Following Cori and Sooz up Hwy 395 to the Mono Craters. The plan is to hike up to South Crater from the east then continue on to Crater Mountain.

On one of the dirt roads on the east side of the craters.

Our hike will start from here just east of South Crater.

Sooz, Cori and Joe (me) ready for the hike.

Starting up the east slope.

Looking up at South Crater. The volcaic sand was fairly easy to hike on.

Cori with lenticular cloulds to the southwest.

Sooz with Crater Mountain to the north.

Cori at the base of one of the peaks on the crater's rim.

Cori on top.

Sooz climbing the rock pile.

Me, Cori and Sooz on South Crater at 9,138 feet.

View of Crater Mountain and Mono Lake beyond.

Zoomed in on Crater Mountain.

View to the south.

Snow covered Sierra.

Zoomed in on Mount Ritter and Banner Peak

Sooz and Cori.

From here we will hike to Crater Mountain which is about a mile away.

Climbing down off the rock pile.

It's was really cold and windy crossing South Crater.

Sooz on the edge of the crater.

We had to drop down about 500 feet before hiking up to the ridge that leads to Crater Mountain.

Going down the sandy slope was fun.

Looking back at South Crater from the ridge.

Cori up ahead on the ridge.

We had great view of the Sierra Mountains on this hike.

Another Sierra shot.

Looking back at South Crater from the saddle just south of Crater Mountain.

Sooz starting up the south slope of Crater Mountain.

Cori almost to the crater.

Looking arcoss the crater from the south. The high point is the peak on the norhtwest edge of the crater rim.

It hard to see in this photo, but there are two peaks here. The one in back turned out to be the high point.

Me, Cori and Sooz at Crater Mountain's high point at 9,172 feet with Mono Lake behind us.

View of Mono Lake to the north. I think that this is one the best places to view Mono Lake from. The lake is about 5 miles from the peak.

Zoomed in on Paoha and Negit Islands.

Looking down on two craters to the north of Crater Mountain.

Cori and Sooz with the peak register.

Looking to the southeast arcoss Crater Mountain's crater and the peaks that suround it.

Another view of the crater with South Crater on the right.

South Crater

Crossing the crater to the south rim.

We bee lined it from the saddle just south of the peak to the vehilcles.

Almost there.

Back at the trailhead. This was a really fun hike with great views.

Driving out, we stopped on Hwy 120 to get a shot of Crater Mountain and South Crater.

Back at Cori's condo in Mammoth, we had a little party for her birthday. Sooz made her a couple of funny cards and got her a bunch of fun gifts.

Cori blowing out the candles.