By Hayden Lane
This past summer, my Fiance Anide, and I loaded up two Hobie Mirage i11's in the van and drove up to Mammoth Lakes. It is a 7 hour drive from San Diego, 6 if you don't stop at Bass Pro Shop in Rancho Cucamonga. With the small inflatable kayaks in the back of the car, the drive was a breeze. No tie downs to check. No height limit to worry about with kayak on the roof while passing through the Starbucks Drive Thru, and no trailer to worry about or slow us down on the long straight Highway 395.
The kayaks stayed safely in the car overnight as we stayed at a small Bed and Breakfast in Mammoth. There are literally dozens of lakes to chose from in the Mammoth Lakes area. We got up early and headed out to Twin Lakes the first day. We parked and had the kayaks out of the bags, inflated, and loaded with our trout fishing gear and snacks in 15 minutes, and were on the water after a short walk to the water with the kayaks on their carts.
The Hobie i11's were easily the coolest water crafts on the lake. The middle of the lake was full of fisherman sitting idly in their float tubes. The day was a beautiful, and hot. The fishermen were sitting in waders, with their legs freezing in the cool mountain water and their upper half steaming in the hot sun. We were sitting in shorts and tee shirts enjoying the day and doing circles around the float tubes on the nimble i11's.
The stable i11s also proved to be an excellent fishing platform. I was able to stand easily and see trout swimming by underneath and cast right in front of them. Anide and I caught and released around a dozen fish. After enjoying the lake for a few hours, we kayaked back to the shore and loaded the kayaks back in their bags and in the van in no time and were off to lunch.
We hiked later that day and were back on the water at Convict Lake the following morning. I can not stress enough how easily and seamlessly these kayaks fitted in with our road trip. It really was the maximum amount of fun, with the minimum amount of hassle.
For more information, give the shop a call. We offer demos on the Hobie i11s daily!