Wow, switch backs! I’ll blame it on the thin air, I was puffing much of the time.  We worked pretty hard to take in the views high above Lake George and Lake Mary.  The destination was actually Crystal Lake.  It is a clear alpine lake perched at just below 9800 feet.  Fall color is just starting here but it was still beautiful nestled among craggy peaks.

A corner carved out of the NF; it is just a pile of rocks, but oh so cool. Slowly cooled lava created perfectly ordered columnar basalt.  The octagonal stone pillars are tightly organized and have been cut through by ages of glaciers and water.  It is much like the huge formation at Devils Tower in Wyoming but here a trail runs close enough to see the bundles of ends that look like honey comb and to walk on exposed ends that look like octagonal tiles.  Columns are straight and some bent.  What a great place for a geology (and thermodynamics) lesson.   An American Dipper made an appearance in San Joaquin River that runs along the trail.

Down river we checked out Rainbow falls. Even in this dry season it was beautiful as the flow crossed faceted rock face and fell some 100 feet.  The river creates a surprising oasis among the bare rock and sand.  The trail to the falls passes through an eerie landscape of rock and the skeletons of thousands of tree trunks snapped off at maybe 20 feet above the ground.   A huge blow-down with winds greater than 150 mph tore through this river valley in 2011 and took down everything in front of it.  They are still working to clear campgrounds and trails.

We trekked into the Ansel Adams Wilderness a bit and crossed the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails. This would be some pretty challenging back country hiking.

The Mono Basin within the Inyo National Forest was the first area to be classified as this type of preservation area.  What is it protected from you ask?  LA, they have been siphoning off fresh water from inlet springs since the 40s.  The lake level dropped over 40 vertical feet and was still falling when the protections were put in place.  It will likely never return to its previous level since LA still diverts a considerable flow but it is at least stabilizing.

A vast alkaline lake stretches across the sagebrush covered floor at this west edge of the great basin. It covers 60 square miles with water 2 ½ times as salty as the oceans.  Only brine shrimp and alkali flies make it their full time home but thousands of migrating birds stop here to refuel as they head south for the winter.  The migratory importance and some really weird chemistry are the main reasons it is now protected.

Calcium rich spring waters bubble up through the floor of the lake and combine with the mineral laden lake water to create limestone crystals that gather in eerie structures that look a lot like coral or stalagmites. When the lake level drops the towers become visible along the shore.  They are fascinating.

The alkali flies are something only the birds could love. Claim is that a band several feet wide and inches deep circles the shore during peak hatch.  There are comparatively few now, fortunately.  Evidence is that early Indians dried them and ate them; they taste like buttery rice.  Ugh!  Nowadays gulls scoop them and grebes, phalenthrope, and ruddy ducks pick they from the salty waters.

This is still volcanic country with lots of cinder cones. Some formed underwater, others into the air.  They make for great vantage points to survey the valley and snow capped mountains that encircle it.

The Inyo National Forest stretches along 395 through the Great Basin through miles of sagebrush and acres of lush forest along the mountain flanks.  It includes the largest stand of Jeffries Pines in North America.  Clear cold lakes are fed by year round snow caps.  There is lots of hiking and interesting geology.  We barely samples all there is to do.  Bring lots of clothes though, this is a place of desert temperature swings.  We woke to 27F and found 80F with blistering sun midday.