The Other California: Back on the Prairielands

I started my Other California series last year with a post on the little-known and under-appreciated prairielands of the state, a vast landscape surrounding the Central Valley (and which once was the Central Valley in the days before agricultural development). When I conceived of the idea for the prairielands posts, I was in the Sierra Nevada foothills in late fall when all was dry and barren. I revisited the original site today to witness a different world, one that was green and full of life.

The soils in our part of the Sierra foothills are underlain by andesitic mudflow (lahar) deposits that poured off the higher mountains around 9-10 million years ago. The hills in the distance (and around the lake below) are metamorphic rocks of the Foothills Terrane, dating from around 200 million years ago.

We had a reasonably decent rain season, with close to 100% of average precipitation. We really needed about 120% to overcome the three years of drought, since many of the soils around the state are exceedingly dry and need to be replenished, but on this day there was plenty of water in evidence in the normally dry creekbeds and stockponds. One of our favorite stops is a little lake on Willms Road in the vicinity of Knights Ferry on the Stanislaus River. Vast numbers of birds are usually in evidence.

Since getting my first digital camera 9 years ago, I have concentrated on geological subjects, but I have been adding more plants and animals to my repertoire. There is an old adage about geological field work, that you will spend an entire field season collecting every unusual and unique rock in sight, and later come to the realization that you never collected a single specimen of the most common rock in your study area. My bird pictures are kind of like that. I have few pictures of the most common birds in our area.

The fuzzy picture above is my first photograph of a Western Meadowlark. They were very much in evidence, as their calls could be heard every place we stopped, but they were shy about being approached, so this one was taken with a 30x zoom (lest you think I have sophisticated equipment, that is optical and digital zoom together).

The second bird shot is the exceedingly common and obviously-named Redwing Blackbird. These were a couple of guys hanging out, hoping to pick up some ladies. The females are decidedly not well-named, being more drab brown without the red wing spots.

Springtime on the California Prairielands: An Update (and gratuitous baby horsie pictures)

We went out to investigate springtime in the California prairielands, up around the margins of the Central Valley just short of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. There is a pretty sharp demarcation of spring and summer in this Mediterranean climate; the subtropical belt of high pressure shifts north and shuts off the rains coming out of the north, bringing higher temperatures. All the sudden it is dry and hot for six months or so, almost without exception (the exception being the occasional tatters of a hurricane out of Baja California). In those warm days of springtime there is an explosion of life on the grasslands.

The first picture above shows a vernal pool (or a very good representation of one; there were railroad tracks nearby that may have dammed the swale). Vernal pools develop on the very old alluvial fan surfaces of rivers that flowed from the Sierra during the ice ages. The muddy rivers spread all over the plains, but when the glaciers melted away the rivers started flowing with clear water. The faster moving rivers carved deep channels and narrow floodplains that they have occupied for the last 13,000 years. The surfaces above the floodplains are pockmarked with numerous small basins with small interior drainages (caused by wind deflation or differential settling of the soil). The basins are lined with clay that causes water to pond instead of sinking into the soil. The vernal pools are an ecosystem pretty much unique to the Sierra Nevada foothills.

You can see a fairly sharp delineation in the vegetation at the edges of the pools. The normal grasses don't do as well being inundated with water for a few weeks in the spring, and being rooted in solid clay. A number of plant and animal species have evolved to thrive in the unusual environment. The vernal pools have been decimated by urban and agricultural development; they were a major issue during negotiations for the siting of the University of California Merced campus. The one we looked at was in a pasture and had been heavily trampled by cattle.

A lot of flowers were visible. It's pretty amazing that I can identify dozens of minerals without breathing too hard, but I have a mental block when it comes to any flower called something other than Poppy or Lupine. I'm guessing that this beautiful small blue, white, and yellow flower is a Bacigalupi's Downingia, based on a highly sophisticated internet picture search (looking at pictures is one of those things I tell my students not to do when identifying minerals; look at the properties, I say).

I'm a little more sure that the yellow flowers above are Goldfields (Lasthenia californica). There is also some Owls Clover spread along the Goldfields (below). It took a few moments for me to notice the birds perched on the cobbles among the flowers. I am assuming they are juvenile Western Meadowlarks, but I welcome any corrections! I'm about as good with birds as I am with flowers...

I would also welcome an I.D. of the hawk that was soaring above us. I'm afraid I'm flummoxed by any hawks or eagles that don't have red tails...

The prairies that I have come to value so much in recent years are clearly under a threat. For decades the lands have been used for grazing (for better or worse), but as more and more of the prime agricultural lands in the valley have been urbanized, the farms are moving towards the less favorable soils of the foothills. I was shocked by the sudden appearance of hundreds of acres of newly plowed and planted orchards and vineyards.

As promised, there were horses roaming the grasslands, and the mares had recently given birth to foals (I say this because I know Diane and Jennifer, my horse-loving friends, will be all up in arms over the title of today's post). There is an interesting geological connection between the horses and the land here. Most of us know that horses arrived in the "New World" with the Spaniards in the 1500's, but fewer know that the horses were coming home after a fashion.

The ground beneath the feet of mare and foal contains the occasional fossil teeth of horses. Some of the fossils date from as recently as 12,000-13,000 years before the present, the time at which the horses became extinct in North America. Other fossils in older rocks beneath are of smaller horses with different teeth and extra toes. The horses evolved in North America, and there have been dozens of species found as fossils (compared to the three that we have today). Some of them migrated over the Bering Land Strait and thrived in Asia, but they eventually went extinct in America, for reasons that are not clear.

They were a beautiful sight the other day...

The Other California: What to See When You've Run Out of Postcard Destinations (Reprise)

(published by Scope Enterprises, Inc)

My earliest blog project was an exploration of the geologically interesting places in California that don't always show up on the postcards (the earliest post is here). I've been working on this project off and on for a dozen years. If you've followed my blog at all, you know I have a type of Geologist Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome (GADDS), that as soon as I start concentrating on one subject, something interesting pops up somewhere else, and I explore it for a few weeks, and then get distracted again.

