Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tourists often drank Apollinaris Spring water in the early years of the park (1925).
11.4/9.6 Mount Holmes Trailhead.
The summit of Mount Holmes is 10 miles (16 km) and
3,000 vertical feet (915 m) from this trailhead.
A Mountain of Glass
The vertical columns of pentagonal-shaped blocks of obsidian, rising some 250 feet above
the road, present a glistening, mirror-like effect when illumined by the sun's rays. The
greater part of this mineral glass is jet black and quite opaque with traces of similar form-
ation variegated with streaks of red and yellow. The construction of the roadway along
its base was accomplished in a novel manner and with considerable difficulty; blasting
powder being ineffectual, great fires were built around the huge blocks of glass, which,
when heated, were suddenly cooled by dashing water upon them, thus shattering the
blocks into small fragments. This process made possible the construction of this really
wonderful roadway, probably the only piece of glass road in the world.
—from the
Haynes Guide,
1912
