Panum Crater - and a geocache on top

After visiting the South Tufa towers, we thought we'd stop by Panum Crater for a look.  I saw on my Geocaching app that there was a cache at the top - so we decided to go find it.

Panum Crater is a rhyolite dome crater - meaning the typical round crater with an indention formed first, then a hard lava plug formed in the middle.  In Panum, the plug is made of obsidian and rhyolite, and is higher than the rim of the crater itself. Below is a tower of obsidian about halfway up the climb.

Here, Don stops about 2/3 of the way up. He's looking north towards Mono Lake and Lee Vining.  In the center right of the photo you can see a ridgeline with two pine trees - we were headed for the pine tree on the right.



This is a shot looking northwest from the cache.




This is looking south from the cache.


Here's another shot of the ridge line we'd climbed - it was a bit steeper than it looks, but we had no problems. The hike back down was nice, except I hadn't planned on hiking, and was wearing Keen thong sandals.  I kept getting rocks under my feet all the way down. I sure was glad when the trail leveled out. I've learned my lesson - always keep the hiking boots in the truck!