Lakes Basin lament
Locals, visitors frustrated by Memorial Day closures.
To say that Mammoth Lakes Town Councilman John Eastman was disappointed by closures in the Lakes Basin over Memorial Day weekend would be a serious understatement.
He was irate.
“We’re spending millions of dollars in marketing our town. For them [the United States Forest Service] to keep things closed unnecessarily not only sends the wrong message, it alienates our guests.”
Among other things, Horseshoe Lake was gated off, the Old Mammoth Road connector to the Lakes Basin was gated off, and the campgrounds were closed, other than the Lakes Basin campground being partially open.
Reporter Katie Vane spoke to Mammoth’s District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge this week to ask about the closures:
“This is an earlier change in the weather, so to speak, and we were running around doing lots of things, including fixing plumbing systems in Reds Meadow so we could open that, which did open over the weekend.
These are very old systems; they were built at a time when we were better funded [in the 1960’s and 1970’s]. We haven’t had the funding to do big upgrades [since].”
As a result, “As it turns out, there are some leaks in the water line supply in Horseshoe, and we were unable to get those bathrooms running, and so we chose to leave the gate closed … We do our best to get all of the water out of the lines in winter, but we tend to have problems with the pipes freezing
We are also having problems with the water systems in other parts of the [Inyo National] Forest as well, such as Bishop and Big Pine.”
As for Old Mammoth Road, “Old Mammoth Road had not yet been swept; our crews were unable to get to that with the other work they had been doing … the gates swung open on Old Mammoth Road yesterday [May 28] afternoon.
Being an early season, we simply didn’t have the ability to get everywhere just yet. But Twin Lakes campground was open, as well as, I believe Sherwin Creek and Shady Rest, and all of the day use areas, with the exception of Horseshoe, were open in the Lakes Basin. In fact, I recreated in the Lakes Basin myself.”
(Ed note: Vane recreated there as well, biking up to Horseshoe on Memorial Day, and was asked by an out-of-towner if she had any toilet paper so the visitor’s son could use the bathroom, as the restrooms were closed.)
“Horseshoe we’re hoping to open as soon as possible, maybe by next weekend, but I haven’t heard an update on how the repairs to the waterlines are going.
“It’s a struggle every year. We do our best to be ready for the peak summer season. When summer starts early or winter ends late is when we have this kind of challenge,” concluded Regelbrugge.
At the County Supervisor candidate forum on Thursday, however, Eastman elaborated upon his displeasure. About the closure of Old Mammoth Road, Eastman said that the Forest Service likes to sweep all the roads before they open. When Eastman offered the Town’s sweepers, the Forest Service told him they “need more notice than two days, give us more like two months,” according to Eastman.
As to the Horseshoe Lake bathrooms, when Eastman suggested 4 blue-tops from Mammoth Disposal, he was told, “Oh yeah. We didn’t think about it.”
“It was a can’t-do attitude not a can-do one,” he said.
Eastman also said that the campground hosts are already in place for the summer, but the campgrounds remained closed to the public, excluding the lower Twin Lakes campground, which was open for the holiday. According to Eastman, this gave tourists the message, “You’re not welcome. We’re not ready for you. Everyone who saw that was confused.”
The reasoning he was given on this score was that according to the concessionaire contracts, campgrounds are supposed to open once conditions permit (a loose and rather arbitrary definition), so Eastman was apparently told by Regelbrugge that the Forest Service can’t force the concessionaires to open.
Eastman didn’t buy it.
“You should have total control [of when campgrounds open] based upon the verbiage you require in the contract.”
