Devils Postpile National Monument, National Monument in Madera County, United States.
Devils Postpile National Monument is a protected area in Madera County, California, preserving a massive wall of hexagonal basalt columns. The structure rises along a slope, with each column running parallel to the next and forming a pattern that looks like tightly packed pencils.
President Taft declared the area a protected monument in 1911 after plans for a dam threatened the formation. Ice shaped the landscape during the last ice age and left behind the smooth surface on top of the columns.
Early settlers gave the formation its name after imagining the vertical columns as posts of a supernatural organ. Today hikers walk to the base of the trail to view the geometric shapes up close and navigate by the play of light and shadow across the walls.
Visitors reach the area by shuttle bus during summer months when the access road is open. In winter, snowshoes or cross-country skis provide the only way to reach the columns, as no vehicles pass through.
The top surface shows traces of glacier polish that give the rock a mirrorlike shine. Few places on Earth offer such a clear view of the ice power that flowed over the basalt thousands of years ago.
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