The plan for the second day was to hike a few miles to Cinder Cone, a small but dramatic volcano in the midst of some otherworldly, ashen surroundings.
Peter, me, Isolde, Sonja, and Danny, just after breakfast on the second day. Sonja was having a bad hair day already.
Laura and John in front of Cinder Cone.
This Martian landscape was called the Painted Dunes, and made for rather slow progress during uphill stretches.
All this was spewn from the Cinder Cone sometime after 1914.
While most of the group continued on up the cone, a few of us stayed back for a more relaxed pace, enjoying the landscape and what shade we could find. (Left to right: Isolde, Laura, Greg, and Donna. Sonja hid behind the camera again.)
I liked this picture for its depth of scale. That's Lassen Peak in the background.
This shows the critical slope of the cone wall.
Laura and Donna, relaxing in the shade.
Adrian, tearing down the trail like the Roadrunner. Peter was soon to follow.
Most of the group, recollected at the foot of Cinder Cone.
A most igneous rock.
These three knew each other before the trip. (Left to right: Leslie, Stacy and Laura.)
The second night's meal at Echo Lake was quite involved, and became something of a community effort.
The result turned out to be quite worth the wait, and here we see a few of the cooks: Rona, Leslie, Isolde and Peter.