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Posts tagged ‘Mammoth Lakes’

Jul 4

Summer Trip Day Six, Devil’s Postpile

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my time at Devil’s Postpile National Monument turned into a full day of hiking and about a hundred photos.

Today was July 4, so the park was crowded—probably a couple of thousand visitors—their busiest day of the year.  They have a shuttle bus system to reduce the number of cars on the narrow, windy roads.

Among other things, the monument protects Rainbow Falls of the San Joaquin River.  This photo shows how the falls got its name… (As always, click the images to enlarge them.)

rainbow_falls

The monument is named after a large, well, “pile” of columnar basalt.  Normally perpendicular, there are some places where the columns seem to bend over. This image is infrared, which shows the green foliage as nearly white.

devils_postpile2

Here’s another infrared shot, of the dead trees left from the 1992 Rainbow Fire, which burned about 8000 acres of forest.

rainbow_fire

And here are a few other favorite images from my five-mile hike at about 7500 feet of elevation.

deadwood

pine

Tomorrow, it’s back to Yosemite.

Jul 3

Summer Trip Day Five, The Eastern Sierra

Bristlecone Pine

Today was pretty busy. I started the day at the Manzanar National Historic Site. Like many people, I first learned of Manzanar because of the work that the photographer Ansel Adams did there. Manzanar was a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II.

Below are images of the cemetery at Manzanar. Some visitors leave mementos at this monument, including strands of origami cranes.

Monument_at_Manzanar

Paper_Cranes_at_Manzanar

After Manzanar, I drove down to the Whitney Portal, which is where the trail up Mt. Whitney begins.  It was very crowded there, and I only spent a half hour or so before heading down.

Next, I drove to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains. The oldest living organism on the planet is thought to be a bristlecone pine in this forest, at a little over 4800 years old. The photo at the top of this post is the skeleton of a bristlecone pine. I did a 4.25-mile moderately strenuous hike at about 10,000 feet. The temperature was in the high 60’s, which beat the high 90’s on the valley floor 6000 feet below.

Finally, on my way back through Bishop, I stopped at the Mountain Light Gallery, which is the gallery started by the late Galen and Barbara Rowell.

Tonight, I’m in Mammoth Lakes, where I just watched the July 3rd fireworks.