Minaret Vista: Ritter Range, Sierra Nevada. Ansel Adams Wilderness, Mammoth Lakes, California.

From Minaret Vista, see jagged peaks of the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, California, USA. Minaret Vista is the highest driveable lookout in the Mammoth Lakes area. The Minarets are all that remains of an ancient lava flow which existed long before the formation of Sierra Nevada. The 200-million-year-old volcanic flows and welded ash of what is now the Ritter Range metamorphosed and capped a large magma chamber that later (85 million years ago) cooled into the Cathedral Peak Granodiorite (coarse-grained quartz monzonite), now exposed in impressive peaks of eastern Yosemite National Park.

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Filename: 1507CAL-2307.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com
Image Size: 6000x4000 / 5.3MB; http://www.photoseek.com/
Contained in galleries: 2015 Jul 5-23: all: Sierra Nevada + Castle Crags, California, California: Sierras: Inyo National Forest

From Minaret Vista, see jagged peaks of the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in Ansel Adams Wilderness, Inyo National Forest, California, USA. Minaret Vista is the highest driveable lookout in the Mammoth Lakes area. The Minarets are all that remains of an ancient lava flow which existed long before the formation of Sierra Nevada. The 200-million-year-old volcanic flows and welded ash of what is now the Ritter Range metamorphosed and capped a large magma chamber that later (85 million years ago) cooled into the Cathedral Peak Granodiorite (coarse-grained quartz monzonite), now exposed in impressive peaks of eastern Yosemite National Park.