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Celebrating our 93rd year, the Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit is Mammoth's oldest continuously operated business. In 1915, Charles and his son Lloyd Summers began a pack operation at their hotel, store, livery and ranch in Mammoth Camp in Old Mammoth with a second and current site located near Lake Mary. The current owner of Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit, John Summers, is the grandson of Lloyd Summers. In 1915 and the years after the Summers Family transported people and supplies using a pack train of mules and horses across the Sierras to and from Mammoth City and Fresno Flats. When the road was constructed to Red's Meadows and Agnew Meadows they expanded their operations by opening pack stations at those sites. These were later sold to Arch Mahn.

Lloyd and Sybil Summers and their sons operated the pack station for many years. Not surprising, Lloyd passed away while leading a horse out of the corral. Lloyd's son, Lee (shown to the left) took over the family business in 1945. In 1960 Lee sold the business to Lou & Marye Roeser. Lou had worked for Lee at the pack outfit where he had learned the business. Lou and Marye grew the Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit to one of the largest full service pack outfits in the area. They began expanding by offering a variety of multi-day Pack Trips, Daily Trail Rides and the popular Horse Drives to and from the winter pastures in the Owens Valley.

In 1998 Lou sold the business to John Summers. John was glad to be back at the pack station where he spent his summers until he was 12 years old learning the packing and outfitting business from his father, Lee Summers. It had been his dream to be back in Mammoth at the Mammoth Lakes Pack Outfit providing recreational horseback vacations into the same High Sierra country and trails his father, grandfather and great granfather had traveled and worked before him. John is continually working to keep the back country wilderness open for those people who have traveled, camped and recreated there with horses and mules in the years past as well as those who want to be able to travel there in the future.

The Summers family has a rich heritage in the Eastern Sierra region. They first appeared in the region in the 1860's. Jesse N Summers was married to Alney McGee's daughter, Mahulda. The McGee's were ranchers in Round Valley (Pleasant Valley) and later homesteaded a large portion of Long Valley with holdings of about 18,000 acres. They were once one of the largest land owners in the region. Jesse N Summers was the uncle of Charles Frank Summers. Charlie Summers family crossed the plains to California in 1852 and Charlie was born in Tuolumne County, California. In 1886 Charlie Summers resided in Benton but was also listed in the Inyo County Register that same year as living in Bishop with the occupation of stockman and rancher. Charlie and his brothers Jim, John and Tom homesteaded land along Long Valley along with the McGees. In 1886 Charlie Summers (shown right with Lee and Vern Summers) homesteaded 120 acres of land near Casa Diablo. Charlie and his brothers continued ranching along with buying and selling land. One by one the Long Valley ranches were sold to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and leased back to ranchers without water rights until most of the ranches in Long Valley were owned by the City of Los Angeles.