If you’ve ever driven down Highway 395 near Owens Lake, you may have seen a small sign indicating an exit for Fossil Falls. The sign is tiny and oftentimes overlooked; however, the exit leads you to a destination that is worth a small detour. It’s a short, sweet, and pretty neat pitstop to stretch your legs and explore what is known as a ‘dry waterfall.’
Know Before You Go
- Location: Fossil Falls Access Road, Little Lake, CA (35°58’19.0″N 117°54’38.8″W). Follow an unpaved dirt road for one mile to the parking lot.
- Parking: Small parking lot, with picnic tables and campfire rings at the perimeter
- Restroom: Yes, a vault toilet
- Trail length: 0.5 miles total out-and-back
- Estimated Time: 30 minutes
- Level: Easy
- Open: Year-round
- Cost: Free
- Pets: Dog friendly
- Pro-tips: Even though the trail is short, it’s in the desert and it can get very hot. Be prepared, check the weather and bring plenty of water. Also, while exploring, pay attention, because you might be lucky enough to find some petroglyphs in the area!
What is Fossil Falls?
Fossil Falls isn’t actually a waterfall, despite its name. Oddly, there aren’t any fossils either. Fossil Falls is a hidden gem featuring unique volcanic rock and ancient lava formations located in a desolate area of the Coso Range in California. Not only does it offer cool geological formations resembling that of swiss cheese, it also has beautiful canyon views.
How Was it Formed?
It was formed by volcano and water. Don’t worry, there’s no activity as of currently, but there used to be thousands of years ago. In layman’s terms:
- Volcanic eruptions spewed lava
- Lava hardened to rock
- Glaciers formed a river
- River met lava
- River sculpted lava
Ultimately, Fossil Falls is a result of the dynamic interactions between volcanic eruptions, glacial meltwater, and flowing water.
Getting There
We’ve always seen the sign for Fossil Falls during our many road trips to Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe, but never managed to stop by until this past year. Once we exited (you mustn’t blink, or you’ll miss it), we drove down a short paved road and reached the start of a dirt road.
The dirt road started off a beautiful red color, I assume from the iron oxide content of volcanic rocks.
The landscape changed, and the one-mile dirt road getting to the parking lot got tad bit rocky. We went slow. It wasn’t at all impossible to drive through, but it made for a short bumpy ride in our van. When we arrived, the small parking lot was empty and we had the place all to ourselves.
Overview of Fossil Falls Trail
The trail to get to Fossil Falls is a half mile round-trip, or about a quarter mile to get to the main attraction and another quarter mile to get back. The start of a trail had a large informational plaque about Fossil Falls, and a separate sign that pointed to the direction of the trail.
As I started the trail, I was surrounded by a vast desert field of interesting volcanic rock. Most of the trail was flat, and easy to walk through; however, navigation got questionable towards the end due to trail splits and off-trail foot traffic. Pay attention to the main trail.
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Alas, I finally reached the main attraction after an atrociously long 5 minutes (joking, it was short and easy), and was presented with polished, black, swiss cheese looking rocks with a dramatic drop. From here, I explored the area, and spent some time checking out the almost perfectly circular holes in the lava. Some of these holes had standing water or water lines, I assumed from recent rains.
Use caution as the landscape does change and the rocks might break as proven by the broken rock pieces down below. And, be extremely cautious when nearing the edge; the rocks are polished and can be slippery! After exploring a bit, I walked back the way I came and finished the trail.
A Small Detour That’s Worth It
This geological wonder is a great stop to stretch your legs. The hike took about 30 minutes in total, including time to explore the area, and was a great way to reset our mood from our long road trip. It’s such an interesting scenic spot, and a special experience to be able to stand on top of a lava rock canyon that looked like nothing I’ve seen before. If you’re ever roadtripping down Highway 395, be sure to stop by, you won’t regret it!
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