Dusk on the Upper O
Meet the stream of my dreams, and one of the Eastern Sierra’s most enchanting rivers.
It is here that the heartbeats of the Earth finally emerge in the form of steamy magic after passing through layers of fire and brimstone. This is the Upper Owens River, winding like a snake through the Long Valley Caldera, with the Eastern Sierra beyond.
If you know what you're looking for — and that would be the remnants of an ancient mega-volcanic eruption so powerful it sent ash as far as Nebraska — the signs are unmistakable: Geothermal activity, Bishop Tuff, and the distinct rim of a 10x20 mile crater that formed after a mammoth volcano emptied its chamber of magma and collapsed 760,000 years ago.
Today, this is as fine a place as any to worship the stars, cast flies to wild trout, watch snow melt off the mountaintops, and drink cold beers as coyotes yip and howl at the moon.
LOCATION: Upper Owens River near Brown’s Campground in Long Valley.
DATE: August 2015