About Horseshoe Lake

At the end of Lake Mary Road and the Lakes Basin Path, with winter access by ski or snowshoe only, Horseshoe Lake is a popular recreation area and staging point for the Mammoth Pass and McLeod Lake trails. With the Mammoth Crest escarpment and the southern flank of Mammoth Mountain as backdrop, the area is further distinguished by more than 100 acres of tree kill; carbon dioxide from cooling magma seeped through the surface after a swarm of small earthquakes hit in 1989-1990. In dry years, as its feeder streams dry up, the lake diminishes dramatically over the summer, leaving expanses of sandy beach to play on.