Mammoth Hole
A big, fat patch of water. Measuring more than 100 yards in diameter, Mammoth is wide enough to swim laps. There’s a low wall you use as a diving platform, but you’re better off to treat this hole like a nice, friendly lake. It’s open and sunny, a great place to spend the hot part of the day bobbing up and down with your beverage of choice. Unfortunately, there’s little area for lounging. There is a small bench and sand bar on the opposite shore, but you have to swim to get there. Consider bringing an air mattress or innertube even though both are a little bourgeois.
Yours may not be the only flotation device on the river. Small, floating dredges are a popular way to look for gold and several claim operators have formed semi permanent camp up the road at Shenanigan Flat. Since claim operators believe any piece of junk could prove useful in the future, pipe, barrels, tents and tarpaulins create a blight. Nevertheless it can be instructive to stroll through the camp and compare contemporary miners to the ‘49er archetype of a sourdough with a pan and shovel.
Despite the miners, the expectation of privacy is good. Mammoth has a long season since the width of the hole creates a slow current during early high water and the western exposure creates warm, sunny autumn afternoons. Water quality is a little hinky.
Copyright Running Water Press 1997