Once again, we saw a sign on the highway that said Obsidian Dome, and we immediately swung onto the dirt road, right off US 395 near the town of Mammoth Lakes. We had no idea what the road would lead to, but we already knew that obsidian glass was really cool, and checking it out just had to be a good idea.
The road, Obsidian Loop Road, was a bit lumpy, and only one lane wide, but we had no trouble driving it in our 4WD Rav4. We pulled over every so often so I could check my Caltopo app to find the best place to park. This wasn’t exactly a tourist-Mecca or anything. Only crazy obsidian-lovers and geologists really wanted to go here. Ok, there were a few hikers and mountain bikers that liked it, too.
We parked on a side road that was right next to the big pile of rocks that made up this lava flow. There were other flows nearby, called the Glass Creek and Deadman Creek flows. According to the link above, this obsidian has too many bubbles, or vesicles, to be useful for making arrowheads. And, much like Big Obsidian Flow up in the Newberry Caldera in Oregon, much of the rock isn’t exactly black or glassy. You had to look for the better specimens.
Apparently, someone must have used this rock for something, as there was a plowed road leading up to the top of the lava flow. This is what we climbed. Up at the top was further evidence of bulldozer work in the past. Maybe they used it for roadways, I don’t know.
Once we were up on top, it was time to walk around a bit. Technically, there is a trail up there, but it isn’t all that clear where to go. There aren’t any signs of any kind. Explore at will, in other words. And that’s what we did. We met a few folks wandering around aimlessly, just like us. And there were views, as well. But we never made it to the actual summit of the dome that was marked on my map. That would require more rock scrambling than we wanted.
We hiked back down to the car. It was getting closer to noon, and we were hungry. I mentioned to Vicki that Mammoth Lakes was close by, and they had plenty of places to eat. So away we went!
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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