We left the rim road and headed a few miles away from the lake out to Pinnacles Overlook.
How the pinnacles were formed: 1) An eruption about 7,700 years ago buries a river valley. Temperatures may have exceeded 750 degrees F. ... 2) Water escapes as steam to the surface through vents (fumaroles). Tremendous heat causes minerals in the escaping steam to cement to the sides of the vents.
3) Over thousands of years, erosion carved away the softer ash and pumice, leaving these formations. Many of these fossil fumaroles are hollow.
The strange 100-foot tall pumice spires
Looking north to Mount Scott .... and back at the rows of pinnacles that line Wheeler Creek Canyon
Possibly the park boundary marker
A ground squirrel stops to check us out.
Driving back to the East Rim Road
We made another stop at the Phantom Ship Overlook and walked out a bit further this time.
(right) A closer view of Mount Thielsen
We continued working our way up the east side of the lake.
Scott with Mount Scott!
We enjoyed the view at Cloudcap Overlook.
Strong winds blowing in from the west cause the trees to grow at an angle. These are known as flag trees.
The Bybee Creek Fire started on July 28 and was contained on August 9th (today is Sept 30th), but many areas continued to produce smoke for several weeks.
We continued a bit further along the road then turned around at Cleetwood Cove Trail (which we would have walked but it was closed).
