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Devils Postpile Opens with a 'Tree Cutting' Ceremony

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Before the road into Devils Postpile National Monument was opened on Friday, June 29, 2012 | Photo: Courtesy National Park Service
Before the road into Devils Postpile National Monument was opened on Friday, June 29, 2012 | Photo: Courtesy National Park Service

Devils Postpile National Monument is finally open. The seasonal park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, usually closed until the snow melts away, had a different problem this dry winter: trees -- lots of them.

A windstorm on November 30, 2011 wrecked havoc across California, but no where else saw hurricane-force gusts like the Mammoth Lakes area. Before the gates opened Friday, Devils Postpile Superintendent Deanna Dulen said winds reached up to 180 mph, downing tens fo thousands of trees. "No where else in the Sierra was hit this hard," she noted.

But thanks to rigorous work by several agencies and volunteers, the small National Park Service unit surrounded by the Inyo National Forest opened after trees blocking roads -- but not from all the trails, so be careful -- were cleared. And it was marked with some fanfare, although not with oversized scissors and a red ribbon, but appropriately so with a downed tree and, of course, a chainsaw.

Previously
- New Shuttles with Increased Bicycle Capacity to be Used at Devils Postpile
- Video: A Quick Overview of Devils Postpile National Monument
- How Nature and Humanity Conspired to Create Devils Postpile National Monument.

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