Skip to main content

Day 160 - JMT Devils Postpile

The hike downhill to Devils Postpile national monument took us by two horses grazing by a small pond. While they seemed wild they were part of a group tour-- the bells around their necks gave them away. 

We trotted downhill quickly, chatting about life and careers, but were stopped in our tracks by a natural castle on the far horizon line. 

We made it to Devils Postpile by midday and were pretty tired. We entered the Postpile with Steve, an older gentleman with a delightfully positive life outlook who was doing the whole 200+ miles in 21 days.  His bouyant enthusiasm was delightful.  The Postpile is formed by magma intrusion from the earth's mantle and is famous for its vertical pipes and their hexagonal top structure. 

Concerned about the fire, we hiked another half mile to the ranger station and received poor news-- the fire had grown, was still nearly uncontained, and most people were exiting the trail. This point was our easiest exit point-- we could take a bus to town and then a bus to our car and drive north to Yosemite away from the fire and smoke, or we could continue south and face certain smoke-- we just didn't know how bad. As we continued south the exits off the trail would be tougher-- 20 miles treks east over passes to get to trail heads and uncertain hitchhiking to towns. 

Luckily I had Bob's optimism to balance my engineering caution.  Information was inaccurate and incomplete at best and we had not encountered smoke yet, so we decided to push south and see with our own eyes. We would take the decision day by day. 

We hiked a mile to Reds Meadow, a resupply resort, to get a map of the exit routes and to get another fire report. With an additional exit map in hand and a positive report from Reds (winds predicted to blow northeast and away from the trail), we pushed south-- ironically through a desolate fire-torched forest. 

We weaved through the dry, dusted area and up a hill to a high prairie. A buck grazing in the prairie welcomed us with caution as we hiked in 200 yards to a secluded tree patch with a view of the surrounding mountains and a cold, fresh stream. We put on our warm gear as the night chill came close, ate our dinner and struck a pose. Today was a difficult up-and-down emotional day. We tried to push off the fire anxiety and enjoy again the surrounding. 

The fiery sunset seemed fitting. 


Labels:

Comments

  1. David FrankstoneSeptember 19, 2015 at 5:43 PM

    This is a very good post. The photos are great and the suspense about the smoke makes me interesting to see the next installment.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 104 - Glacier to Vancouver

The hike up Balu Pass was supposed to be fairly easy, beautiful and dotted with waterfalls, but when I talked to the park ranger and learned that Vancouver was an eight hour drive away, I decided to skip Balu and drive west.  I left behind this pretty view.  And drove many hours through pristine mountains, fewer and fewer snow-capped ones the further west I drove. Some of the valleys were flooded to make reservoirs, leaving scenic sights.  I eventually made it to Vancouver and drove right on through to Point Roberts USA, a five mile by five mile coastal land just below the 49th parallel and thus in the USA. The park ranger had suggested this as a good place to camp but being late of the Thursday night before the Fourth of July there were no spots available. I drove around instead and stopped at a forested coastal park. After ten minutes of walking I came to my first grand Pacific view with Mount Baker 60 miles east.  The San Juan Islands and Orca Islands could also b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 122 - Mount Saint Helens

Mount Saint Helens is sinister and wonderful. I spent the morning at Rainier watching the end of the British Open on my phone, then drove south to Saint Helens.  I arrived at the park's northeast entrance by early afternoon.  A massive bulge of rock built up on the northeast side of the mountain before the 1980 eruption and then caused a tremendous landslide when the eruption started. I drove to the Windy Ridge at the end of the road, listened to a ranger describe before and after photos of the mountain, then hiked up to a high viewpoint.  You can see the circular ridge with a notch missing where the landslide occurred, the desert-like exposed right-side where the landslide blew away life and covered 15 miles of terrain with 150 feet of dirt and rock, the greenery that was on the lucky side of the eruption, and Spirit Lake which was covered by dirt and slime and fallen trees for years. The mountain was over a thousand feet higher before it erupted.  After taking in t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 62 - Colorado National Monument

Established as a national monument early in 1911, Colorado NM is known for its high canyon "rim road" and sandstone spires of Monument Canyon.  The canyons of west Colorado are pretty--as they have more green trees and shrubs than the more famous Utah canyons. This gives them a more alive feeling, although the sandstone spires were formed many thousands of years ago by erosion.  Rim Rock road curves up the the top of the canyon cliff, goes through several round tunnels and is lined with scenic viewpoints. The best views were in he Monument Canyon section, and included in sequence, the Coke Ovens, The Kissing Couple (behind my head), and the most famous of all: Independence Monument, the tall spire in pic 3 and viewed from the side in pic 4.  The original promoter and caretaker of the park, John Otto, was the first person to climb Independence Monument and now it's a climbing right of passage. Every July 4 climbers ascend and mount an American flag at the summit. Fun! ...
2 comments
Read more