Camping in Mono Lake Tips/Suggestions?

I won't be camping IN Mono Lake, but in the area around Lee Vining obviously, but was curious if any of you had any prior experience with the area. Looking at going in a month so I figure weather should be pretty nice. The plan is to head out early on a Thurs and come back on Sun.

Basically, looking for tips on things like good campsites or campgrounds, bear stuff, mosquitoes, anything about the area really that might be useful. Going to be bringing my bike and camera and just tooling around for the most part.

I am heading up to Mammoth Lakes tomorrow (Thurs). Never camped in the Mono Lake area, I would just head up to Lake George and camp up there. Now that school is back in session it should be pretty wide open, or even head over to Yosemite, or maybe go over to Bodie and sleep in one of buildings that is falling over.

Fishing? That has huge bearing on where you want to go up there.

I heard the fishing at Mono lake is great, just be patient.

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Originally Posted by Birdman

Fishing? That has huge bearing on where you want to go up there.

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Possibly. I could but it's also not a big deal to me. Was looking at some of the campsites around June Lake and read some decent things about the fish in that area. Though, I haven't checked any recent reports.

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Originally Posted by SmytheKing

I won't be camping IN Mono Lake, but in the area around Lee Vining obviously, but was curious if any of you had any prior experience with the area. Looking at going in a month so I figure weather should be pretty nice. The plan is to head out early on a Thurs and come back on Sun.

Basically, looking for tips on things like good campsites or campgrounds, bear stuff, mosquitoes, anything about the area really that might be useful. Going to be bringing my bike and camera and just tooling around for the most part.

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Whatever you do, don't pee in Mono Lake. That's water that supplies the City of LA, and we'd be drinking your whiz. No thanks!

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Originally Posted by daxx

Whatever you do, don't pee in Mono Lake. That's water that supplies the City of LA, and we'd be drinking your whiz. No thanks!

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I'm not THAT big a fan of recycling.

If you like creek fishing, try the campsites like Big Bend along Lee Vining Creek on Poole Power Plant Rd. That road is just off the 120 hwy as you are heading into Yosemite and not too far away from the Mobil station.

The bad news is that there are a ton of mosquitos and you may see bears down there. The good news is that it is really pretty, it's quiet, and the fishing is great.

If you want more of lake fishing, horseback riding and hiking areas, I would camp somewhere in the June Lake loop instead.

I keep reading "Lee Vining" as "Lee Ving."

I was just in Mammoth a couple weeks ago, fishing with my kids. After having nominal success in the Mammoth area, we spent an extra hour and drove North to Bridgeport. When I was a kid, we would camp at the "Twin Lakes" area every year (12 miles outside of Bridgeport - NOT to be confused with the Mammoth Twin Lakes). It's beautiful and has a ton of campgrounds along Robinson Creek, which comes out of the Lower Twin Lake. Both lakes have been called "bottomless" because nobody's been able to figure out how deep they are. They were created by a Glacier a longgg time ago.

Good luck and have fun!