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Re: Devils Postpile in a day?

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avatar Devils Postpile in a day?
April 13, 2009 10:27PM
Never been there. I thought of maybe finishing my stay by going to Devils Postpile and maybe Rainbow Fall. I'm going to be camping in the Valley. If I left early in the morning on the last day, how much time would I need? Would it be better to just maybe stay in Mammoth and then go to Devils Postpile?
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cthenn
Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 07:32AM
That's a helluva drive just to see the postpile. Personally, if I were going to drive all that extra time and distance (per Google, 120 miles, 3+ hours), I'd make it more than a day trip at the end of a Yosemite trip...but that's just me.
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 08:58AM
Sorry - maybe I didn't make my intentions clear. My last day camping the Valley is on a Thursday. I was thinking of pulling up camp and driving to the postpile on Thursday - then staying in Mammoth Lakes that night before going home. The other alternative I was thinking was to pull up camp, spend the day visiting sites along Tioga Road, stay in Mammoth Lakes that night, and visit the postpile on Friday. Perhaps even arrive early on Saturday and see it first before camping in Yosemite. Visiting sites in the area is also a possibility.

In any case, my intention was to throw in trips to

As for long day trips - I've gone to Lassen + Sundial Bridge as a day trip from the Bay Area. Of course that meant waking up at 5:30 and getting home past midnight. Or driving from Sequoia NP down the Generals' Highway to Visalia and back via some farm road (the ranger at Sequoia NP said it could interesting if I had a high performance car). And that was just to find some place with Chinese food.
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cthenn
Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 09:55AM
Quote
y_p_w
Sorry - maybe I didn't make my intentions clear. My last day camping the Valley is on a Thursday. I was thinking of pulling up camp and driving to the postpile on Thursday - then staying in Mammoth Lakes that night before going home. The other alternative I was thinking was to pull up camp, spend the day visiting sites along Tioga Road, stay in Mammoth Lakes that night, and visit the postpile on Friday. Perhaps even arrive early on Saturday and see it first before camping in Yosemite. Visiting sites in the area is also a possibility.

In any case, my intention was to throw in trips to

As for long day trips - I've gone to Lassen + Sundial Bridge as a day trip from the Bay Area. Of course that meant waking up at 5:30 and getting home past midnight. Or driving from Sequoia NP down the Generals' Highway to Visalia and back via some farm road (the ranger at Sequoia NP said it could interesting if I had a high performance car). And that was just to find some place with Chinese food.

Yeah, I know people like you smiling smiley I can't get into all that driving for such a short stay. (Although I drive 170 miles one way to Tahoe almost every weekend just to ski for the day during the winter...)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2009 09:57AM by cthenn.
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 10:41AM
Quote
y_p_w
Sorry - maybe I didn't make my intentions clear. My last day camping the Valley is on a Thursday. I was thinking of pulling up camp and driving to the postpile on Thursday - then staying in Mammoth Lakes that night before going home. The other alternative I was thinking was to pull up camp, spend the day visiting sites along Tioga Road, stay in Mammoth Lakes that night, and visit the postpile on Friday. Perhaps even arrive early on Saturday and see it first before camping in Yosemite. Visiting sites in the area is also a possibility.

Well, there is plenty to do in East of Yosemite. Tuolumne Meadows for a day could include Dome hikes, soda springs, hike to "little" devils post pile . In addition, I found the visitor center at Mono Lake/Lee Vinning incredibly interesting. Mono Lake is the nesting area for a huge population of gulls (?entire west coast gull population?) . Additionally (Bee, cover your eyes) The indians used to harvest fly larvae along the Mono Lake shore and dry as a food source (maggots for breakfast)! You might want to throw in a visit to Hot Creek near Mammoth as I recall. If you are headed east, consider driving the "backroad" east of Mono Lake to Hawthorne and Fallon (if you are taking 80).


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 12:40PM
Quote
Frank Furter

Well, there is plenty to do in East of Yosemite. Mono Lake is the nesting area for a huge population of gulls (?entire west coast gull population?) . Additionally (Bee, cover your eyes) The indians used to harvest fly larvae along the Mono Lake shore and dry as a food source (maggots for breakfast)!


Actually, it think that it is only about 90% of the West Coast (or is it CA only?) gull population - seriously. (The other 10% is probably the Farallons.) It's an ideal rookery: brine shrimp and flies for food; isolated island with no predators. FYI, "mono" was the word for "fly" in the local indian dialect. The way that the ground cover of flies scatters away from one's feet as you walk through it always reminds me of the dust cloud surrounding Pig Pen in the Peanuts comic strip.

Don't forget the Ancient Bristlecone Forest Preserve in the White Mountains.
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 08:50AM
Not clear on this thread where you are coming from. Presumably Yosemite. The DPP is closed now. There is a shuttle bus to factor in also. That said, I think it is worth the visit to see columnar fractured basalt (or you can see it in Yellowstone!). One part of the short walk that I found intriguing was a bubbling spring that contained CO2 bubbles, not hot water. Unusual. Soda pop coming right out of the ground.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 09:01AM
Quote
Frank Furter
Not clear on this thread where you are coming from. Presumably Yosemite. The DPP is closed now. There is a shuttle bus to factor in also. That said, I think it is worth the visit to see columnar fractured basalt (or you can see it in Yellowstone!). One part of the short walk that I found intriguing was a bubbling spring that contained CO2 bubbles, not hot water. Unusual. Soda pop coming right out of the ground.

Yes - I have seen Sheepeater Cliffs. However - the rock there is very different.
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 11:56AM
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y_p_w


Yes - I have seen Sheepeater Cliffs. However - the rock there is very different.

Different? How so? I don't know my basalt from a hole in the ground.


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 12:19PM
Quote
Frank Furter
Quote
y_p_w


Yes - I have seen Sheepeater Cliffs. However - the rock there is very different.

Different? How so?

Looks a lot rougher to me:



Quote

I don't know my basalt from a hole in the ground.

This is basalt:


http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/misc/sh-p9162148.jpg.html

This is a hole in the ground:


http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/grand-canyon/sh-dscn1660.jpg.html
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 12:53PM
Basalt vs hole in the ground= very funny stuff!

Yes, now I understand!


The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan
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avatar Re: Devils Postpile in a day?
April 14, 2009 12:25PM
Quote
Frank Furter
Quote
y_p_w


Yes - I have seen Sheepeater Cliffs. However - the rock there is very different.

Different? How so? I don't know my basalt from a hole in the ground.

Rather pale gray looking. The pile didn't have that nice glaciated edge at the top and the rocks at the bottom seemed worn and covered with lots of lichen. They also didn't seem to have quite the precise looking edges - they were rounder looking.

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