Obsidian Dome – Because California Rocks!
Obsidian Dome is just one of the many oddball volcanic features found in the Eastern Sierras in California. This is a neat stop to add to any US-395 California Eastern Sierra road trip. Here’s how our visit to Obsidian Dome went:
My original plan for this section of our trip — the Yosemite segment — was completely thwarted due to fires in the park and threats of flash flooding in Death Valley (which had us staying in Las Vegas for an extra night), and other August weather woes. Obsidian Dome wasn’t something we were going to check out originally; on this particular day of our trip, we were supposed to be driving over the Tioga Pass towards Yosemite Valley. That didn’t happen.
So instead, we decided to take the I-395 “tour.” And I’m glad we did because we were able to see some very interesting spots — I ended up loving this area of the country – in fact, the Eastern Sierra is probably my favorite spot in the United States.
After checking out of our hotel, we drove up to Mammoth Mountain, as we planned on visiting Devil’s Postpile National Monument. As we were driving up the twisty mountain road, the skies went from partly cloudy and pleasant to downright threatening. Weather in the mountains can change in an instant, so when we reached the parking lot for the shuttle, we decided to skip it. The sky was completely black at that point. We really didn’t feel like spending time out in the pouring rain (yes we are made of sugar and we’re going to melt), and we didn’t want our camera equipment to get wet. Such babies.
So we drove back down the mountain and made our way to I-395. Our plan for the day was to eventually end up in Lake Tahoe, as we had a room reserved there for the night. Of course, once we were down to a lower elevation, the sun came out and the threatening weather disappeared! Ugh, mountains!
Visiting Obsidian Dome
Our first stop was Obsidian Dome, which is a mountain of volcanic glass in the middle of the woods. The road leading to the dome is located right off of I-395 but there’s no sign. It’s a narrow dirt road that takes you through a forest for about 3 miles. You’ll see the dome as you’re driving, and you won’t really know where you should park. At least we didn’t. The road narrows considerably as you drive further and further along — once we got to a point where we didn’t think our wee Hyundai Accent could make it, we parked the sucker and got out to explore.
I don’t know if I could park where I did, but there was no one around so, #YOLO, right? (I always have that city girl mentality that if I’m parked where I shouldn’t be, the tow truck is coming!) Apparently, we chose a good spot, because there was a trail leading up to the top of the dome – and you really don’t want to climb this without the trail — the rocks are sharp and you could seriously injure yourself. You can drive the entire loop around the base of the dome, but you really need a 4×4.
Now, this here dome isn’t for everyone. I mean, when you get down to it, it’s basically a big pile of rocks in the middle of a forest. Once we got to the top, we felt like we were trespassing on a construction site.
As you can see in the pics, this rock mountain isn’t all composed of the black obsidian — there are a lot of regular ol’ backyard rocks — or maybe it’s different kinds of obsidian? I don’t know, I’m a project manager, not a geologist! And it’s not the most photogenic location either. Other than a few people enjoying a picnic, we were the only ones there. My sister likes geology, so she got a kick out of this place.
Because I was fretting about where the car was parked, I had to hurry us along (because, the tow truck was coming, of course! ….even though we’re out in Bumfuck, California…without a soul in sight). We snapped some pics, admired the glassy obsidian, and we were on our way to another Eastern Sierra oddity — Mono Lake.
Obsidian Dome Location
Obsidian Dome is located right off of US-395, about 18 miles north of Mammoth Lakes, California. This is in between the towns of Mammoth Lakes and June Lake. You will want to turn off onto Obsidian Road.
Obsidian Road is an unpaved road leading to the rock formation. The dome is located not even a mile off the highway.
Even though Google Maps will note “Parking Spot 1 and 2”, there really is no parking so-to-speak. Once you see the dome, you can pretty much park anywhere, as long as you pull off to the side. You really don’t need to be as neurotic about parking as I was! The unpaved road gets pretty rough the further you go – we did this in a tiny car with low clearance!
Have you ever been to Obsidian Dome? What did you think?
