Day 7 of July 2024 Trip to Sierra Nevada, Mammoth Area, 2

Seventh day of my July 2024 trip to the Sierra Nevada. Yesterday’s excursion to Cloudripper had taken a toll on my friend’s legs, so we took it easy today, made a second trip to the Mammoth area and checked out Devils Postpile National Monument.

Devils Postpile

The altitude, the distance and the scrambling combined at Cloudripper the previous day turned out to be quite a challenge for my friend. While we finished it unscathed, my friend’s legs had been soring since we got back to the hotel. After a nightful of rest, he still wasn’t up to shape. So, for today, instead of taking on another day hike, we decided to take things easy and do some simple sightseeing in the Mammoth area. Today was a Friday which meant Devils Postpile National Monument was open (it was closed Monday – Thursday in summer 2024 for road construction), so we decided to check it out.

With not much planned for the day, we got up late and left the hotel in Bishop just after 10am, and got to the Devils Postpile shuttle station just before 11am. By then, there was a very long line waiting for the shuttle. In particular, the shuttle line was right next to some kids offroad ATV area, and the winds were constantly blowing dust off the ground. We didn’t feel like waiting in a dust storm, so instead, we went to Convict Lake not far away from Mammoth Lakes.

Convict Lake

This was an alpine lake in the region, known for the dramatic mountains that surrounded it. By the way, the lake got its name because in September 1871, a group of convicts escaped from a prison in Carson City, Nevada and took refuge near the lake. From the distance of Highway 395, one could tell the mountains were rich in color and character, standing out among the granite masses that constituted the rest of the Sierra Nevada.
Two of the most notable mountains around Convict Lake were Laurel Mountain (p1 below), directly facing the lake with its colorful metamorphic rocks, and Mount Morrison (p3-4 below), a YDS class 3 mountain that, given its loose rocks, wasn’t on our list this time.

Once at Convict Lake, the mischievous part of my friend again suggested we rent paddleboards so that he could perform stunts such as jumping into the water (or throwing me overboard), something that we failed to do two days ago at Mammoth Lakes. He claimed paddleboarding was an upper-body exercise so his legs didn’t matter. Unfortunately for him, again, the paddleboards were all rented out at Convict Lake, and the shop owner again advised against us doing so as “paddleboarding is most suitable for calm waters” and “wind usually picks up in the afternoon”.

Instead, we took the 4km (2.5mi) loop trail around Convict Lake, enjoying sights of magnificent mountains that, one day in the future, we may summit.

Click here to display photos from Convict Lake.

Laurel Mountain beyond Convict Lake

Mountains around Convict Lake

Mono Jim Peak and Mount Morrison

Mount Morrison

Laurel Mountain

Laurel Mountain beyond Convict Lake

After lunch and coming back from Convict Lake, the line for shuttles into Devils Postpile National Monument got noticeable shorter.

Devils Postpile National Monument

Some quick notes about the shuttle.

• The shuttle was operated by Eastern Sierra Transit Authority, with a route map (pdf) hosted on their website (price information outdated).
• It stops at Devils Postpile (#6) both outbound and inbound. The shuttle only stops at Rainbow Falls Trailhead (#9) in outbound direction in the afternoon, so hikers returning from Rainbow Falls should use Reds Meadow Resort (#10). This added negligible distance but some elevation to the hike. Since we had time for both Rainbow Falls and Devils Postpile, we chose to get off at stop #9 and hike back to Devils Postpile.
• The bus didn’t come with air-conditioning 😡, and probably due to the road construction, was very dusty inside.

As for Rainbow Falls, it lived up to its name as the water droplets splashed by the waterfall created a wonderful rainbow while they reflected the sun. The areas immediately below Rainbow Falls seemed like a perfect swimming spot, especially on a hot day like this. (I regretted not bringing swimsuits and towels.)

Click here to display photos of Rainbow Falls.

Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls

 
Rainbow Falls

After leaving Rainbow Falls, we headed north towards Devils Postpile. Along the way we passed through patches of forest that were burned during the 1992 Rainbow Fire, and we could still see remnants of its impact till this day.

Click here to display photos of the slideshow

Forest

Forest in Recovery

Mammoth Mountain
Where we were earlier today.

 
Tree Split in Half
There were quite a few of these “split trees” in the area that intrigued us.

Deer

Just before reaching Devils Postpile, we bumped into this deer that were chewing leaves off trees. It was alerted by our footsteps and retreated to deeper woods off the trail.

Finally, it’s the highlight of the day, Devils Postpile.
Devils Postpile was formed by basaltic lava that filled the area about 100k years ago. As the lava cooled, tension caused cracks to form, often in hexagon shapes. Later glaciers in the last ice age, about 20k years ago, polished its top surface, revealing the vertically shaped postpiles.
It’s a bit like Devils Tower that I visited last September, only that Devils Tower was larger, its rocks were older (40m vs 100k years), and it’s formed by magma instead of lava.

Click here to display photos of the slideshow

Devils Postpile

Devils Postpile

Edge of Devils Postpile

Devils Postpile

Devils Postpile

Watching Devils Postpile reflecting the setting sun was like watching the organs in a church. It’s getting late in the day and there weren’t many people around, as if I could imagine in my mind what sort of music they had been playing for thousands of years.

A short detour away, one could head up to the top of Devils Postpile, appreciating how smooth the last ice age had polished their tops while appreciating their breadth. (If one only visited Devils Postpile without Rainbow Falls, this would make a loop trail.)

Click here to display photos of the top of Devils Postpile.

Top of Devils Postpile

Finally, the shuttle station was just a short walk from Devils Postpile. After hopping on the second last shuttle of the day, we headed out of Devils Postpile National Monument and concluded the day.
END

Day 7 of July 2024 Trip to Sierra Nevada, Mammoth Area, 2 by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.