We were planning on heading to Death Valley, but the heat wave that started on April 20th would make DV roasting at 112 degrees on the day we would arrive, so we went to plan B.  This plan took us down to Mono Lake as originally planned, and then we would head east and away from the hottest areas.

The Mono Lake area was beautiful, with snow covered peaks panoramic around us.  The scenery was spectacular, and the RV park we stayed in was easy to find and set up.  The older lady who runs it with her family, we think, was very nice.  They told us that Lee Vining had been pretty slow from a tourist standpoint so far, so that was why so many things were still closed in town.  The helpful ranger at the Mono Lake Visitor Center (a must see, and do view "Fire and Ice," the 20 minute film about the area), explained about road closures, so we could not go to Devil's Postpile, which was still closed by snow.

That night, I had a nice couple of glasses of Navarro's lovely rose wine and then cooked BBQ'd hot dogs, which were great.  Lizzie had made her fabulous macaroni salad, and we had a feast.  The wind came up, quite gusty, as the cold mountain air and the warm desert air mixed, but then it died down.  The next morining, Liz, Helen and I went down Hwy 120 to the turnoff for the Panum Crater, one of a series of cinder cones that bisect the area around Mono Lake, including the Lake itself as Negrit Island is one of the cones, too.  The trailhead had two choices--a rim trail or down to the plug of the volcano.  We chose the rim trail (pictured), and thus began the Mono Lake version of the Death March of Bataan. 

Helen and I were taking pictures, and looking at the sharp bits of obsidian everywhere, while the Energizer Bunny led the way.  And led, and really led, then we were in her dust and the Energizer Bunny became a mere speck in the distance (Helen is shown in the near distance, and the tiny speck on the trail horizon is Liz, or the EB).

A couple of miles later after the trail went  up then down then really up and really steep down, we were finally around the complete rim of the volcano, and caught up with Liz sitting in the shade of the trailhead sign.







The next stop was the South Tufa formation, where the stacks of carbonaceous subsurface vent deposits rise like thousands of ghosts from the lake itself (its current level is much lower than historic high water in the Lake, revealing the tufa) as well as from shore lands below the ancient lake rim. This view shows Helen and Liz on the lakeshore. The tufa are remarkable formations, and the trail winds through ancient deposits.

We returned to our camp for lunch, then headed off to show Helen the Historic State Park of Bodie, an old mining town forever preserved in an arrested state of decay.  We had about an hour to stay in the Park as it closed early at 3:00 p.m. off season, and then headed back out the narrow, winding road through open range.  It was here that Helen spotted three pronghorn antelope in the distance.  This is a picture of one of them.

On Sunday night, four rented, identical large motorhomes came into our park, and camped on either side of us.  They were filled with very noisy tourists from somewhere "down under"--either Australia or NZ.  They partied loudly until midnight, despite the quiet hours after 9 o'clock, and Liz and I got very little sleep.