Near Mammoth lakes is a turnout for a viewpoint overlooking some of the most dramatic peaks in the Sierras. We went there every night at sunset to see what the spectacular sky would bring that night. The ragged peaks in theses photos are called the "Minarets". The colors you see here have not been altered or amplified.

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Same sunset night at the Minarets viewpoint. Reminds me of the last part of Disney's Fantasia, a night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky

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More Minarets at sunset

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Early morning dawn on Mono lake, showing some of the Tufas.

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Tufas are sort of lake stalagmites, formed when mineral springs in the much deeper lake erupted into the lake water, and the minerals precipitated out and deposited at the spring vent

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Aspens range is limited in the Sierra but are amazing still when they change color

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Devil's postpile, next to Mammoth Lakes. These mostly hexagonal columns formed when lava flows cooled.

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Devil's Postpile, with some of the columns breaking off and crashing to the ground below.

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Devil's Postpile. The part on the left shows some upheaval of the ground

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Close up of some of the lava columns at Devil's postpile

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Suzy, Barbara and myself on top of the hexagonal (mostly- there are other shapes present also) columns at the top of the Devil's post pile.

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Friends and travel mates Suzy and Ken shooting some of the Aspens

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Aspens reflecting in the stream

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Sierras and Aspens

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Aspens in stream near South Lake.

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Spigot on railing of dam over South Lake, which has very low water levels.

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Waterfall on road from Bishop to South Lake.

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Hiking in the back country near Bishop

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We ventured into the eastern part of Yosemite Park via the Tioga road, and stopped at Tioga Lake to see the mist rising.

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The back of El Capitan rock in Yosemite, from a turnout on the Tioga road.

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The eastern part of Yosemite has granite rock formations similar to the more widely recognized Yosemite valley, thanks to similar glacier action.

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In Tuolemne meadows, Yosemite National Park

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Tuolemne Meadows

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Tuolemne Meadows stream

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Tuolemne meadows

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Back to the Minarets viewpoint near Mammoth at sunset. This time turned 180 degrees to the east, where the setting sun reflects off of the White mountain range to the east of the Sierras

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Sunset glow over White mountains.

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Sunset sky over White Mountains

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Sunset looking back west towards the Minarets

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Sunset over Minarets

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We visited Bodie, one of the best preserved ghost towns in the US. It is remote, harsh (20 deg below during winter with 20 feet of snow- over 110 deg in the summer)

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Bodie was a gold rush mining town, and at it's peak in the 1880's had 62 saloons and 10,000 people.

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The town is a state park kept in a state of "arrested decay"- looked after as a state park but not restored. Repairs are made only to protect the visitors

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Over time the mines played out and the people left. A fire in 1932 destroyed many of the buildings

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The last resident left in the 1940s

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Details of a mechanism at the sawmill. This pulley had a cloth belt running over it.

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Old house in Bodie

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Old and new- flourescent lamp in old fixture.

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Original bottles in window front of store.

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padlocks on doors.

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Visor hanging in the train master station.

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Many interiors are eerily preserved, including this one that has a list of mine bell warnings

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View inside the general store.

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The pharmacy apparently had aspirin for sale.

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Old crank phone on the wall and announcements of entertainment on the wall.

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Near the entry of town some of the grander buildings stand. One of these is the state park's museum and store.

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Some of the houses had very expensive furnishings and wall coverings. This room showed the decay of the wallpaper over the decades.

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