Mammoth Lakes

MAMMOTH LAKES - The people of this small High Sierra ski town have survived drought, forest fires and earthquakes. They have endured economic recessions and volcano scares. But nothing in their history prepared them for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The DWP launched a legal attack six months ago for control of the city's primary source of water, Mammoth Creek, which tumbles down the slopes through town. The utility contends it has owned the water since 1905 and Mammoth Lakes has been poaching for decades.

MAMMOTH LAKES  -- Yordanos Keflezighi and her shopping cart made it just a few steps down the supermarket aisle before they were stopped by another shopper. "Oh, you're Meb's wife," the woman said, more a declaration than a question. Keflezighi politely nodded. "Yes," she said. "Yes I am. " Then, out of the woman's earshot, she added an explanation. "Process of elimination. It's very unlikely to see African Americans here," she said of Mammoth Lakes, which counts just four dozen African Americans among its nearly 7,000 year-round residents.

Now it snows? After a disappointing winter for snow sports, Mammoth and Lake Tahoe are bracing for wintry storms during the Memorial Day weekend. In Mammoth, the forecast for Friday is for an 80% chance of snow, with accumulations of a couple of inches overnight. Saturday's forecast calls for a 40% chance of snow, with skies drying out Sunday and Monday. Highs by Monday were expected to reach into the 60s. The ski area still has a base of 10-36 inches. Lifts still operating include Broadway, Facelift, Thunderbound and Chair 23. The Upper and Lower Panorama gondola will reopen for scenic rides and skiers this weekend.

MAMMOTH LAKES - On the banks of a jutting little river, I'm trying to think like a trout thinks: Did I pay the mortgage on time? When do the Kings play next? Whatever happened to that sassy Helen Hunt? No, wait, those are my thoughts. Then, WHAM, something takes the lure and I'm officially a fly fisherman. Constantly looking for an activity where my deficiencies aren't quite so apparent, something outdoors where I don't have to run a lot, or strip down to my skivvies, or maintain eye contact for more than a moment, I am drawn now to fly fishing, not so much a sport as a Christopher Guest movie.

Reporting from Mammoth Lakes -- Meb Keflezighi has been to the mountaintop. And he liked it so much he decided to buy a house there. That was 11 years, three daughters, one American record and an Olympic medal ago. Now Keflezighi is as comfortable at high altitude as the Abominable Snowman — and that, he says, is what made a lot of those other things possible. "We had a vision to be able to change U.S. distance running by coming here," says Keflezighi, the Olympic trials marathon champion and a medal hopeful at this summer's Games in London.

Reporting from Mammoth Lakes -- It's been more than two years since Morgan Uceny's first visit to the high altitude of Mammoth Lakes. But that impression still lingers. "Just walking up the stairs was really tiring," remembers Uceny, who immediately began questioning her fitness and her sanity. But she stuck it out and was rewarded last summer with one of the best seasons by a U.S. middle-distance runner in nearly three decades, setting lifetime bests of 4:00.06 at 1,500 meters — best in the world in 2011 and making her the sixth-fastest American of all-time — and 1:58.37 at 800 meters.

Dr. Andrew Bourne seemed to have it all: A loving family, a successful surgical practice in Mammoth Lakes, a mountain home where he could ski with friends or plunge into the wild with his dog, Oreo. He even had time to volunteer; he served on the local school board and last year organized his sixth foreign medical mission, this one to an impoverished town in Mexico. Last month, Bourne's world caved in. On Jan. 4, he was arrested, along with another Mammoth Lakes man, on suspicion of sexual crimes involving a teenage girl.

Tamarack Lodge & Resort Cross Country Ski Center, 163 Twin Lakes Road, Mammoth Lakes; (760) 934-2442, http://www.tamarack?lodge.com/Ski_Center . Full-day snowshoe and pole rental, $27 for adults, $23 for children; afternoon rental, $23 and $19. Expansive, on-site areas for snowshoeing. ? Kittredge Sports, 3218 Main St., Mammoth Lakes; (760) 934-7566; http://www.kittredgesports.com . Full-day snowshoe rental, $14; half-day (five hours), $10. Rentals are by shoe size.

Mom: "OK, let's go. Time to try something different - we're going snowshoeing this afternoon. " Teenager 1: "Huh? Why?" Teenager 2: "I'm not walking on waffle feet, no. " Mom: "Great, here we go. " Surprise! Snowshoeing is actually fun. Good, inexpensive, diversionary fun. If you have kids, you've been there too. Despite excellent early-season snow (it was mid-November) and some great mornings boarding and skiing on the half-dozen open lifts at Mammoth (followed by substantial portions of home-cooked meals shoveled into waiting jaws)

In Mammoth Lakes , it's all downhill for me now, and that's a good thing. No, I'm not talking about the skiing. Nor am I referring to the town itself, which appears to be doing fine despite the economic slowdown. Or even Mammoth Mountain's extensive bike park, which lets you swap your skis or snowboard for a mountain bike and get your kicks all summer long. As a frequent visitor to Mammoth, both winter and summer, I've never found myself at a loss for things to do. But when it comes to cycling, this middle-aged rider has been wishing lately for something a bit, say, tamer.