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Published: September 9th 2010
Mammoth Lakes
There are lakes there, but they're pretty small. The name comes from the discovery of giant tusks and bones.August 30-Sept 2: After Yosemite, we headed for Mammoth Lakes. Partly because I'd read an article about it in an airplane magazine (NWA? Alaska Airlines? Not sure, but what does it matter?) and partly because we were intrigued by seeing “Devil's Postpile” on the map next to it.
To get to Devil's Postpile, you had to take a compulsory shuttle bus, but this time not a free one, as in Yosemite. Frankly, I was relieved we were being driven because the road in was very steep and narrow. You'll see from the pictures that the postpile was amazing—one of the best examples of basalt columns anywhere. The day was hot and dry, and we were feeling the 7,000 ft altitude, especially when we discovered we'd missed a turn and walked an extra couple miles on the trail.
Then on our final uphill climb, Phil saw two bears! We both froze and I wondered how the couple ahead of us had gotten past them, while my mind raced on what we should do, and my blood turned to ice. “Where?” I asked.
“You are blind as a bat without your glasses,” Phil scolded. Then he saw a horse's head
Mammoth Lakes
A heartily developed recreation city with a somewhat strained Tyrolean theme. Here a rock climbing practise area is in front of the Yodeller's Restaurant, and next to a huge mountain bike rental stand. rise next to the bear and he realized he'd seen two horses' rumps, not two bears. Ah well, we find as the years go by, we make more mistakes, and this one gave us a good laugh.
Heading east from Mammoth Lakes, we passed Mono Lake and travelled along a very funny road.
The sign said it would be narrow and curvy for the next 23 miles. With the road to Lick Observatory still fresh in our minds, I gripped the steering wheel and thought, here we go again. But this time the road wasn't narrow and the curves were vertical! After a while it was like riding a roller coaster, with the ups and downs the kind to give your belly a tickle, and some so steep that on the upswing we couldn't see the road beyond the next hump. Onward to Benton it took us, and we decided to press on to Tonopah, Nevada, it being still relatively early and Tonopah being a bigger dot on the map.
Tonopah, it turned out, had been a silver capital of Nevada, and also a place famous for star gazing. But for us it meant a night in a
Climate monitoring station
In this remote field at Devil's Postpile, this station monitors the amount of water precipitated through the year and automatically uploads the data to satellite. motel, some terrible TV stations, a delicious Mexican dinner, and a full tank of gas.
We had decided to head for Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park in Utah, and chose what appeared to be the most direct route through southern Nevada: across the “Extra-Terrestrial Highway”!
Ever watched “The Twilight Zone”???
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Michelle Cavanagh
non-member comment
The windy road!!
I well remember the road into Mammoth Lakes when we drove there in 2001 - we were trying to coast downhill as much as possible since we were almost out of petrol and didn't know how much further we had to go until we finally found a garage! But of course we lived to tell the tale and never did run out of petrol either. I know you're going to adore the rest of your travels in that vicinity. Do you have an American National Parks Yearly Pass? We bought one because it worked out cheaper than paying to enter each National Park seperately. Then when we later travelled to NZ before the pass was invalid we gave it to a young English couple who were travelling on to the States on their way home. So I'm pleased to say it gots lots of use!! M xx