This area of California is a volcanic wonderland, and you can see the craters lined up in a row along 395 near Lee Vining and Mammoth Lakes. Punam Crater, near Mono Lake, has a hiking trail around the rim. To get to the crater, you need to drive down a gravel road for about a mile or so to get to the trailhead. We started driving, but soon turned around so our car wouldn't be swallowed up in the
canyons ruts in the road. After parking on the main road, we walked down the gravel road to the trailhead. About a mile? Not too bad!
 |
| heading down the road to the crater |
 |
| there's the crater....straight ahead....the magma plug is the jagged rock in the middle there.....the lower area is the rim walk |
 |
| sweet |
 |
| the views all around are really nice |
 |
| we parked waaaay down near the brown area to the right of the road |
Once there, we headed for the rim hike, which takes you all the way around the magma plug of the volcano. It is very cool to be able to do that! The rim is quite high, and of course, its a pretty narrow ridge trail....meaning.....there is a nice drop off on BOTH sides. Hmmmm......definitely out of my comfort zone.
 |
| hmmm....lets do the rim trail first....see how that goes! |
 |
| views of Mono Lake between the rim (left) and the magma plug (right) |
 |
| I think I can....I think I can.....I think I can....do this trail !?! |
 |
| view of the magma plug from the rim |
 |
| again |
 |
| and again...more magma |
 |
| view of some of the other craters across the way.....there is a whole line of "Mono Craters" |
With the support of my hero (Tom), I made it around the rim! Truthfully, there were just a couple of spots that were so steep going down, and then again going back up. I swear the angle was at least 60 degrees. Anyway....with a little encouragement and just a little bit of hand-holding in locations going down steeply, we managed a really nice hike. Right Tom??
 |
| the rim trail....great views |
 |
| magma on the left....rim trail on the right |
 |
| the view of Mono Lake was superb |
 |
| magma |
 |
| rim trail....getting narrower! and higher! |
 |
| really great views from above the lake |
 |
| not so bad.... |
 |
| magma....the earth was very active here! |
 |
| magma on the right, narrow rim on the left |
 |
| obsidian bits everywhere |
 |
| doing good Susie? |
The views were incredible. The best views of Mono Lake! Actually, we haven't really had any bad views of Mono Lake...they are all just different. Ha!
 |
| how gorgeous is that? |
 |
| obsidian rocks |
 |
| so shiny |
 |
| thankfully trail is pretty wide in most parts! |
 |
| still my heart is racing though....it looks scary up ahead and we are committed now |
 |
| and my knees were shaking right about here! its very steep! |
 |
| yeah me! |
 |
| amazing! |
 |
| lots of ups and downs |
 |
| magma |
 |
| more |
 |
| Tom loves this stuff! |
 |
| can you see the hill we just climbed? its quite steep....its over that edge there |
 |
| a doosie! |
 |
| the end of the rim trail (almost) |
There is another little hike that goes up to the magna plug. The trail is not as wide as the rim trail, and there are switchbacks with no cover to alleviate that dizzying feeling. Tom really wanted to do it, but didn't want to leave me baking in the sun. What?? Go....I insisted! It was no problem for me to wait it out....hahaha. I used up all my courage on the rim trail, and though I did try the plug trail, I turned around at one of the steeper switchbacks. In the meantime, Tom thoroughly enjoyed his exploration without the ball and chain me. How fascinating to see the magma plug! In the meantime, I just walked back and forth along the trail below so I wasn't a standing target for the millions of wicked no-see-ums, who had been biting us like crazy even though we had bug spray on! (I feel like I have poison ivy on my scalp and ears!)
 |
| the start of the magma plug trail |
 |
| my courage ran out....though I did give it a try (it doesn't look so bad in the pics, but it was!) |
 |
| have fun Tom! (that's about where you lose me on the trail!) |
 |
| Exploring...see that little spec up there? That's Tom! |
 |
| heading back down.... |
After the crater hike, we went to Navy Beach just down the road. The lake was just gorgeous (colors). We were a little worried about the smoke we saw in the background, and hoped that it wasn't a wildfire.
Here at Navy Beach, there are fine examples of sand tufas, which remind me a little of teeth with amalgam covering the flat surfaces. What do you think?
 |
| oh no....looks like a fire in the distance |
 |
| the colors were beautiful this day (everyday is different, it seems) |
 |
| tufas in the distance |
 |
| an osprey nest...see it on top of the tufa in the middle of the pic? |
 |
| reminds me of teeth with amalgam on top |
 |
| sand tufas |
 |
| more |
 |
| Tom inspecting the tufas |
 |
| so beautiful...and the lake was very calm this day |
 |
| seabirds hanging out on the lake |
 |
| another view of the Punam Crater and the rim we just hiked around |
Another fun day exploring the Lee Vining area in the Eastern Sierras! The weather is starting to warm up too....and hopefully there is no more snow in the forecast.
 |
| back at the ranch......immersed in a "Great Course" (Everyday Engineering-Understanding the Marvels of Daily Life)....really really good! |
 |
| taking it easy |
No comments:
Post a Comment