Crowley Lake to Benton Crossing — Owens Valley Volcanic Tableland Desert Loop via Long Valley Caldera

The Long Valley Caldera east of Mammoth Lakes is a supervolcano that last erupted 760,000 years ago and still makes its presence known through hot springs, fumaroles, and a tableland of volcanic tuff that looks like the moon with sagebrush. The loop from Crowley Lake east to Benton Crossing via the Owens River Gorge rim and the volcanic tableland keeps you on Bureau of Land Management dirt the whole way — graded two-tracks past obsidian fields worked by Paiute people for thousands of years, hot spring soaks at Benton Crossing where the Owens River runs warm, and big views of the Sierra crest from the east side where the range is at its most dramatic. This is eastern Sierra backcountry that doesn’t make the Instagram feeds because it requires leaving US-395 behind.

Moderate difficulty — a stock high-clearance 4WD handles it fine in dry conditions, but the tuff tableland track gets slick and can develop deep ruts after winter. Best run April through October; summer mornings before noon are ideal to avoid afternoon thunderstorms building off the Sierra. No permit required, dispersed camping is legal throughout the BLM tableland with Leave No Trace practices. Fuel in Mammoth Lakes or Bishop. Cell service exists near Crowley Lake but drops to nothing on the tableland proper — this is not a route to run on a bad weather day in a street SUV. The hot springs at Benton Crossing are the reward: soak in 100°F water with the Sierra Nevada above you and nobody for miles.