Obsidian Dome

After Mammoth Lakes, we continued on up 395 toward Mono Lake (it seems to be pronounced 'Moe - No' for us non locals, otherwise we would have been calling it Mono like Bono from U2).   We stopped at Obsidian Dome along the way to Mono Lake.
The volcanic dome has a large amount of obsidian glass and pumice rocks.

From the top, we could see north to Mono Lake.

Annie wanted to get more ballast for the trailer, and we all wanted to climb on it.  They are also alleged to be good door stops at home.  We each picked one, to limit us to 4.

 

 We climbed up on top, and the kids did some sliding down on the snow.  It would be dangerously exhilarating to use a sled.

After sliding and hiking around, we made it to Mono Lake, just another half hour north, and found a good spot to get set up.

We had some excitement later in the evening, a fire truck with lights all spinning came out to see us after dark.   I thought oh, great, we'll be needing to move on.  But no, they were out looking for a fire.  Nope, no fire here,  and sure you
 can camp here, fine by us. 

This particular land looks to be Los Angeles Water and Power District land.  Some areas we saw between Manzanar and Mammoth were marked as no camping allowed.  Here no signs, and a couple of camp fire rings, so seems to be ok.

This site is described here ,   we went in the road a bit more because it was already occupado, and found this little clearing.