Inyo National Forest

By Jen.

Dates: 12/14/2020 to 12/16/2020

Leaving Death Valley, we entered Inyo National Forest and basically chased it up the eastern edge of California. One of our friends promised to meet us at Mono Lake and show us around the areas he has been haunting since he was kid. We were looking forward to seeing him again.

 

We saw some interesting mountains in the distance on our way. These are the Minarets.

We arrived to a fresh blanket of snow at the road to the campsite.

And had a bit of time for exploring before dinner.

Our snow tracks leading above the ground was interesting.

Sunrise over the lake was gorgeous.

 

The next day, our friend took us touring to see the tufa along Mono Lake, and on the way we ran across Panum Crater, so we thought we’d check it out.

 

There were some really neat chunks of obsidian.

Also some fun hoarfrost.

And views of the lake.

The dog was convinced there must be something good in that bag.

 

Every road we took to try to get to the tufa was blocked. We finally learned why. There had been a fire. Fortunately, we could still see it from a distance.

 

 

Up next was an area our friend had always wanted to explore in a 4x4.

 

Along the road was a large herd of wild horses.

Then we discovered why you need 4x4…

And, keeping our day full, we finished off with Hot Creek Geological Area. Really interesting hot-spring-fed creek.

 

Beautiful, but dangerous. 14 people have lost their lives here, thus it now fenced off.

Green plants where the air was just right temp, despite snow everywhere else.

We camped at a hot springs, so that we could partake first thing in the morning before anyone else showed up.

 

The hot-water vapor froze on the nearby plants.

Does life get any better?

 

At this point, we had to part ways, but our friend gave us a few spots to check out on our way back to OK.

 

To get to the first point, we had to climb a steep hill with these massive up-and-downs on the road.

Jonathan had to pick a careful path not to high-center the van, and I had to let him know if we were about to hit anything.

The lake was nearly perfectly still. If wasn’t for the floating ice, I could have had a perfect mirror!

Lake Crowley’s Stone Columns.

The columns were hidden until the lake was formed. Turns out they were there all long under the soil.

 

The second spot was an easy stop by the edge of the road, Owens Gorge.

 

Where we discovered that, even this far out (over 300 miles), LA was sourcing water for the city.

Beautiful view in Pleasant Valley. There were supposed to be rock art here, but we couldn’t find it. We will just have to try again later.

With that, we exited CA to begin our long trek back to OK for Christmas.