Soft sunset colors illuminate the columns at California’s Crowley Lake. The alien-looking structure was created 760,000 years ago by a volcanic explosion. Click the icon in the lower righthand corner of the player to expand the video.
Rising like alien architecture on an unmarked beach, the columns at Crowley Lake are one of California’s best-kept secrets. This is how I reached them.
As the sun sank ever closer toward the towering Sierra Nevada Mountains to my west, I dashed down an unnamed road in one of the most remote corners of Eastern California. My destination was an ancient phenomenon like nothing else on the planet, created 760,000 years ago by a massive volcanic explosion.
Time wasn’t on my side.
Magic hour, the short interval of ideal photography light that occurs in the early morning and late afternoon, was only minutes from commencing. The late autumn snow that blanketed the area around me began to take on a peculiar bluish hue as the sun’s angle became increasingly severe. Moving at a trot while simultaneously scanning the edges of Crowley Lake, I spotted a sport-utility vehicle that was parked on the bluff bordering a beach.
Once I made it to the SUV, the sun had just clipped the mountains, and the lake’s otherworldly columns were only a short distance below. Including a video and my custom map, the following steps describe how you can reach them, too:
1. Make the drive to the trailhead
As indicated on my custom map below, the trailhead to the columns at Crowley Lake is on an unnamed road near Long Valley Dam. The only way to access the unmarked parking area is to take Owens Gorge Rd., which cuts through the unincorporated community of Sunny Slopes. For a detailed description of how I got to the trailhead, click to read my companion travel guide “How to Drive to the Crowley Lake Columns Trailhead.”
2. Assess trail conditions
As I mentioned in my companion travel guide, the road leading to the columns at Crowley Lake receives minimal maintenance, and I highly recommend you take a vehicle with four-wheel drive capability to safely reach the parking area. I arrived in late November after a recent snowstorm; the short distance from Owens Gorge Rd. to the trailhead (shown on my map) was a muddy morass.
This is where your judgment is important: With the right vehicle, such as the SUV with high clearance in my introduction, you can successfully drive to the columns. However, you can also end up hopelessly stuck in a quagmire like a few other ill-equipped vehicles I encountered on my walk.
As my map indicates, it’s only 1.8 miles (2.9 kms) to the columns, and the terrain is mostly flat. I will leave it to you to determine whether you should drive or hike.
3. Follow the green line on my map to the columns
If you are reading this at the trailhead and my custom map renders, I strongly suggest you screenshot it now. Cell service is spotty at best along the trail, and I found reliance on online navigation apps to be useless. As you can see on my map, there are a myriad of spurs (marked red) that connect to the unnamed road leading to the columns. Follow the meandering green line northwest, resisting any urge to turn toward the lake.
4. Safely make the drop to the beach
When you reach the end of the road, the columns will be on the beach below the parking area. The only obstacle separating you from the singular ancient wonder is a steep decline to the sand. While the drop is probably easily navigable in warmer months or drier conditions, I wasn’t that lucky when I made my hike in late autumn: A deep snowdrift covered the trail to the beach, soaking my shoes and sinking me to my belt several times before I made it to level ground.
If you find yourself facing similar conditions, I recommend making an accurate assessment regarding your health and fitness. Remember, you will have to make it out through the same conditions. I slipped and nearly fell twice on black ice on my ascent back to the road.
5. Be sure to mind the time
While I wouldn’t say you should throw out the official sunset tables for California, you do need to consider the fact that you will lose light faster at Crowley Lake than most other places in the state. The Sierra Nevada Mountains are just to the west; they will begin to block out the evening sun well before it would have hit a level horizon.
Aside from getting caught in the snowdrift on the descent to the beach, I was fortunate in terms of conditions and weather on the day of my hike. The skies were clear, and the moon was already out by the time I finished touring the columns. I walked back to my truck under the stars, with the snow bordering the unnamed road providing a glittering reference.
If you are planning to make the trek in the late afternoon like me, make sure you bring along a flashlight. The columns are miles from the nearest electrical light source, and cloud cover will completely wipe out near-field visibility.
Related Content
– Click to view my high-resolution photo collection of the columns at Crowley Lake.
– Click to read my feature article “Nevada: TOPGUN and My Grandma’s Legacy” for the story of my family’s connection to the legendary U.S. Navy fighter pilot training program.
– Click to watch my high-definition video showing me walking through the columns at Crowley Lake.