Among the best ways to see the top sights of Devils Postpile National Monument – located southeast of California’s Yosemite National Park – is via a day hike.
Just four trails allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – hexagonal columns of rock, a waterfalls, and mountain-rimmed lakes high in the Sierra Nevada (All distances are from the Devils Postpile trailhead):
• Devils Postpile – A massive collection of nearly perfect hexagonal columns of rock await day hikers on the Devils Postpile Trail. The trail is an easy 0.9-mile round trip hike. This 60-foot high wall sports some of the most perfect examples of columnar basalt in the world – if not mathematically flawless, it certainly is visually. About 55 percent of the columns are six-sided hexagons.
• Rainbow Falls – A 101-foot high waterfall sits at the end of on the Rainbow Falls Trail, which heads into the Inyo National Forest. Sunny afternoons are the best time to take this 6-mile round trip hike – not just for the good weather but because rainbows will appear in the mist. From the ranger station, go south; this can be combined with a hike to the Devils Postpile.
• Minaret Lake Trail – A 150-foot long cascade just across the national monument border in the Ansel Adams Wilderness awaits at the end of this 2.8-mile round trip hike. Hikers also can enjoy views of Minaret Lake, the headwaters of Minaret Creek, which the trail parallels part of the view. From the trailhead, take the John Muir Trail west then the Sierra High Route/Pacific Crest Trail north.
• Fern Lake Trail – Hikers also can explore the Ansel Adams Wilderness on this 8.9-mile round trip trail that runs to a lake almost 9000 feet above sea level. Three great peaks – one in the north, one in the west, and one in the south – rise over the lake. After crossing the Middle Fork San Joaquin River, take the pack trail southwest.
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