I always keep a list of sites that I have discovered while reading other hiker blogs, researching trips, or just talking to fellow outdoorsy folk. Among the more interesting ones I have recently read about was a place called Fossil Falls about 40 miles south of Lone Pine. With my weekend dedicated to reaching the summit of Mount Whitney, I was going to be in the area anyway. I ran the idea past my trip companions, Van and Bill, and arriving in Lone Pine with plenty of day light left and only the quick chore of setting up our night's camp at the Whitney Portal campground, we agreed to check it out.
The sign would be easy to miss if you were not looking for it, but the feature itself is probably less than a quarter of a mile off of US 395. A gravel road leads past some exposed campsites to a small trail head. The trail from the parking lot leads just a couple of hundred yards to the top of the ancient falls.
From here, the landscape below is filled with some of the most contrasting and interesting geology I have seen. After reading the sign, I have a better understanding. Volcanic basalt flows from ancient volcanoes in the area covered the area prior to the last ice age and then as the ice age was coming to a close, a river of melting snow and ice created a river flowing through this canyon over the basalt.
The water carved and polished the semi-soft basalt into some amazing features. As I walk around, I'm amazed to see such an interesting place so near the highway and so little known. I can't help but visualize the water flowing from the creek beds and river bed below and tumbling over a series of connecting waterfalls to finally create what must have been a raging river of cold snow melt below flowing for the horizon.
After exploring for a short time, we head back to my jeep and start the drive back towards Whitney Portal, but this side trip was well worth it and I would recommend it to anyone traveling the already rich drive along US 395. You won't regret this extremely short detour.
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