Geologists divide California into eleven geomorphic provinces, areas that share unique geologic histories, rock types and topography that are distinct from the surrounding areas. I generally refer to the province when I am describing a particular feature or place. I am categorizing the posts that exist thus far in the same way:

THE INTRODUCTION

The Other California: The Things it is Not: the first post describing what I am up to with this series: most people know about Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley and other famous places, but California has so much more...things and places that don't appear on the postcards

The Other California: Now This is a Postcard!: A brief overview of the geology of the state as it is represented on geologic maps and and introduction to the idea of provinces.

Come to California and You Could Die a Fiery Death! : A short introduction to volcanism in California

THE STATE SYMBOLS

Although the original idea came with a post about California's prairie lands, I pretty much first started out by describing the geologic significance of some of our state symbols.

The Other California: Already Off on a Tangent: A review of the familiar symbols, the Golden Poppy, the California Quail, the California Grizzly Bear, and our state mineral, Gold!

The Other California: Geology and our Other State Symbols: A look at the state mineral, the state rock, and the state gemstone, the one hardly anyone has heard of.

The Other California: Geology and our State Symbols Part 1: a discussion of the evolutionary history of our state fish, the Golden Trout

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols II: the incredible journey of our two state trees, the Sequoia and Coast Redwood

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols III: a look at our state fossil, the saber-tooth cat Smilodon Californicus.

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols IV: California has some unique Gold Rush-era towns, but nothing is quite like Bodie, off in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada.

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols V : The strange politics that led to the establishment of the official California Silver-Rush Ghost Town.
Say Hello to California's New State Dinosaur, Augustynolophus morrisi: The first dinosaur discovered in California was found in our county, Stanislaus.

THE GREAT VALLEY

A huge 400 mile long valley filled with thousands of feet of sediments deposited over 160 million years, and one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the world

The Prairie Lands: California has its own version of savannahs, both present and past.

The Prairies of the Past: An exploration of the most important Pleistocene fossil quarry in central California, the Fairmead Landfill

The Prairie Lands and a Transforming Fault: A journey through Carrizo Plains National Monument and the best exposures of the San Andreas fault to be found anywhere

Back on the Prairielands: A springtime return to the prairies, now green and full of life

Mammoths and Sabertooths rise from the Prairies Again!: The Madera Fossil Discovery Center was almost complete and expected to open in June. Here is a preliminary look
Sharktooth Hill: That's about it...thousands and thousands of shark teeth and a great many other species. 

THE SIERRA NEVADA

The Sierra Nevada is the largest single mountain range in the United States, more than 400 miles long and averaging 50 miles wide. It also has the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Although composed mostly of granite, it also has large exposures of metamorphic and volcanic rocks that tell a remarkable story of traveling continents and terranes, as well as tales of violent eruptions.

A Gorge Deeper than the Grand Canyon: An exploration of little-known Pine Creek on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, and one of the most important mines in the country

The Other Yosemite at Hetch Hetchy: There was a counterpart to the Yosemite Valley, but we dammed it.

The Other Side of the Sierra, down the West Walker River: The West Walker River flows down the east side of the Sierra, and hosted the longest glaciers to be found on that side of the mountains.

An Enigmatic Gorge, the West Walker River Canyon: A strange entombed forest, and a deep gorge with a violent geologic temper.
The Day of the Fiddlenecks (A Trip Through the Mother Lode): A brief foray for wildflowers on Highway 132 in California's Mother Lode
There's an Endemic in those Red Hills! Life and evolution on one of California's unique environments, the serpentine soils. Exploring the Red Hills Area of Critical Environmental Concern
The California State Mineral Exhibit-This is art, darnit! One of the best ways to see the incredible mineral wealth of California is to explore the state mineral exhibit in Mariposa at the south end of the Mother Lode. Because of the morons in the state legislature, it is about to shutter its doors
It's a Real Grind...Chaw'se State Historical Park: A look at more grinding mortars than you'll ever see anywhere else, the Miwok culture, and some interesting metamorphic rocks
The Other California Goes Underground: Hella Hot Helictites at Black Chasm Cave: Never heard of helictites? That's because they are the first cave features to be destroyed. But we have a world class collection of them in the Sierra foothills
What do you do with a Used Forest?: The Sierra Nevada between Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks is terra incognita for most Sierra travelers. The region has been logged, mined, and grazed...and is still spectacular. We take an excursion on the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway
Why Worry About Yellowstone? We've got our own "supervolcanoes" in California. Some are active. Some have been extinct for tens of millions of years. At the Minarets we can explore one from the inside out

THE CASCADE RANGE

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a place of geological violence: The crust underlying the Pacific Ocean is sinking beneath the western edge of the North American Continent, producing earthquakes, mountain-building, and volcanism. Two of California's most familiar volcanoes formed here, and the largest volcano in the state sits astride the boundary with the Modoc Plateau

Exploring California's Biggest Volcano: An introduction to the Medicine Lake Highland, one of California's most active volcanoes.

Geologists Who Live on Glass Mountains Shouldn't....: Looking at volcanic glass, obsidian and pumice, on the Medicine Lake Highland, with a view towards the Modoc Plateau, too.

A Land of Fire and Ice (but mostly ice): California's largest glaciers

Five For the Price of One: California's most prominent volcano is really five volcanoes, with a violent past.

A Monday Mystery: A river that comes out of nowhere, and a gratuitous picture of a deer family

A Mystery Solved, and One of California's Prettiest Little Waterfalls: McArthur Burney Falls is California's second oldest park, and is one unusual waterfall.

Lassen Peak, A Volcanic Afterthought: A well-known volcano that sits on the remains of a much older, much larger volcano, Mt. Tehama

Getting all excited about natural disasters: an eyewitness account of some of the events surrounding the 1914-15 eruption of Lassen Peak.

THE MODOC PLATEAU

The Modoc Plateau is a high flat region underlain by thick flows of basalt lavas in the remote northeast corner of the state. It is one of the least-known areas of California, but has some nice geological surprises.

California's Biggest Volcano: here is the first surprise; the biggest volcano is not named Shasta or Lassen!

Waiter, There's A'a in My Pahoehoe!: A comparison of basalt lava flows at Lava Beds National Monument

The Volcano Underground: the formation of lava tubes (via a short excursion in Hawaii) and Lava Beds National Monument

Exploring the Volcano Underground: Walking and crawling through the most extensive lava tube system in the continental United States

Whispers From the Past: Huge explosions from 270,000 years ago, and the largest petroglyph panel in the United States

Cries From the Past: A tale of rebellion, resilience and betrayal; the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73. And why armies should study geology before fighting wars.

THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS

In northwest California, a series of mountain ridges reveal stories of continental and oceanic fragments that were crushed into the western edge of North America. The rocks bear a close resemblence to the Sierra Nevada, although they are offset more than sixty miles.

Flotsam and Jetsam: An introduction to the Klamath Mountains as a series of accreted terranes, tracts of crust and old ocean floor that traveled hundreds or thousands of miles.

Havin' fun with Sasquatch: a discussion of the legendary and mythological creature that supposedly dwells in the Klamaths
I've seen these mountains before! The Big Ripoff: Viewed on a geologic map, the Klamath Mountains look like a continuation of the Sierra Nevada, but lie sixty miles farther west.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth (sort of): A review of the some of the rocks from the deep crust and mantle that are found in the terranes of the Klamath Mountains

Taking Stock of Castle Crags: One of the most imposing sights (besides Shasta) to be seen on a journey north on Interstate 5, the Castle Crags are towers and domes of granite, surrounded by more easily eroded metamorphic rocks

THE COAST RANGES

The series of mountain ranges that roughly parallel California's coastline are one of most diverse areas of the state from a geologic standpoint. There are thick sequences of sedimentary rocks including the Great Valley Group and elements of the Franciscan Complex, and there are plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the Salinian Block (and parts of the Franciscan). There are even volcanic rocks and potentially active volcanoes.

I Need This Like I Need a Hole in the Head: Scenic Bodega Head at Bodega Bay was the nearly the site of one of the most mind-bogglingly stupid energy developments ever conceived by the minds of engineers
Baymouth Bars - It's Five O'Clock Somewhere? Along the incredibly rugged north coast amid the violent surf there are long, perfectly straight sand bars that seem to defy explanation. They're explained here Humboldt Lagoons State Park
A Mystery Photo For a Saturday: A look at San Francisco from a unique angle, Monte del Diablo
The Thicket of the Devil (the mystery photo revealed): An introduction to a place with an incredible view, Mt. Diablo. How it got its name and why every landowner in Central California should care
Limekiln State Park Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3: Limekiln is a beautiful gem of a state park on the Big Sur Coastline. Unfortunately we have morons in the state legislature and this park is closing. See what is being taken from us (PS: It was eventually saved)

Catch it While You Can- The Devil's Slide: You can no longer drive over one of the most notorious rockslides on Highway One. But you can walk it! 

BASIN AND RANGE

The crust of the earth east of the Sierra Nevada and Peninsular Ranges is being torn apart by horizontal extensional forces that have produced an alien landscape of deep fault valleys (grabens) and high mountain fault blocks (horsts)

The West Walker River and the Antelope Valley: A deep fault valley becomes an important ranching and farming region

Dammed if we do Dam, Dammed if we don't Dam: An unusual reservoir without a dam, Topaz Lake stores Walker River water, but has great fishing too. Why is it there?

Damned if we do Dam, Damned if we don't Dam: A slightly modified name, and a much bigger issue - What are we going to do about Walker Lake? It's dying. It's also in Nevada, but it is a California river.

MOJAVE DESERT

Often ignored or tolerated by tourists on their way to Las Vegas, the Mojave Desert is one of the most geologically diverse regions of California

The Calico Mountains: An exploration of a unique mountain range, well beyond the confines of the tourist trap ghost town.

Prairies past and Some Great Folds: A closer look at a parking lot in a tourist trap

A Wandering Volcano and a Floral Outburst: The Antelope Valley has a springtime show of wildflowers that is simply audacious, and the underlying rocks include half of a volcano. The other half is nearly 200 miles away...

Caught in the Vise (the Western Mojave Desert): A discussion of complex fault relationships in the western Mojave and another chance to show some wildflower shots.

COLORADO DESERT

THE TRANSVERSE RANGES

A diverse series of mountain ranges that run against the grain, trending east-west instead of north-south. These include some of the highest mountains in southern California

The Other California: A Friday Fun Foto: A first glance at San Gorgonio Peak, the highest mountain in southern California, and the southwesternmost glaciated peak in the United States

Scarps to the Left of Me, Sag Ponds to the right, Here I am, Stuck in the Middle with You!: The San Andreas fault cuts across many of California's province. In this post we look at some fault features at the top of the Grapevine in the Transverse Ranges
A Monday Mystery Photo: A quick introduction to the Cajon Pass country where the San Andreas fault splits the San Gabriel Mountains from the San Bernardino Mountains
Cajon Pass and No Strange Sci-Fi Creatures: Cajon Pass, the major freeway access route into the Los Angeles basin, is filled with strange looking sedimentary rocks tilted this way and that. But it's not where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn...
The Mountains of My Youth: The eastern San Gabriel Mountains aren't all that familiar to people from outside the state, but they are spectacular and they were the mountains where I grew up. We explore an extraordinary gorge, San Antonio Canyon
Hemming and Hawing on the Hogback: The San Gabriel Mountains are the steepest mountains in the world. Often the only flat spots are on dangerous stream floodplains and on top of landslides. Several examples from San Antonio Canyon include the Hogback and Cow Canyon Saddle
A Canyon as Deep as the Grand, and a Road For No Reason: The Glendora Ridge Road offers some of the greatest panoramas of any road in southern California, and there doesn't seem to be a reason for it being there. I suspect I know what the reason is
The Forbidden Valley: An introduction to the San Dimas Experimental Forest
A Minor Challenge: A quiz to introduce the unusual geology of the Santa Clarita Valley
Dreams of Avarice and the First Gold Rush: You thought the gold rush started in the Sierra Mother Lode? There was a rush six years earlier, but the Mexican miners kept their secrets better (and there wasn't very much gold, either)
The Oldest Rocks (Well, maybe...): The San Gabriel Mountains have very old rocks, maybe the oldest in the state. But it depends on how you define "oldest". A short introduction to radiometric (isotopic) age dating

A Bit of the Rarest Ecosystem in SoCal at the North Etiwanda Preserve This is what happens when the schist hits the fan. Literally, there is schist, and there is a fan. Also, learn about the Riversidian Alluvial Fan Sage Scrub (RAFSS) ecosystem...
It's Not The The Tar Tar Pits, and Saving the Coast a Bit at a Time: The story of the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve and the "other" tar pits.

