Totally Tubular!

{NOTE/March 2, 2023: Due to recent storms, many California parks, or roads leading to them, may be temporarily closed. Check the status and do some research before heading out to any parks in the coming weeks, and visit when it's safe to do so.}

Lift, slide, scream, repeat! For pure winter fun, you can’t beat tubing at Woolly's Tube Park near Mammoth Mountain. It’s all about the simplistic delight of hurtling down a 600-foot-long chute of packed snow on an inner tube. Now, for adults that might sound like a one-trick pony, mainly for kids. But trust us: Yes, kids will repeat the process endlessly, but grown-ups with a love for gravity and speed will have every bit as much fun as the wee ones. If they tucker you out, you can enjoy a draft beer, hot cocoa, or caffeinated drink on the bar’s heated deck.

Woolly’s is streamlined to crank out as much fun—that is, slides per minute—for the most people in the shortest amount of time possible. Hop in your tube and clip into the pulley system and you’re magically transported to the top of the multi-lane slide. Pause for a moment to admire vistas of pine forest and snow-covered mountains. Then you’re in the hands of the “tube boss,” an attendant clad in neon green who will send you hurtling downhill by various techniques (upon request) to a “receiver” at the bottom. Get a straight-ahead push, or get grabbed by the legs and hurled off like a spinning teacup. You can even hold onto a companion’s tube and slide down together like coupled atoms.

If you’re really lucky, you might get to pose for a selfie with the snow park’s mascot—yes, of course: a woolly mammoth.

Follow Main St. (CA-203) west through downtown Mammoth Lakes. Turn right onto Minaret Rd. to stay on CA-203. The tube park is on the right after 2 miles. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (weather conditions permitting). Last tickets are sold at 3:45 p.m. No dogs.