Devil's Postpile Bike and Hike

Sept. 23 - 25, 2005

Nine riders enjoyed the splendid scenery of the eastern Sierra on this three-day tour. We started the ride at Benton Crossing Road, east of the town of Mammoth Mountain. We rode into the town, bucking fierce headwinds and crosswinds (30 mph sustained, up to 70 mph on the ridges), up past the main ski lodge to Minaret Summit. We then enjoyed an eight-mile descent through the pine-scented forest with mini waterfalls, streams, and lakes to Reds Meadow, our camp for the night.

In the morning, the wind diminished, we did a short hike to visit the postpiles at the monument, then on our bicycles climbed back to Minaret Summit. We took the Mammoth Scenic Road, and climbed over Deadman Summit to the June Lake loop, where the aspen were just beginning to show their fall colors. We camped at Silver Lake, where some deer were browsing near our campsite, the fishermen were casting into the lake, and a lovely waterfall could be seen on the mountainside just across from our site. We all enjoyed each other's company at our camp table as the sun dropped down behind the mountain.

On our third day we cycled on a back road that skirted Mono Lake, went past the site of the abandoned Mono Mills, past Mono Craters, and over Sagehen Pass. We had a splendid view of the Sierras, with a dusting of new snow on some of the mountaintops.

Riders were Bob Lloyd, Larry Moore, Jerry Tate, Shahla Hashemi, Kathy Shapiro, Don Porter, Ron Frankiewicz, Mike Wolfe, and Ellie Antonio. In the three days we rode 136 miles and climbed 10,200 feet