PENINSULAR RANGES

A granitic mountain block vaguely similar to the Sierra Nevada, but also very different. The "peninsula" refers to Baja California, which makes up the bulk of the province

The Other California: Another Friday Fun Foto: A brief introduction to San Jacinto Peak, the highest mountain in the Peninsular Ranges, and one of the most prominent mountains in the state, with a 10,000 foot slope in one area.
A Mystery Photo for the Day: A view of a rock that looks like it belongs somewhere in the Sierra Nevada, but that is not where it is...
When is a Peninsular Range Not a Peninsula? Baja California is a peninsula, but the rocks continue into Alta California. This post explores the village of Idylwild next to the highest part of the province at San Jacinto Peak.

The Deepest Pass in North America, and Finally Taking THE Tramway: Well, sure, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is on a lot of postcards, but how many of them tell you the geological story?

I clearly have lots of ground to cover, and will update this page as necessary.

The Other California: What to See When You've Run Out of Postcard Destinations

(published by Scope Enterprises, Inc)

My latest project is an exploration of the geologically interesting places in California that don't always show up on the postcards. I'm probably going to be on this for awhile, and I'm needing a page where I can keep track of what I've done so far. If you've followed my blog at all, you know I have a type of Geologist Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome (GADDS), that as soon as I start concentrating on one subject, something interesting pops up somewhere else, and I explore it for a few weeks, and then get distracted again.

Geologists divide California into eleven geomorphic provinces, areas that share unique geologic histories, rock types and topography that are distinct from the surrounding areas. I generally refer to the province when I am describing a particular feature or place. I am categorizing the posts that exist thus far in the same way:

THE INTRODUCTION

The Other California: The Things it is Not: the first post describing what I am up to with this series: most people know about Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley and other famous places, but California has so much more...things and places that don't appear on the postcards

The Other California: Now This is a Postcard!: A brief overview of the geology of the state as it is represented on geologic maps and and introduction to the idea of provinces.

Come to California and You Could Die a Fiery Death! : A short introduction to volcanism in California

THE STATE SYMBOLS

Although the original idea came with a post about California's prairie lands, I pretty much first started out by describing the geologic significance of some of our state symbols.

The Other California: Already Off on a Tangent: A review of the familiar symbols, the Golden Poppy, the California Quail, the California Grizzly Bear, and our state mineral, Gold!

The Other California: Geology and our Other State Symbols: A look at the state mineral, the state rock, and the state gemstone, the one hardly anyone has heard of.

The Other California: Geology and our State Symbols Part 1: a discussion of the evolutionary history of our state fish, the Golden Trout

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols II: the incredible journey of our two state trees, the Sequoia and Coast Redwood

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols III: a look at our state fossil, the saber-tooth cat Smilodon Californicus.

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols IV: California has some unique Gold Rush-era towns, but nothing is quite like Bodie, off in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada.

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols V : The strange politics that led to the establishment of the official California Silver-Rush Ghost Town.
Say Hello to California's New State Dinosaur, Augustynolophus morrisi: The first dinosaur discovered in California was found in our county, Stanislaus.

THE GREAT VALLEY

A huge 400 mile long valley filled with thousands of feet of sediments deposited over 160 million years, and one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the world

The Prairie Lands: California has its own version of savannahs, both present and past.

The Prairies of the Past: An exploration of the most important Pleistocene fossil quarry in central California, the Fairmead Landfill

The Prairie Lands and a Transforming Fault: A journey through Carrizo Plains National Monument and the best exposures of the San Andreas fault to be found anywhere

Back on the Prairielands: A springtime return to the prairies, now green and full of life

Mammoths and Sabertooths rise from the Prairies Again!: The Madera Fossil Discovery Center was almost complete and expected to open in June. Here is a preliminary look
Sharktooth Hill: That's about it...thousands and thousands of shark teeth and a great many other species. 

THE SIERRA NEVADA

The Sierra Nevada is the largest single mountain range in the United States, more than 400 miles long and averaging 50 miles wide. It also has the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Although composed mostly of granite, it also has large exposures of metamorphic and volcanic rocks that tell a remarkable story of traveling continents and terranes, as well as tales of violent eruptions.

A Gorge Deeper than the Grand Canyon: An exploration of little-known Pine Creek on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, and one of the most important mines in the country

The Other Yosemite at Hetch Hetchy: There was a counterpart to the Yosemite Valley, but we dammed it.

The Other Side of the Sierra, down the West Walker River: The West Walker River flows down the east side of the Sierra, and hosted the longest glaciers to be found on that side of the mountains.

An Enigmatic Gorge, the West Walker River Canyon: A strange entombed forest, and a deep gorge with a violent geologic temper.
The Day of the Fiddlenecks (A Trip Through the Mother Lode): A brief foray for wildflowers on Highway 132 in California's Mother Lode
There's an Endemic in those Red Hills! Life and evolution on one of California's unique environments, the serpentine soils. Exploring the Red Hills Area of Critical Environmental Concern
The California State Mineral Exhibit-This is art, darnit! One of the best ways to see the incredible mineral wealth of California is to explore the state mineral exhibit in Mariposa at the south end of the Mother Lode. Because of the morons in the state legislature, it is about to shutter its doors
It's a Real Grind...Chaw'se State Historical Park: A look at more grinding mortars than you'll ever see anywhere else, the Miwok culture, and some interesting metamorphic rocks
The Other California Goes Underground: Hella Hot Helictites at Black Chasm Cave: Never heard of helictites? That's because they are the first cave features to be destroyed. But we have a world class collection of them in the Sierra foothills
What do you do with a Used Forest?: The Sierra Nevada between Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks is terra incognita for most Sierra travelers. The region has been logged, mined, and grazed...and is still spectacular. We take an excursion on the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway
Why Worry About Yellowstone? We've got our own "supervolcanoes" in California. Some are active. Some have been extinct for tens of millions of years. At the Minarets we can explore one from the inside out

THE CASCADE RANGE

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a place of geological violence: The crust underlying the Pacific Ocean is sinking beneath the western edge of the North American Continent, producing earthquakes, mountain-building, and volcanism. Two of California's most familiar volcanoes formed here, and the largest volcano in the state sits astride the boundary with the Modoc Plateau

Exploring California's Biggest Volcano: An introduction to the Medicine Lake Highland, one of California's most active volcanoes.

