A Three Month Smoko: Into Mammoth country

After the madness of YOS, we headed to the area of Mammoth Lakes on the eastern Sierras. Getting there necessitated driving up over the Tioga pass at over 9900ft (3300m - oxygen, anyone?), past some lovely little lakes (which we stopped at for lunch), then down the other side to Mammoth.
Think of Tekapo on steroids, mixed with a bit of Queenstown and the Remarks. Pine trees everywhere; crisp, clean air, and not many people outside of the town. Heaven.
This time we were staying in a condo owned by a mate of Carmen's, who gave us a great rate. The place was palatial, to say the least. We loved it.
We went for a couple of hikes round some lakes, as you do in this country when it's not ski-season. This time, however, we did feel the altitude a bit, huffing and puffing a bit more than usual. So we took it easy and didnt do any long hikes this time round. One of the lakes was called "Convict lake". Nothing to do with Aussies..haha. It was so-named after a shootout in the 1800's between three escaped convicts and a pursuing posse. One of the posse was killed and the convicts escaped (later recaptured and hanged). The thing that struck me about this area was just how similar to South Canterbury or parts of Otago it looked. A lot more granite rocks, sure, but still has schist-type rocks, shingle slides etc. Apart from the different trees, it looked like it could hold Tahr, Chamois or Wallabies! However, this was Black Bear country, so we had to be noisy when we walked to avoid scaring one. Our heads were on a swivel as we walked, keeping a wary eye out, just in case....quite a bit different to tramping in NZ, where nothing can eat you, eh?