Volcanic Ridge

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The generically named Volcanic Ridge (11,500 feet) is a short side branch off of the southern end of the Ritter Range in the Ansel Adams Wilderness.
Along with the rest of the Ritter Range, Volcanic Ridge is the remains of a long extinct volcano that was active well before the Sierra Nevada range appeared. Except for the Convict Canyon area, the surface rocks are older than all other parts of the Sierra. Erosion removed enormous amounts of surface material so that what is now on the surface is colorful metamorphosed igneous rock that was once beneath the volcano. As in the Minarets, there is lots of loose, crumbly rock which is not all that pleasant to hike and climb on.
There are two trailheads from which the Volcanic Ridge can be ascended. They are both about the same distance (8 miles) from Volcanic Ridge but the route from Agnew Meadows (8,400 feet) is more scenic and involves less of a climb than the route from the Devil’s Postpile Trailhead (7,600 feet). Both trailheads are on Route 203, west of the Mammoth Mountain resort.

highwire.stanford.edu/~galic/hiking/volcanicridge/
www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/258998/volcanic-ridge....

Yellow outline traces the 10,500 foot elevation contour line.