horizons.

Regardless of your stance on guns, there’s nothing more fun than going to the shooting range. It’s a great way to hone your strength and challenge your focus.

If you’ve never shot before, mammoth is a great place to try it for the first time. There’s endless open area and ranges to safely do it and many places to find an expert to take you if you don’t have your own equipment.

We chose to go at sunset and close out a great day of riding.

Always remember to shoot in a safe place, using your own or properly registered equipment and doing so with experts present. My friends are enthusiasts who take great pride in ensuring their equipment is perfect and the safety at the range is flawless.

Can’t go to the outdoors without a little off-roading.

My fiends and I love having fun. Almost to a fault. Of all the things we do nothing brings more of a smile to our faces than taking the trucks to places normal vehicles won’t survive.

In the area around Mammoth there are 100’s of miles of open trails and land that you can safely explore with a 4 wheel drive truck of any size.

Our vehicle of choice, Ford Raptors.

When traveling out to these harsh areas, always remember to take it easy and have safe communication devices in case you get stuck.