Don - I guess the only way I know to tell if there is magma moving around is to watch the seismometers.

You need volcanic tremors if magma is on the move. I know there was evidence of this back in late 1997 - do you have any data on current volcanic tremors ?

I heard a remark from one of the USGS people up there that it might even be an interesting scientific event if there was some volcanic activity at McGee creek since it is far away from people and structures and would help them immensely in determining more info about the area - like just how much gas is in the magma (that is related to how explosive the volcanic events are)

There are disputes as to the gas content of the magma in the area - if its high, things get real explosive, if its low, you get rather benign flows like the Mono-Inyo Craters chain.

If you really want a good eference on the area and current research - I would suggest buying the Annual Field Trip Guide Book of the area from the South Coast Geological Society -
look at this page:
http://www.southcoastgeo.org/pubshome.html - you would want guidebook 27 for 1999 (I went on the field trip - it was great!)

Canie