Geologists Who Live on Glass Mountains Shouldn't....: Looking at volcanic glass, obsidian and pumice, on the Medicine Lake Highland, with a view towards the Modoc Plateau, too.

A Land of Fire and Ice (but mostly ice): California's largest glaciers

Five For the Price of One: California's most prominent volcano is really five volcanoes, with a violent past.

A Monday Mystery: A river that comes out of nowhere, and a gratuitous picture of a deer family

A Mystery Solved, and One of California's Prettiest Little Waterfalls: McArthur Burney Falls is California's second oldest park, and is one unusual waterfall.

Lassen Peak, A Volcanic Afterthought: A well-known volcano that sits on the remains of a much older, much larger volcano, Mt. Tehama

Getting all excited about natural disasters: an eyewitness account of some of the events surrounding the 1914-15 eruption of Lassen Peak.

THE MODOC PLATEAU

The Modoc Plateau is a high flat region underlain by thick flows of basalt lavas in the remote northeast corner of the state. It is one of the least-known areas of California, but has some nice geological surprises.

California's Biggest Volcano: here is the first surprise; the biggest volcano is not named Shasta or Lassen!

Waiter, There's A'a in My Pahoehoe!: A comparison of basalt lava flows at Lava Beds National Monument

The Volcano Underground: the formation of lava tubes (via a short excursion in Hawaii) and Lava Beds National Monument

Exploring the Volcano Underground: Walking and crawling through the most extensive lava tube system in the continental United States

Whispers From the Past: Huge explosions from 270,000 years ago, and the largest petroglyph panel in the United States

Cries From the Past: A tale of rebellion, resilience and betrayal; the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73. And why armies should study geology before fighting wars.

THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS

In northwest California, a series of mountain ridges reveal stories of continental and oceanic fragments that were crushed into the western edge of North America. The rocks bear a close resemblence to the Sierra Nevada, although they are offset more than sixty miles.

Flotsam and Jetsam: An introduction to the Klamath Mountains as a series of accreted terranes, tracts of crust and old ocean floor that traveled hundreds or thousands of miles.

Havin' fun with Sasquatch: a discussion of the legendary and mythological creature that supposedly dwells in the Klamaths
I've seen these mountains before! The Big Ripoff: Viewed on a geologic map, the Klamath Mountains look like a continuation of the Sierra Nevada, but lie sixty miles farther west.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth (sort of): A review of the some of the rocks from the deep crust and mantle that are found in the terranes of the Klamath Mountains

Taking Stock of Castle Crags: One of the most imposing sights (besides Shasta) to be seen on a journey north on Interstate 5, the Castle Crags are towers and domes of granite, surrounded by more easily eroded metamorphic rocks

THE COAST RANGES

The series of mountain ranges that roughly parallel California's coastline are one of most diverse areas of the state from a geologic standpoint. There are thick sequences of sedimentary rocks including the Great Valley Group and elements of the Franciscan Complex, and there are plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the Salinian Block (and parts of the Franciscan). There are even volcanic rocks and potentially active volcanoes.

I Need This Like I Need a Hole in the Head: Scenic Bodega Head at Bodega Bay was the nearly the site of one of the most mind-bogglingly stupid energy developments ever conceived by the minds of engineers
Baymouth Bars - It's Five O'Clock Somewhere? Along the incredibly rugged north coast amid the violent surf there are long, perfectly straight sand bars that seem to defy explanation. They're explained here Humboldt Lagoons State Park
A Mystery Photo For a Saturday: A look at San Francisco from a unique angle, Monte del Diablo
The Thicket of the Devil (the mystery photo revealed): An introduction to a place with an incredible view, Mt. Diablo. How it got its name and why every landowner in Central California should care
Limekiln State Park Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3: Limekiln is a beautiful gem of a state park on the Big Sur Coastline. Unfortunately we have morons in the state legislature and this park is closing. See what is being taken from us

Catch it While You Can- The Devil's Slide: You can no longer drive over one of the most notorious rockslides on Highway One. But you can walk it! 

BASIN AND RANGE

The crust of the earth east of the Sierra Nevada and Peninsular Ranges is being torn apart by horizontal extensional forces that have produced an alien landscape of deep fault valleys (grabens) and high mountain fault blocks (horsts)

The West Walker River and the Antelope Valley: A deep fault valley becomes an important ranching and farming region

Dammed if we do Dam, Dammed if we don't Dam: An unusual reservoir without a dam, Topaz Lake stores Walker River water, but has great fishing too. Why is it there?

Damned if we do Dam, Damned if we don't Dam: A slightly modified name, and a much bigger issue - What are we going to do about Walker Lake? It's dying. It's also in Nevada, but it is a California river.

MOJAVE DESERT

Often ignored or tolerated by tourists on their way to Las Vegas, the Mojave Desert is one of the most geologically diverse regions of California

The Calico Mountains: An exploration of a unique mountain range, well beyond the confines of the tourist trap ghost town.

Prairies past and Some Great Folds: A closer look at a parking lot in a tourist trap

A Wandering Volcano and a Floral Outburst: The Antelope Valley has a springtime show of wildflowers that is simply audacious, and the underlying rocks include half of a volcano. The other half is nearly 200 miles away...

Caught in the Vise (the Western Mojave Desert): A discussion of complex fault relationships in the western Mojave and another chance to show some wildflower shots.

