Situated at the end of Lake Mary Road and the Lakes Basin Path, the Horseshoe Lake Trailhead is a popular recreation area and staging point for the Mammoth Pass Trail and Horseshoe Lake Loop. Public transportation via the Town Trolly is available throughout the summer season, including bike trailers for convenient shuttling. Bathrooms, trailhead maps, local information and a large parking area (including spaces for equestrian trailers) makes this a recommended trailhead in the Lakes Basin. With the Mammoth Crest escarpment and the southern flank of Mammoth Mountain as a 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.