You couldn't come up with a more apt name than Mammoth Mountain. When hydrologist-turned-resort founder Dave McCoy slapped the Mammoth moniker on his fledgling area back in the late 1940s, he wasn't simply engaging in typical marketing hyperbole.

From the legendary snow packs that extend the ski season into summer to the immense size of the resort itself (3,500 mostly wide-open acres) to the breathtaking panoramic views from the 11,053-foot summit to the sometimes mind-boggling crowds (the one-day on-hill ski season record exceeds 27,000 souls) - everything about the resort is supersized.

Yet, there is a more intimate side to Mammoth, a place where you can get lost amid the many splendors of the High Sierra, and you often can find solitude among nature's grandeur. The best time to discover this is during the non-snow months from May to October. As the well-worn phrase goes: You'll come for the winter, but stay for the summer.

The Mammoth Lakes area, situated in a region of the east-central Sierra that embraces both the alpine and the high-desert zones, is surrounded by summertime diversions that make the winter sports season seem positively stale and limited. From world-renowned fly-fishing streams to highly regarded rock climbing and mountaineering routes, from superb mountain bike terrain to unlimited miles of hiking trails, Mammoth truly lives up to its name for outdoor adventure.

For those of you who prefer a more leisurely pace to your summertime activities, there's plenty of laid-back outings, such as scenic chairlift and gondola rides at the ski resort, challenging golf courses, hot springs, spas and silver mining era ghost towns. Yosemite, nature's own Disneyland, is just a couple of ridges away.

All these outdoor options are good for nourishing the soul, but people also need to fuel their bodies, and Mammoth comes through in the dining department in spades. It seems you can't walk more than 100 yards in downtown Mammoth Lakes without passing one form of eatery or another.

But as with all good things, sometimes you have to go the extra mile to obtain them, and Mammoth is no different. It's a six to seven-hour haul up Highway 395 from the Los Angeles area, and about the same driving time from the Bay Area via Lake Tahoe. There is limited small-plane service into Mammoth airport (which is scheduled to expand to receive regular jet aircraft in the near future), but Reno and its international airport is a three-hour drive north on Highway 395.

The Mammoth area is so vast and the recreation options so numerous that it's tough to figure out where to start.