MAMMOTH effort

THIS AWESOME PART OF CALIFORNIA HAS TO BE SEEN TO BE BELIEVED...

- Fiona Connolly

It's a dry, warm day on the streets of Mammoth Lakes and we're surrounded by snow-capped mountains. It's hard to believe that at this time of year locals can be skiing in the morning and mowing their lawns of an afternoon.

Such is the beauty of this ski town in summer - a magical natural playground for hikers, mountain bike riders and families camping, fly-fishing for trout and canoeing in the crisp, rocky lakes at the foothills of some of the most magnificent mountain ranges on earth the Sierra Nevadas.