Machado post piles
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 5.41 mi
- Elevation gain
- 833 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 833 ft
- Max elevation
- 7,607 ft
- TrailRank
- 36
- Min elevation
- 6,950 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 2 hours 56 minutes
- Time
- 5 hours 48 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1574
- Uploaded
- October 30, 2018
- Recorded
- October 2018
near Kit Carson, California (United States)
Viewed 209 times, downloaded 2 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
In1934, a Stockton man hiking alone across Granite Mountain's wilderness in Eldorado National Forest discovered an ancient wonder.
Jesse Machado (1910-1992), a 24-year-old worker at Camp Silver Lake was returning from a day spent fishing the high lakes. Hiking cross-country, Machado was blazing a shortcut across the rugged granite-and-pine of the mountain's northeast slope. Around 7,900 feet, he unexpectedly found himself standing before a vast and peculiar cliff.
The cliff's bizarre rock rose in thousands of towering, six-sided columns -naturally occurring hexagonal columns, all fitted together, 30 feet high, stretching an imposing 900 feet along the cliff face, perhaps 200 feet deep, and rust-red, not granite-white, in color.
Other columns lay in geometric piles where they had toppled. Machado had discovered a formation bigger than Devil's Postpile National Monument and eons older. But no one was to learn of his find for years; Machado kept it a secret. And years later, when he announced his discovery, few in the high country believed him.
Jesse Machado (1910-1992), a 24-year-old worker at Camp Silver Lake was returning from a day spent fishing the high lakes. Hiking cross-country, Machado was blazing a shortcut across the rugged granite-and-pine of the mountain's northeast slope. Around 7,900 feet, he unexpectedly found himself standing before a vast and peculiar cliff.
The cliff's bizarre rock rose in thousands of towering, six-sided columns -naturally occurring hexagonal columns, all fitted together, 30 feet high, stretching an imposing 900 feet along the cliff face, perhaps 200 feet deep, and rust-red, not granite-white, in color.
Other columns lay in geometric piles where they had toppled. Machado had discovered a formation bigger than Devil's Postpile National Monument and eons older. But no one was to learn of his find for years; Machado kept it a secret. And years later, when he announced his discovery, few in the high country believed him.
Waypoints
Photo
6,968 ft
You can add a comment or review this trail
Comments