First we stopped for lunch by Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park.
Ross, Rachel, and their daughter Helen joined us on the trip.
Ross and family traveled in his red Jeep, while Jason and I took our yellow XTerra. This picture was taken at our next stop, Mono Lake.
We headed down to the lake on a path that started out paved,
but quickly turned to dirt.
Helen and I were fascinated by the foam at the edge of the lake.
While by the lake, we checked out the Tufa deposits.
Next we stopped at the earthquake fault near Mammoth Lakes.
Jason at the Earthquake Fault -- not really a fault, but more of a fissure, since it opened without displacement.
At Obsidian Dome.
Some of the obsidian.
Helen decided to climb on the rocks.
and inevitably found it easier to climb up than down,
and so continued to do so.
Rachel watched in amusement from the bottom.
Helen on the rocks.
The next morning we hiked out to Devil's Postpile.
Devil's Postpile is a fantastic example of columnar basalt, which forms by cooling slowing underground.
Here Gwen sits on one of the collapsed hexagonal columns. Check out their size!
On the way to the top, we saw these columns sticking out of the side of the mountain.
At the top, the columns have been neatly sheared off by glacial activity, leaving the columns looking like a hexagonal tile floor.
The crew, waiting for the bus after the hike. Helen, not happy.
Panorama of the Sierras and White mountains taken on the way up to see the Bristlecone Pines.
The new Bristlecone Pines visitor center.
Unfortunately Helen was VERY unhappy at this stop, so we didn't end up seeing much.
Methuselah Walk trailhead.
Jason.
Looking away from the visitor center.
A view of Mt. Whitney from outside our hotel.
The last day we hiked out to Fossil Falls, a where a flood had carved out a gorge through basalt.
A panorama of Fossil Falls.
Jason.
Rachel.
Ross.
Ross, Gwen, and Helen.
Helen.
Red Hill, a cinder cone in the background, while Gwen takes a picutre of a hole through the rock (next.)
The hole.
An eroded rock.
Eroded potholes.
Jason, Gwen, Rachel, Helen, and Ross at the end of the trip!