Not As Planned

Yikes.  Today did not go too well…Ok, it went alright except for one thing:

Yep, that would be my finger, wrapped in gauze and electrical tape.  Who says I need a bandaid out in the field, right?  Ok, I was safe and changed the makeshift wrapping for a few clean butterfly strips and a bandaid a bit later after I got back to my car.  What did I do?  Lets just say the x-acto knife and I don’t get along…especially a 1/3 of the way into my finger.  Ouch.

This was what cheered me up today though!  While I was in Mammoth I found this awesome hummingbird bandana, as I’ve been on the search for one for the past few weeks.  I also have another one that is covered in random birds and not hummingbirds, but I can’t find it.  Sad times.

Anyhow, just a little something for the blog tonight, as I’m looking into making some pretty big updates to the blog this week!  Get ready!

Oh, and here are some pictures from the rest of my vacation last weekend!

Mammoth: Pt 2

I left off with part one about a visit to something associated to EARTHQUAKES…The famous, San Andreas Fault Line.  Yes, I was actually standing directly over it and next to it.

Look how wide this sucker is!  I’ve actually seen this fault line in several different places including the Mojave Desert and San Diego.  It’s truly amazing to see how it can change the face of the earth!

Oh yeah, and there is totally snow still at the bottom of it!  I actually learned that early settlers took advantage of the year round snow down there to freeze their meat during the summer!  How cool is that…free refrigerator.

Just down the road is another amazing aspect of volcanic activity in the area: the Inyo Craters.  I haven’t been here since I was a kid (like, not a teenager) and it’s still amazing to look at.

We had to hike to get to the craters and I showed Whit one of my favorite things about Mammoth…Jeffrey Pines.  When you stick your nose in the bark, it smells like VANILLA.  Yes, the entire forest smells like vanilla.  How delicious does that sound?!

I’m totally digg’n it.  And the bird watching of course.  Look at my crazy self. You’ll never know how bird nuts I am until you spend an early morning or evening with me out in the forest or the beach or the marsh or anywhere there are birds.

Standing atop one of the craters!

The insides of one of the craters:

We have a tradition in my family that whenever we go to Mammoth, the first night is always designated for dinner at our favorite pizza joint, Giovanni’s.  I opted to have it on the second night after our long hike to Devil’s Postpile and Rainbow Falls because obviously we need carbs!

I got the veggie with soy crumbles, sans cheese.  It was on a thin wheat pizza crust with a spicy italian sauce.  Totally worth the price (Mammoth is expensive…everywhere!  I paid $4.25 a gallon for gas!  Thank god for my Hybrid!)

To help digest our food we headed off to my favorite lake of all: Lake George.  I even have my own rock where I fish every time I come. Ok, it’s not my rock, but lets just say I get up way before the crack of dawn to get out there, run half way around the lake and claim that rock as mine for the morning for fishing.  Lots of people are mad when they discover I got there before them.

The hike was just over a mile long and just what we needed after the pizza.  It was super buggy though and we were both covered in mosquito bites after we were done!

Our last stop of the night was to Horseshoe Lake…which actually has no fish and is a carbon dioxide sink.

See the dead trees? It’s not the lack of water, it’s the over-abundance of CO2.

And the end to day two!  It was a nice day of hiking, but would have been nicer if we’d had a few more days because the elevation difference is something that Whit had a hard time getting used to…not me though.  I’d only gone up another 4,000 – 5,000 ft in elevation whereas he went up 8,000 – 9,000ft!  Yikes!

I’ll show you day three tomorrow!  For now, bed time!

Mammoth 2011

I decided it was time to show Whit my childhood playground from as far back as I can remember:

We started our journey on Friday and headed up 395 to our first stop, Manzanar War Relocation Center:

My family has been here more times than we can count, reading all the plaques, information and personal stories that we can wrap our brains around.  Being Whit’s first time, and with a Japanese heritage, this hit home for him like it does every time for me. 

Both of my grandparent’s families were unfortunate enough to be ripped from their homes back in 1941-42, lose almost everything, and placed in a random desert area until the war was over.  It seriously makes my blood boil that the country I live in, did this to the people of my heritage.

Anyhow, up the desert and mountain we went to the town of Mammoth Lakes!

Yay!!!  I love this place more than I could ever describe with words.  I’m a small down girl at heart so a mountain town is something I would love for everything it has.  No wonder I live in one now, right?!  The only difference between this one and my home is an extra 4,000-5,000ft elevation and many more lakes for fishing, birding and hiking!  Yay!

We took our time just taking in the town, showing Whit around, and got dinner before hitting the sack pretty early; we had an early morning the next day anyhow!

Before today, I hadn’t been up to Devil’s Postpile National Monument since…gosh, probably almost 2003 with my family.  You take a shuttle back through the San Joaquin Valley to the monument then make your way into the forest to see the postpile and so many other beautiful places.

Devil’s Postpile is very unique in it’s geographical formation as the entirety of the columnar basalt pile is hexagonal!

Here are my size 9.5 shoes for size reference:

Aren’t they cool!?  I’ve always been amazed by them and it’s amazing how nature goes about things like…conserving space by making these asymmetrical shapes!

We finished off at the postpile into the Ansel Adam’s Wilderness Area, part of the Inyo National Forest and one of my favorite hikes of all time.  Though it hasn’t been the same since 1992:

I remember when this area was completely covered in forest…but in 1992 a forest fire ignited from a lightening strike, torching 9,000 acres of forest, almost 80% of the national park. It’s amazing how much it’s changed in the almost 10 years since I’ve been there.

I can’t wait until the yearlings start popping up in the really burnt areas and we get some forest cover again!  I probably won’t be alive to see it, but I hope my kids or theirs might!

I couldn’t help but take pictures of the chipmunks.  They hold a special place in my heart.

They’re so cute because they follow you along the trail in hopes of getting something to eat…sorry little one; I know how domestication can kill you in the long run.

Next stop, my favorite of them all:

Rainbow Falls.  You can’t see a picture of the rainbow, but it’s there.  And the water is heavy and flowing this year!  I’ve seen it in years where it was just a trickle!  Thank goodness Mammoth had a HUGE snow level this year!  Saweeeet!

We made out way back to the pack station to take the bus back to the resort where our car was parked and onto our next adventure for he afternoon!  But you’ll have to wait and see what we did until tomorrow!  I’ll just say, it involves, EARTHQUAKES!