Katy Dickinson

Mono Lake, Panum Crater, Devil's Postpile

After our vacation week at the Bear's Lair, we drove home by way of Mono Lake, Mammoth Mountain, Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls, and Yosemite.

To get there, we drove on highway 108 from Pinecrest over Sonora pass (elevation 9625 feet) through the Emigrant Wilderness and past the Marines' Mountain Warfare Training Center. We ate lunch at the historic Bridgeport Inn (formerly the Leavitt House where Mark Twain stayed).

After lunch, we drove past a big fire at Lee Vining, then walked around the Panum Crater, near Mono Lake. Panum is an ancient volcanic cone with great splashes of black and gray obsidian and pumice rising in spires in the center. Unfortunately, some aggressive wasps have built their nests in the spires. When my nephew Daniel was stung, we did not try to go further in to see more of the cone.

After Mono Lake, we drove to the town of Mammoth Lake and our hotel. The next day, we hiked to Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls. We took the park bus from the Mammoth Mountain ski resort to the Devil's Postpile trail head because of our truck's suspension problems. Sadly, John could not come with us because he was working with the truck repair shop. The Postpile is an amazing cliff of dark grey basalt columns that do indeed look like many-sided posts.

Throughout this area are historical markers by the road. Most of these informative signs are cast in metal and set in rock mounds to protect them from weather and traffic. Here is the text on one at Sonora Pass:

SONORA MONO TOLL ROAD / Oldest of the trans-Sierra emigrant trails to California is spectacular Sonora Pass crossed by Highway 108, second highest (9,626 Feet) of all highway crossings of the range. The Bartleson-Bidwell Party, with mules, horses and oxen, made the first crossing on October 18, 1841. This route was not attempted by wagons until 1852. "Grizzly" Adams took the trail over Sonora Pass in April, 1854, and reported "On all sides lay old axle trees and wheels.... melancholy evidence of the last season's disasters." The present route first projected in 1862 was finally completed as a toll road, due to the extreme cost, by Mono, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus Counties in 1865. It was said to take three weeks for a six-horse team to make the round trip between Sonora and Bridgeport. / PLAQUE DEDICATED SEPTEMBER 10, 1983 / BODIE CHAPTER NO. 64 / MATUCA CHAPTER NO. 1849 / E CLAMPUS VITUS

It was interesting to compare the mammoth statue at the Mammoth Mountain ski resort to the stuffed elephant we saw at the Washington D.C. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in June.

Ascending to Sonora Pass

Paul reading Sonora Pass marker

Matt and Jessica

Descending from Sonora Pass

Marines Mountain Warfare Center

Lee Vining, Tioga Lodge fire

Mono Lake from Panum Crater

Panum Crater Rocks

Climbing inside Panum Crater

Devil's Postpile

Paul on top of Devil's Postpile

Basalt Posts

Rainbow Falls

Successful Hikers, Rainbow Falls

Mammoth Mtn Again

Mammoth Mountain Statue

Stuffed Elephant

On to Yosemite

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 06:01PM Aug 22, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |  Comments[1]