Devil’s Postpile, Mammoth Mountain, Hot Creek—Highway 395 in the Mono Lake area
Draft, as of February 2025. I should have this completed by April 2025, in time for our June 2025 trip here (we have June 15-21, 2025 reserved at the Obsidian Flat Group Campground).
Map of the area
Click the menu icon in the upper left corner of the banner below to see a menu of the locations on the map.
Hiking trip destinations (north to south)
Saddlebag Lake loop
West of Lee Vining and Mono lake, we’ll drive up Highway 120 towards Tioga Pass for a hike at about 10,000 feet elevation. The Saddleback Lake loop is about four miles, and since it loops around the lake there are no serious hills to climb. Much of this hike is above the treeline, we we’ll be hiking on exposed granite for much of it.
If we have a sub-group that wants to extend this hike, they can go half-way around the lake with us (the east side of Saddlebag Lake) then venture off towards Twenty Lakes Basin for an eight-mile hike. This is a bit longer than our usual hikes, but sometimes we have folks who want to go a bit further. This hike extension loops around the Twenty Lakes Basin before returning to Saddlebag Lake to complete the west side to get back to the parking lot.
Mono Lake region
Lee Vining is the town that houses the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center. Most trips will involve a short stop here; it has a good view of the lake as well as excellent exhibits (and restrooms). I’ve found that the Mono Lake Navy Beach Viewpoint has excellent views of Tufas without the crowds of the main preserve. There is a nice 1.3 mile hike that loops through the South Tufa Area where you can walk right next to tufas.
Devil’s Postpile/Mammoth Lakes area
Devil’s Postpile and Rainbow Falls
The road to Devil’s Postpile, Red Meadows Road, is closed every winter, and opens in spring/summer depending on snow conditions. Here is a list of the opening days since 2000.
Devils Postpile National Monument is known for it’s 60 foot columnar basalt, but we’ll also hike to the 101 foot high Rainbow Falls. Our main hike here will be about five miles of ‘moderate’ hiking. To get to Devils Postpile, we’ll have to take a shuttle from the Mammoth Mountain ski area (the roads are too busy). There is a fee of about $15/person. More details on the shuttle will be posted before each of our trips here.
To get down to the Devil’s Postpile trailhead, we need to take a park shuttle that costs about $15.
After the Devil’s Postpile hike, we’ll take a quick stop at an earthquake fault chasm that runs about 60 yards with a depth of about 4-10 feet.
Mammoth Mountain via gondola
One day we’ll take the Mammoth Scenic Gondola to the top of the mountain and explore the area. The gondola does have a charge, around $25/adult (age 13-79).
Hot Creek
On the east side of Highway 395, south of Mammoth Lakes, we’ll explore the Hot Creek Geological Site. This creek has several locations on our 1.5 mile hike where boiling water and steam seep out of the ground. There is no swimming or wading here; the water can have plumes of water that can scald someone.
We’ll make a stop at the Hot Creek Trout Hatchery where we can walk around and see trout in various stages of growth. There’s no staffed visitor center here, but if we’re lucky we may be able to see fish receiving vaccinations (I saw this when I visited in 2022, and the workers were happy to talk to me about the process).
There are several ‘wild’ hot springs in the area that are suitable for soaking in. We’ll explore these on the way out (bring a suit).
Crowley Lake Columns
Here’s an Alltrails hike to these features.
Camping and lodging
Camping location
Most years our base camp will be the Obsidian Flat Group Campground. This campground is isolated from other campgrounds, so it will just be us. It is located right below an obsidian dome, so we can explore it before or after dinners. The ‘no frills’ nature of the camp keeps the price low (but also requires early reservations!). Note: This campsite does not allow campfires.
This campground is about five miles down a well-graded dirt road that any car can handle (the last half-mile is on a narrow road that requires slow, careful driving). There are only vault toilets, and no running water, so everyone should bring water with them.
Hotels/motels
If you’d prefer to stay indoors, Mammoth Lakes has plenty of hotels and is about a 30 minute drive from the campground. I don’t have any recommendations, but here are reviews on Yelp and Google.
If you stay in a hotel, the only way you can be sure you’ll meet up with us is if you come to the campground before our departure. We’ll let everyone know the evening before where the planned first stop is for the next morning, but we still might miss each other. Most days (probably every day), we’ll first head back on the dirt road to Highway 395, so you could also wait for us on the gravel road (Deadman Creek Road) just west of Highway 395 (here’s a Google map pin).
Those staying in a hotel are always welcome—and encouraged—to join us at the campground for dinner and/or breakfast.
Weather & daylight
- We’ll be in mountains, so you should dress in layers so you can add some when it’s colder and remove them when it’s warmer.
- Being at this altitude means more of the sun’s UV rays reach us, so if you’re one who uses sunscreen, you’ll want to make sure to bring your favorite.
- There can be mosquitos, but that often depends on how much water is pooling around which changes year to year. “Mosquito season” in the area is claimed to be mid- to late-summer, so we’re on the edge of that in June. Our campground does not have a lake next to it, so there should be fewer mosquitos than lakeside campgrounds.
Webcams
Here is a website with a collection of webcams for the area if you want to see what’s happening right now.
June
- The average highs are in the mid- to upper-70s (°F), and the average lows are about 46° F.
- Some of our hikes will be at slightly higher elevation, so daytime temperatures may max in the 60s.
- In 2024 the temperature reached the mid-80s, so it can get warmer some years.
- There is generally no rainfall (we’re in the rain shadow of the Sierras). But most folks will want to be prepared with a light raincoat.
- Sunrise is about 5:30 AM, and sunset is around 8:30 PM (although the mountains may shadow us a bit earlier than that).
External links
General guides
- Your Highway 395 Road Trip Itinerary: Everything You Need to Plan a Trip
- Move Over, San Andreas: There’s an Ominous New Fault in Town
- Eastern Sierra & Highway 395 Road Trip – California’s Most Scenic Drive
- Highway 395 Road Trip through the Eastern Sierra in California
- Fall in Love with Hwy395: California’s Hot Springs Highway
Science/geology based guides
- coming soon
Other tidbits
Links to resources about the area
- Obsidian mining/searching permits for Modoc National Forest in NE California
- Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua (late June every year)
Sierra or Sierras or Sierra Nevada?
OK, people refer to the mountains in different ways: “Sierra Nevada Mountains,” “Sierras,” “The Sierras,” etc. Let’s look at the two word
Sierra
“range of hills or mountains,” 1610s, from Spanish sierra “jagged mountain range,” literally “saw,” from Latin serra “a saw” (compare serrated), which is of unknown origin. De Vaan suggests a PIE *sers-h- “cutting off,” and within Latin a possible connection with sarire “to hoe, weed.” The word figures in many mountain-chain names in Spain and regions it explored and colonized.
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=sierra
I use the etymology of words in teaching all the time, and like the comparison that etymonline creates here with the English word serrated.
Nevada
Nevada means snowy in Spanish (although some translators say it means snowfall).
So, what do I call them?
Really, whatever you like (or, as my grandmother would say, ‘just don’t call them late for dinner’).
Some folks complain that calling them the “Sierra Nevada Mountains” is being redundant, since you’re saying ‘mountains snowy mountains.’ but those are either being either humorous, or to pedantic and need to lighten up. In California, we often speak ‘Spanglish,’ a blend of English and Spanish. My favorite California word is Vallejo, that most locals pronounce va-lay-ho. In Spanish, it would be ‘va-yay-ho,’ and in English…maybe valley-jo??? The common pronunciation recognizes that ‘jo’ in Spanish is ‘ho’, but keeps some sort of English no the front end.