We decided to visit Devils Post Pile NM, a tiny park near Mammoth Lakes as this looked like our best opportunity. It’s a 197-mile drive to the NM from Death Valley. We got an early start and took Etta with us. The drive to Mammoth Lakes was beautiful. We topped out from Death Valley with Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states (Highest point and lowest point less than 76 miles apart). As we drove past Mammoth Ski area (with no snow), we found the road to the NM closed! We asked a local and found out the NM was closed for the season even though they had not had any snow yet. So we drove back toward town and found Fissure Park, we pulled in to eat lunch andinvestigate what the Fissure was. Turns out it was caused by a volcanic eruption 6000 years ago, even though most people think it was part of the nearby San Andres fault. After lunch we headed into town and found the Forest Service Visitor Center and went in to talk to the ranger. We found out the NM had closed for the season the weekend before. The Devils Postpile NM claim to fame is a columnar Basalt formation similar to, but much smaller, the Devils Tower in Wyoming. There is also a 100 foot water fall, Rainbow Falls, on the San Joaquin river. The primary use of the park is to drop off supplies for hikers on the Pacific Crest trail as it merges with the John Muir trail in the park. After driving 3.5 hours to get here, we were pretty disappointed. But we collected our 60th Passport Stamp at the visitor center anyway (Since we have seen Basalt columns before). We took some time to explore around Mammoth Lakes before heading back to Death Valley.
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| Mount Whitney |
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| The Fissure |
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