Best Swimming Holes in CA: Cleo’s Bath & A Fake Turkey Sandwich

On July 7th, 2014, I drove from Tahoe to Mammoth and decided to pull out the Swimming Hole Book and see what fun I could get myself into.  I saw that Cleo’s bath was off of 108 east of Sonora and bounced off 395 and headed to the bath.  To my chagrin, Pinecrest Lake, where the trailhead is was much further from 395 than I thought and I finally got to the lake at 7 PM.

Video of Cleo’s Bath.  Skip to 1:11.

The stubborn asshole inside me couldn’t just enjoy the lake and drive back to Mammoth.  Instead, I proceeded to put on my trail running shoes and sprint 2 miles around the lake and a mile and a half up the Stanislaus River.  I am not sure if you have been here before but here’s a picture from the river.  It is absolutely stunning.

I couldn’t hang out long though and had to high tail it down the mountain chasing the sunlight.  Luckily, I got to the bottom of the river just as night fell and was walking around the river, on a dubious trail at that during dusk, when before I knew it, it was completely dark out and I was lost as shit.  About 2 hours later in the pitch black of night I finally stumbled out from the Redwood Trees and found my way onto a highway and made it back to my car at 11 PM.  Thank god there was a convenient store at the parking lot that was just closing so I was able to enjoy a “Turkey” sandwich with turkey, that if dropped, would undoubtedly bounce.

Anyway, I slept in the car and made it to Mammoth this morning.  Figured you’d appreciate that story and I can only imagine the number of stories you have just like that.