COLORADO DESERT

THE TRANSVERSE RANGES

A diverse series of mountain ranges that run against the grain, trending east-west instead of north-south. These include some of the highest mountains in southern California

The Other California: A Friday Fun Foto: A first glance at San Gorgonio Peak, the highest mountain in southern California, and the southwesternmost glaciated peak in the United States

Scarps to the Left of Me, Sag Ponds to the right, Here I am, Stuck in the Middle with You!: The San Andreas fault cuts across many of California's province. In this post we look at some fault features at the top of the Grapevine in the Transverse Ranges
A Monday Mystery Photo: A quick introduction to the Cajon Pass country where the San Andreas fault splits the San Gabriel Mountains from the San Bernardino Mountains
Cajon Pass and No Strange Sci-Fi Creatures: Cajon Pass, the major freeway access route into the Los Angeles basin, is filled with strange looking sedimentary rocks tilted this way and that. But it's not where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn...
The Mountains of My Youth: The eastern San Gabriel Mountains aren't all that familiar to people from outside the state, but they are spectacular and they were the mountains where I grew up. We explore an extraordinary gorge, San Antonio Canyon
Hemming and Hawing on the Hogback: The San Gabriel Mountains are the steepest mountains in the world. Often the only flat spots are on dangerous stream floodplains and on top of landslides. Several examples from San Antonio Canyon include the Hogback and Cow Canyon Saddle
A Canyon as Deep as the Grand, and a Road For No Reason: The Glendora Ridge Road offers some of the greatest panoramas of any road in southern California, and there doesn't seem to be a reason for it being there. I suspect I know what the reason is
The Forbidden Valley: An introduction to the San Dimas Experimental Forest
A Minor Challenge: A quiz to introduce the unusual geology of the Santa Clarita Valley
Dreams of Avarice and the First Gold Rush: You thought the gold rush started in the Sierra Mother Lode? There was a rush six years earlier, but the Mexican miners kept their secrets better (and there wasn't very much gold, either)
The Oldest Rocks (Well, maybe...): The San Gabriel Mountains have very old rocks, maybe the oldest in the state. But it depends on how you define "oldest". A short introduction to radiometric (isotopic) age dating

A Bit of the Rarest Ecosystem in SoCal at the North Etiwanda Preserve This is what happens when the schist hits the fan. Literally, there is schist, and there is a fan. Also, learn about the Riversidian Alluvial Fan Sage Scrub (RAFSS) ecosystem...

It's Not The The Tar Tar Pits, and Saving the Coast a Bit at a Time: The story of the Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve and the "other" tar pits.

PENINSULAR RANGES

A granitic mountain block vaguely similar to the Sierra Nevada, but also very different. The "peninsula" refers to Baja California, which makes up the bulk of the province

The Other California: Another Friday Fun Foto: A brief introduction to San Jacinto Peak, the highest mountain in the Peninsular Ranges, and one of the most prominent mountains in the state, with a 10,000 foot slope in one area.
A Mystery Photo for the Day: A view of a rock that looks like it belongs somewhere in the Sierra Nevada, but that is not where it is...
When is a Peninsular Range Not a Peninsula? Baja California is a peninsula, but the rocks continue into Alta California. This post explores the village of Idylwild next to the highest part of the province at San Jacinto Peak

The Deepest Pass in North America, and Finally Taking THE Tramway: Well, sure, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is on a lot of postcards, but how many of them tell you the geological story?

I clearly have lots of ground to cover, and will update this page as necessary.

Springtime on the California Prairielands: Violence in a Gentle Landscape (and a gratuitous picture of a duck)

The gentle wind caresses the waving blades of grass...meadowlarks sing, frogs chirp...it's a serene day in the springtime of the Sierra foothills. Of course the science of geology holds no such sense of peace. Almost every aspect of this peaceful view speaks of violence, both in the recent past, and in the depths of time.

Take the layers revealed in the gentle slopes of the first picture above: a few terraces of dark rock on the distant skyline and some white exposures near the creek. These are two of the distinctive strata that make up much of the Sierra foothill slopes near the Central Valley, the Mehrten Formation and the Valley Springs Formation. The Mehrten layers resulted from numerous volcanic mudflows (lahars) and floods caused by eruptions of andesitic volcanoes in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada crest in Mio-Pliocene time. Events that form layers like these are no picnic. Volcanoes of the 20th century like Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Pinatubo of the Philippines produced destructive mudflows that caused damage dozens of miles away from the volcanoes.

Likewise, the Valley Springs Formation speaks of volcanic violence. In Miocene time, around 20 to 30 million years ago, huge rhyolite caldera eruptions rocked the American west. A single eruption was capable of producing hundreds of cubic miles of volcanic ash that buried thousands of square miles under a stiflingly hot layer of what amounted to microscopic glass shards. The layers of the Valley Springs Formation record a number of violent eruptions, some relatively close, such as at the Sierra Crest, but some of them originated from ash explosions in eastern Nevada. Today, the differentially eroded layers provide shelter for burrowing owls and swifts along the small creek above.

Roadside runoff provides a bit of extra moisture supporting a thicket of monkeyflowers along Willms Road near Knights Ferry (above). But again, the landscape reveals a bit of geologic mayhem with the black boulders of the Table Mountain lava flow in the distance.

A favorite stop of ours on our seasonal treks through the foothills along Willms Road is a small stock pond a few miles south of Knights Ferry. At this time of year the flowers and birds are plentiful. The cattail marsh on the far shore was filled with chattering birds of all kinds. A peaceful, if raucous scene, but once again the present-day scene reveals a history of violence. The bits of rock sticking out on the lakeshore and far hillside are exposures of the Jurassic (yes, that Jurassic, the dinosaur period) Gopher Ridge Volcanics. These are andesitic and rhyolitic rocks that formed volcanic islands along subduction zones in the Pacific Ocean many miles away. Not only was there the violence of the original eruption, there were also the tectonic movements that carried the island arc into the western edge of the North American continent. The rocks were jammed into the continent, deformed, and metamorphosed into greenstone and slate.

The timing doesn't have to be measured in the millions of years. A look at the grass stuck in the fence (above) reveals that the road was inundated three and four feet deep during one of our intense rainstorms a month or two ago. The flooding obviously didn't do the road a whole lotta good either.

The frogs in the creek seemed fine, but unfortunately they reveal a certain level of violence, this time to the ecosystem of the foothills. Bullfrogs are an introduced species. They are voracious predators of other frogs and the native species have not been able to compete. They have driven the native species into a few refugia where the bullfrogs can't survive (even there, the native frogs have problems; they are eaten by the introduced species of fish as well).
I would almost be depressed by all the violence, but geologic processes are the very essence of drama, and the earth would be a boring (and probably unliveable) place if we didn't have earthquakes, volcanoes, plate movements and mountain-building. Just the same, I am ending with a picture of a duck that I saw hanging out along the water. As far as I know, the duck is not a terrifying animal unless you happen to be a snail in the creek....

A Look Back at Ten Years of Geotripping: The Other California

This is a week-long commemoration of ten years of geoblogging at Geotripper. I've been dredging up some of the archives...

