
Fish, hike, camp, climb, ride horses, visit hot springs, do whatever, just don't sit still.
About 35 miles north of Mammoth is Bodie, a historic ghost town left over from the 1800s gold mining days (and once one of the largest cities in California!). It's one of the best preservations of life in the Old West and makes a perfect half-day trip.
There are gorgeous lakes to see in this area: Horseshoe Lake, Twin Lakes, Lake Mary, Lake George, Convict Lake and Crowley Lake. See visitmammoth.com for information.
On your way to Yosemite or Bodie, about 30 miles north of Mammoth, you'll hit Mono Lake, where the Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve offers shoreline tours of this ancient sea.
Visit the new Mammoth Ski Museum. Mammothskimuseum.org.
About two hours south of Mammoth is the recently renovated Manzanar Historic Site: nps.gov/manz, where an interpretive center tells the story of the 10,000 Japanese-Americans who were interned there during World War II.