| Mammoth Lakes, CA: Devil's Postpile |
| 9/30/03 We woke up in the closed campground entrance and all was quiet. It was around 7 in the AM and the sun hadn�t quite set over the mountains. It was still a cold morning. As we watched out the windows the sun slowly came up and blue skies were overhead. It was a beautiful day. We let Sam and Ginger run free in the closed campground and they were all smiles. |
| We had breakfast and discovered we were both very dehydrated. We remembered how to make sports drinks with salt and sugar and it was so good. I think our bodies really needed it! I started feeling so much better and more energetic. I don�t think we�ve been taking very good care of ourselves on this trip (or before) and I think it�s about time to start. We were both really excited to see the Devil�s Postpile. As we headed down the road we soon found out that the next campground was open. We were so glad that we got to camp where we were and to hear the barking and howling. We were also very glad that we could let our girls run in the woods and they were able to do some really good running. : ) We got out our trike and headed down the .4 mile trail. The trike handled really well over the gravel and sand. It was so much easier pushing and it has so much more control than the wheelchair. There were beautiful mountains all around us and a stream just below our trail. A beautiful meadow stretched out and we could just imagine the Elk loving to graze there. |
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| We got close to the Postpile and could see many tall columns built by the movement of the earth. Some were straight up and down in the mountain and some had been turned on their sides through the power of nature. It was amazing to see. Rocks were strewn all along the ground below this mountain and everything looked so fragile like one push could bring the whole of the mountain crashing down. |
| We had a lot of fun using the trike and I couldn�t believe how much easier it is to push with Kim helping me with the pedals especially going up hill on loose gravel. She starts pedaling and I get a good grip and pushing is a breeze. We got the Trike back in the trailer and headed out for Yosemite. We stopped into an area that said there was an earthquake fault. We hiked down with our dogs and saw that the earth had split apart into a deep ravine probably more than 25 feet down. The chasm across the earth was about 15 feet. |
| The amazing thing was that the fault looked like if Kim got on one side and I got on the other we could push the earth back and it would snap perfectly back in place. Large rocks were exposed by the fault. We headed back on 395 and the area around us became more and more beautiful. There is so much volcanic activity around here. We stopped over where some volcanic crators pushed up through the earth. They had erupted recently only 700 years ago! I really liked the sign that said we would PROBABLY have good warning when they erupted again. |
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| We also came across a lake that had a black crator right in the middle with white islands all around the deep blue of the water. We found a sign for a gas station and you would not believe the price!!! $2.20 for regular! We had dumped our tanks and soon after had found fresh water to fill up with and we got fresh cold water for our puppies to drink. We headed up the mountain and it became more spectacular as gigantic boulders lined the roads. Swooping mountains that had been carved by glaciers loomed overhead with a deep valley below making the mountains seem even larger. We pulled over when we saw foliage that had changing fall colors of deep yellow and red. At the side of the road was the beautiful aroma of mint. The mountains with the carved towers looked down on us from all sides. |
| We decided to look for a camp because we were concerned that they would be closed or full. We followed the signs for Saddlebag lake campground. It was rough road for 2 miles with turn outs for narrow roads. We made it up the mountain and found a fairly level spot to camp. The area was just beautiful with Saddlebag lake a deep blue down below the mountains. From our camp we could see a small glacier on the mountain peaks in the distance. It had been so cool since we entered this part of California and we were able to take a nap in the afternoon after we had parked. We went out to walk the dogs after dinner and we had to wear our parkas it was so cold. The stars were just gorgeous and so bright in the cold air. The moon was a bright sliver on the horizon. We had found a good home for the night and tomorrow we plan to enter Yosemite. |