In my second year of geoblogging, I had finished the "Time Beyond Imagining" blog series, and had realized I could actually finish a project. I then started another project that to this day remains unfinished. In actuality, it may never be finished, because California is one of the diverse landscapes on planet Earth. It was called "The Other California: What to see when you've run out of postcard destinations", and it was just about that: places of geologic wonder that often get missed because visitors to the state are spending all their time at Yosemite, San Francisco, or Disneyland. I covered quite a bit of ground in California's different provinces, but there is plenty more. 

The series was one of my "break-through" blogs, in that had more than 22,000 hits (at the time, normal was 100-200 hits per post). Part of the fun of this blog series was dealing with the state symbols, some of which have some very interesting stories (check out the state fish, the state tree(s), and the political battles over the state ghost town(s).

If you haven't had a chance to explore some of California's "different" places, you might find some ideas here!

(published by Scope Enterprises, Inc)

From December 8, 2009:

My latest project is an exploration of the geologically interesting places in California that don't always show up on the postcards. I'm probably going to be on this for awhile, and I'm needing a page where I can keep track of what I've done so far. If you've followed my blog at all, you know I have a type of Geologist Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome (GADDS), that as soon as I start concentrating on one subject, something interesting pops up somewhere else, and I explore it for a few weeks, and then get distracted again.

Geologists divide California into eleven geomorphic provinces, areas that share unique geologic histories, rock types and topography that are distinct from the surrounding areas. I generally refer to the province when I am describing a particular feature or place. I am categorizing the posts that exist thus far in the same way:

THE INTRODUCTION

The Other California: The Things it is Not: the first post describing what I am up to with this series: most people know about Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley and other famous places, but California has so much more...things and places that don't appear on the postcards

The Other California: Now This is a Postcard!: A brief overview of the geology of the state as it is represented on geologic maps and and introduction to the idea of provinces.

Come to California and You Could Die a Fiery Death! : A short introduction to volcanism in California

THE STATE SYMBOLS

Although the original idea came with a post about California's prairie lands, I pretty much first started out by describing the geologic significance of some of our state symbols.

The Other California: Already Off on a Tangent: A review of the familiar symbols, the Golden Poppy, the California Quail, the California Grizzly Bear, and our state mineral, Gold!

The Other California: Geology and our Other State Symbols: A look at the state mineral, the state rock, and the state gemstone, the one hardly anyone has heard of.

The Other California: Geology and our State Symbols Part 1: a discussion of the evolutionary history of our state fish, the Golden Trout

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols II: the incredible journey of our two state trees, the Sequoia and Coast Redwood

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols III: a look at our state fossil, the saber-tooth cat Smilodon Californicus.

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols IV: California has some unique Gold Rush-era towns, but nothing is quite like Bodie, off in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada.

The Other California: Geology and the other State Symbols V : The strange politics that led to the establishment of the official California Silver-Rush Ghost Town.
Say Hello to California's New State Dinosaur: Augustynolophus morrisi: The first dinosaur discovered in California was found in our county, Stanislaus

THE GREAT VALLEY

A huge 400 mile long valley filled with thousands of feet of sediments deposited over 160 million years, and one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the world

The Prairie Lands: California has its own version of savannahs, both present and past.

The Prairies of the Past: An exploration of the most important Pleistocene fossil quarry in central California, the Fairmead Landfill

The Prairie Lands and a Transforming Fault: A journey through Carrizo Plains National Monument and the best exposures of the San Andreas fault to be found anywhere

Back on the Prairielands: A springtime return to the prairies, now green and full of life

Mammoths and Sabertooths rise from the Prairies Again!: The Madera Fossil Discovery Center was almost complete and expected to open in June. Here is a preliminary look
Sharktooth Hill: That's about it...thousands and thousands of shark teeth and a great many other species. 

THE SIERRA NEVADA

The Sierra Nevada is the largest single mountain range in the United States, more than 400 miles long and averaging 50 miles wide. It also has the highest peak in the lower 48 states. Although composed mostly of granite, it also has large exposures of metamorphic and volcanic rocks that tell a remarkable story of traveling continents and terranes, as well as tales of violent eruptions.

A Gorge Deeper than the Grand Canyon: An exploration of little-known Pine Creek on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, and one of the most important mines in the country

The Other Yosemite at Hetch Hetchy: There was a counterpart to the Yosemite Valley, but we dammed it.

The Other Side of the Sierra, down the West Walker River: The West Walker River flows down the east side of the Sierra, and hosted the longest glaciers to be found on that side of the mountains.

An Enigmatic Gorge, the West Walker River Canyon: A strange entombed forest, and a deep gorge with a violent geologic temper.
The Day of the Fiddlenecks (A Trip Through the Mother Lode): A brief foray for wildflowers on Highway 132 in California's Mother Lode
There's an Endemic in those Red Hills! Life and evolution on one of California's unique environments, the serpentine soils. Exploring the Red Hills Area of Critical Environmental Concern
The California State Mineral Exhibit-This is art, darnit! One of the best ways to see the incredible mineral wealth of California is to explore the state mineral exhibit in Mariposa at the south end of the Mother Lode. Because of the morons in the state legislature, it is about to shutter its doors
It's a Real Grind...Chaw'se State Historical Park: A look at more grinding mortars than you'll ever see anywhere else, the Miwok culture, and some interesting metamorphic rocks
The Other California Goes Underground: Hella Hot Helictites at Black Chasm Cave: Never heard of helictites? That's because they are the first cave features to be destroyed. But we have a world class collection of them in the Sierra foothills
What do you do with a Used Forest?: The Sierra Nevada between Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks is terra incognita for most Sierra travelers. The region has been logged, mined, and grazed...and is still spectacular. We take an excursion on the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway
Why Worry About Yellowstone? We've got our own "supervolcanoes" in California. Some are active. Some have been extinct for tens of millions of years. At the Minarets we can explore one from the inside out

THE CASCADE RANGE

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a place of geological violence: The crust underlying the Pacific Ocean is sinking beneath the western edge of the North American Continent, producing earthquakes, mountain-building, and volcanism. Two of California's most familiar volcanoes formed here, and the largest volcano in the state sits astride the boundary with the Modoc Plateau

Exploring California's Biggest Volcano: An introduction to the Medicine Lake Highland, one of California's most active volcanoes.

