If you judged the area by what you can see from Highway 6 or Highway 395, you wouldn't even slow down, much less get out of your car and walk around. However, if you walk over the first hill, you are treated to an expanse of unique, rocky landscapes perfect for a day of hiking, climbing, or extreme parkour in the Volcanic Tablelands.
About 750,000 years ago, the Long Valley Caldera spewed an area of lava the size of 150 cubic miles between the Sierras and the White Mountains. Add a bit of weathering and you get a vast playground.
So, we didn't do any parkouring, but we did do a lot of jumping from rock to rock to sand to rock, and our son learned the valuable lesson of not using your hands to cushion the fall in a scrub area full of thorny plants.
We found a lot of neat shapes in the rocks - some looked like frozen ocean waves, others like toadstools, and others took a bit of imagination. These are two of those - the top is the "troll's toes" and the bottom is the "grizzly bear".
We went on this hike with a group from the Friends of Inyo, so we found one of the petroglyph sites that are scattered around the Volcanic Tableland.
Of course, after a long, dusty hike with a group and a lot of water, our next stop is a restaurant with a restroom. We were heading north, so even though Bishop was closer, we opted to stop in Tom's Place. Proudly serving the High Sierra for 95 years, Tom's Place has it all - store, cafe, saloon, and lodging next to a rushing creek. We had a welcome break, and filled up on a club sandwich, cheese steak, and a salad.
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