Inner Basin Sep 14

The San Francisco Peaks are the remnant of an ancient 20,000 ft volcano which exploded in the same way Mt St Helens did in 1980. Today the remnant of the original mountain is a series of peaks surrounding Inner Basin, which is now a verdant catchment that traps rainfall in a porous eroded lava pipe

1 INNER BASIN	2 No fall color yet, but a wet summer has brought out the flowers	3	4
5	6 Starting at Lockett's Meadow with steep switchbacks up the hill	7	8
9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20
21	22 After reaching Waterline Road, we continue up the hill by trail	23	24
25	26	27	28
29 Thisupper segment of the trail always has moss and mushrooms	30	31	32
33	34	35 An open meadow for our morning break	36
37	38	39	40
41	42	43 The weather begins to close in again	44
45 A deadly Amanita mushroom	46	47 The pumphouse supplyiong water to Flagstaff	48 This is the center of the circle of San Francisco Peaks summit hills formed by the long-aho explosion of the original volcanic peak
49	50	51	52 We opt to climb another 300 feet, to readch the 10,000 ft level
53 Mullein	54 This is a good time for lunch	55	56 Heading down as the weather grows more "interesting"
57	58	59 Back on Waterline Road, which we now take to the first trail crossing	60
61	62	63	64
65 This is where the switchbacking lower trail starts, and we leave the road	66	67	68
69	70	71	72
73	74	75	76
77