On the way back from Tahoe we stopped at Devi’s Postpile National Monument.  It’s a unique basalt formation located near Mammoth Lakes.

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The hexagon shaped columns were formed when the lava cooled slowly and evenly 100,000 years ago.

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This monument gets so many visitors in the summer that they restrict traffic for private vehicles and instead a park shuttle takes visitors up and down the valley. But there is a short period of time after the summer and before it is closed for snow that you can drive your own car down near the Postpile which saved us some time. It was a quick trip, just a short hike/walk to the Postpile and back because we had a lot of driving left to do, but otherwise we also would have checked out Rainbow Falls. Modern Hiker has a nice write up on a longer hike utilizing the shuttle. Next time!

As we left Mammoth and drove down Rt 395 towards Lone Pine it brought back memories from the summer of hiking including White Mountain and of course Mt. Whitney! The Sierras are massive and with a dusting of snow and the setting sun they looked incredible.