Laurel Lakes Mammoth Lakes Laurel Creek Sherwin 4x4 Trails Eastern Sierra Nevada Mono County California

4x4 Trails:
Laurel Creek, Sierra Nevada Range, Mono County
(near Mammoth Lakes, California)

Hey! Want to pack a picnic, jump in the 4x4, four-wheel a few miles and enjoy some good food amidst alpine splendor at nearly 10,000 feet? Laurel Canyon and lakes might be just your ticket!

This road is a short jaunt from Mammoth Lakes, California, and offers some beautiful alpine scenery and relative solitude, especially mid-week. It's a great place for a picnic on a whim if you happen to be in or around Mammoth. The road is not technically challenging yet rough enough to require high clearance and 4x4. The scenery is the main thing on this road – it is stunning! So grab a deli sandwich at Vons (or Subway or even from your own kitchen) and head for the high country!

From downtown Mammoth Lakes, you can reach the turnoff to Laurel Lakes via Sherwin Creek Road. This road branches off Old Mammoth Road as it makes it sharp turn from north-south to east-west, just south of the Vons shopping center and The Stove restaurant. It is 3.9 miles from the junction of Sherwin Creek Road and Old Mammoth Road to the road to Laurel Lakes. The road to the lakes is well signed as Inyo National Forest Route 4S86, and that it is legal to use your motorcycle and ATV on this route. Another sign indicates that it is 4.5 miles to the very shoreline of Upper Laurel Lakes; and high clearance vehicles are recommended (I measure 4.7 miles to the end of the road at Upper Laurel Lake on the topographic map).

You can also access Laurel Canyon via Sherwin Creek Road at its junction with US395, 1.3 miles south of the junction of CA203 to Mammoth. Sherwin Creek is a bladed and maintained road and suitable for all vehicles.

This route, due to its scenic value and proximity to Mammoth Lakes, can be somewhat busy; especially on weekends. Each time I've been up the route I've always had company in the form of fishermen at Upper Laurel Lake, dirt bikes, ATVs and other 4x4s. During the week your chances of finding some solitude increase.

The road itself poses no problem normally. Some rocks litter the route on the lower portion as it climbs the moraine at the canyon's mouth. There is generally some soft portions and erosion of the route in here also. After the road reaches the meadow, it turns to hardpack again, then to hard packed shale and granular granite the remainder of the way.

After leaving the meadows, the road zig-zags through two sets of switchbacks up the side of the mountain, although the path is wide, stable and if heights doesn't bother you there are no problems tackling this section. The views – especially on the trip back out – are superb in the switchback section.

As the route tops out above Upper Laurel Lake, there is one very sharp switchback that nearly doubles back on itself. In my Toyota Tacoma, it required a two-point turn to reverse my direction; and the road dropped off sharply around this kink. A large pickup or SUV will require a bit of wiggling and maybe some help spotting to get around this turn.

After this minor obstacle, the road drops steeply down to the very shoreline of the uppermost lake of the two Laurel Lakes. The shoreline is rather rocky but otherwise there is plenty of room to set up a spot to fish or camp around this medium size lake.

Roger Mitchell, in his book “HIGH SIERRA SUV TRAILS: VOLUME 1 – THE EAST SIDE” will describe in detail the flora and fauna, history, as well as the spectacular geology of this route; and will make a handy take along guide for your travel up Laurel Canyon.

Update September 2005: On the lower portion of the route, between Sherwin Creek Road and the meadows, the trail has been hit by thunderstorm activity and heavy runoff in mid-August. There are some deep cuts in the road in places and more rock in the roadway.

©2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 D.A. Wright
All Rights Reserved

Page Revised: 07/28/2008