Crater Mountain (9,172') with Skibum
Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 11:51 pm
October 9, 2005
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/474083307YIeDlt
Skibum was going to be in the Mammoth area that weekend, but I hadn't heard from him. (My phone had been acting up, and I finally got his message around 6pm) I decided to head north to Mono Craters, just south of Mono Lake. I got to the gas station and had trouble with the gas cap. After 45 min I finally got it open, got gas, and went to Looney Bean for my Latte. As I pulled up, a guy was waving, but I thought he was waving at someone else. When I got out he said "Hi" and started talking to me. It was Skibum! He had just called 2 minutes before I pulled up!
So we headed out to find the road to Crater Mountain. Crater Mountain is the highest of the Mono Craters. We pulled off on the wrong dirt road, and ended up hiking one peak north of where we should have been. This was the scenic route, so we got to hike thru an unmaintained rocky trail, beautiful chunks of obsidian, then a sandy area, dropped 200' to get to the peak to the north, ascended a steep sandy slope, then climbed loose rock, then descended again to a low spot, below Crater Mountain. Once we got to the top, there were big mounds of rock, so we headed for the highest one. Since Skibum is into geology, he was enjoying it! We found the register, and he saw a coworkers entry from 1990. We went back a different way, so I was glad I set a waypoint on the GPS before we left. We didn't see the jeep til we were almost to the road. This was a beautiful scenic and fun trip!
Photos: http://community.webshots.com/album/474083307YIeDlt
Skibum was going to be in the Mammoth area that weekend, but I hadn't heard from him. (My phone had been acting up, and I finally got his message around 6pm) I decided to head north to Mono Craters, just south of Mono Lake. I got to the gas station and had trouble with the gas cap. After 45 min I finally got it open, got gas, and went to Looney Bean for my Latte. As I pulled up, a guy was waving, but I thought he was waving at someone else. When I got out he said "Hi" and started talking to me. It was Skibum! He had just called 2 minutes before I pulled up!
So we headed out to find the road to Crater Mountain. Crater Mountain is the highest of the Mono Craters. We pulled off on the wrong dirt road, and ended up hiking one peak north of where we should have been. This was the scenic route, so we got to hike thru an unmaintained rocky trail, beautiful chunks of obsidian, then a sandy area, dropped 200' to get to the peak to the north, ascended a steep sandy slope, then climbed loose rock, then descended again to a low spot, below Crater Mountain. Once we got to the top, there were big mounds of rock, so we headed for the highest one. Since Skibum is into geology, he was enjoying it! We found the register, and he saw a coworkers entry from 1990. We went back a different way, so I was glad I set a waypoint on the GPS before we left. We didn't see the jeep til we were almost to the road. This was a beautiful scenic and fun trip!