SW AH-050 Twin Lakes in the Mammoth Lakes Basin, California

This postcard has the words “Mammoth Lakes” in the front.  This name could refer to the Mammoth Lakes Basin or the nearby town of Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Most lakes in the Mammoth Lakes Basin and many of the other 100+ nearby lakes were scooped out by glaciers. The Basin is a large glacial cirque basin that was carved by the grinding movement of glacial ice and rocks entrained within the ice. The lakes in the lower basin, including Lake Mary, Lake George and Horseshoe Lake, fill depressions in glacial moraine deposits. The lakes in the upper basin, including Duck Lake, Shelton Lakes and Deer Lakes, fill depressions in the underlying bedrock from metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that were scooped out by glaciers. The lakes are only accessible during the summer months.

The lowest in the chain of lakes are Twin Lakes (Elevation 8,540 ft. / 2,602 m).  They are located three miles (4.8 km) from the town of Mammoth Lakes.  This postcard shows the view from Lake Mary Road at the top of Twin Falls.  Twin Falls tumbles 300 feet (91 metres) into Upper Twin Lake.

There are camping sites at five lakes of the Mammoth Lakes Basin and many visitors come to this area for outdoor recreation as well as sight-seeing.  There seems to be general agreement among visitors that Twin Lakes offer the most scenic view.

I received this postcard (24 April 2014) from Maria Garcia (Swap-bot).