Geologists Who Live on Glass Mountains Shouldn't....: Looking at volcanic glass, obsidian and pumice, on the Medicine Lake Highland, with a view towards the Modoc Plateau, too.

A Land of Fire and Ice (but mostly ice): California's largest glaciers

Five For the Price of One: California's most prominent volcano is really five volcanoes, with a violent past.

A Monday Mystery: A river that comes out of nowhere, and a gratuitous picture of a deer family

A Mystery Solved, and One of California's Prettiest Little Waterfalls: McArthur Burney Falls is California's second oldest park, and is one unusual waterfall.

Lassen Peak, A Volcanic Afterthought: A well-known volcano that sits on the remains of a much older, much larger volcano, Mt. Tehama

Getting all excited about natural disasters: an eyewitness account of some of the events surrounding the 1914-15 eruption of Lassen Peak.

THE MODOC PLATEAU

The Modoc Plateau is a high flat region underlain by thick flows of basalt lavas in the remote northeast corner of the state. It is one of the least-known areas of California, but has some nice geological surprises.

California's Biggest Volcano: here is the first surprise; the biggest volcano is not named Shasta or Lassen!

Waiter, There's A'a in My Pahoehoe!: A comparison of basalt lava flows at Lava Beds National Monument

The Volcano Underground: the formation of lava tubes (via a short excursion in Hawaii) and Lava Beds National Monument

Exploring the Volcano Underground: Walking and crawling through the most extensive lava tube system in the continental United States

Whispers From the Past: Huge explosions from 270,000 years ago, and the largest petroglyph panel in the United States

Cries From the Past: A tale of rebellion, resilience and betrayal; the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73. And why armies should study geology before fighting wars.

THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS

In northwest California, a series of mountain ridges reveal stories of continental and oceanic fragments that were crushed into the western edge of North America. The rocks bear a close resemblence to the Sierra Nevada, although they are offset more than sixty miles.

Flotsam and Jetsam: An introduction to the Klamath Mountains as a series of accreted terranes, tracts of crust and old ocean floor that traveled hundreds or thousands of miles.

Havin' fun with Sasquatch: a discussion of the legendary and mythological creature that supposedly dwells in the Klamaths
I've seen these mountains before! The Big Ripoff: Viewed on a geologic map, the Klamath Mountains look like a continuation of the Sierra Nevada, but lie sixty miles farther west.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth (sort of): A review of the some of the rocks from the deep crust and mantle that are found in the terranes of the Klamath Mountains

Taking Stock of Castle Crags: One of the most imposing sights (besides Shasta) to be seen on a journey north on Interstate 5, the Castle Crags are towers and domes of granite, surrounded by more easily eroded metamorphic rocks

THE COAST RANGES

The series of mountain ranges that roughly parallel California's coastline are one of most diverse areas of the state from a geologic standpoint. There are thick sequences of sedimentary rocks including the Great Valley Group and elements of the Franciscan Complex, and there are plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the Salinian Block (and parts of the Franciscan). There are even volcanic rocks and potentially active volcanoes.

I Need This Like I Need a Hole in the Head: Scenic Bodega Head at Bodega Bay was the nearly the site of one of the most mind-bogglingly stupid energy developments ever conceived by the minds of engineers
Baymouth Bars - It's Five O'Clock Somewhere? Along the incredibly rugged north coast amid the violent surf there are long, perfectly straight sand bars that seem to defy explanation. They're explained here Humboldt Lagoons State Park
A Mystery Photo For a Saturday: A look at San Francisco from a unique angle, Monte del Diablo
The Thicket of the Devil (the mystery photo revealed): An introduction to a place with an incredible view, Mt. Diablo. How it got its name and why every landowner in Central California should care
Limekiln State Park Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3: Limekiln is a beautiful gem of a state park on the Big Sur Coastline. Unfortunately we have morons in the state legislature and this park is closing. See what is being taken from us

BASIN AND RANGE

The crust of the earth east of the Sierra Nevada and Peninsular Ranges is being torn apart by horizontal extensional forces that have produced an alien landscape of deep fault valleys (grabens) and high mountain fault blocks (horsts)

The West Walker River and the Antelope Valley: A deep fault valley becomes an important ranching and farming region

Dammed if we do Dam, Dammed if we don't Dam: An unusual reservoir without a dam, Topaz Lake stores Walker River water, but has great fishing too. Why is it there?

Damned if we do Dam, Damned if we don't Dam: A slightly modified name, and a much bigger issue - What are we going to do about Walker Lake? It's dying. It's also in Nevada, but it is a California river.

MOJAVE DESERT

Often ignored or tolerated by tourists on their way to Las Vegas, the Mojave Desert is one of the most geologically diverse regions of California

The Calico Mountains: An exploration of a unique mountain range, well beyond the confines of the tourist trap ghost town.

Prairies past and Some Great Folds: A closer look at a parking lot in a tourist trap

A Wandering Volcano and a Floral Outburst: The Antelope Valley has a springtime show of wildflowers that is simply audacious, and the underlying rocks include half of a volcano. The other half is nearly 200 miles away...

Caught in the Vise (the Western Mojave Desert): A discussion of complex fault relationships in the western Mojave and another chance to show some wildflower shots.

COLORADO DESERT

THE TRANSVERSE RANGES

A diverse series of mountain ranges that run against the grain, trending east-west instead of north-south. These include some of the highest mountains in southern California

The Other California: A Friday Fun Foto: A first glance at San Gorgonio Peak, the highest mountain in southern California, and the southwesternmost glaciated peak in the United States

Scarps to the Left of Me, Sag Ponds to the right, Here I am, Stuck in the Middle with You!: The San Andreas fault cuts across many of California's province. In this post we look at some fault features at the top of the Grapevine in the Transverse Ranges
A Monday Mystery Photo: A quick introduction to the Cajon Pass country where the San Andreas fault splits the San Gabriel Mountains from the San Bernardino Mountains
Cajon Pass and No Strange Sci-Fi Creatures: Cajon Pass, the major freeway access route into the Los Angeles basin, is filled with strange looking sedimentary rocks tilted this way and that. But it's not where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn...
The Mountains of My Youth: The eastern San Gabriel Mountains aren't all that familiar to people from outside the state, but they are spectacular and they were the mountains where I grew up. We explore an extraordinary gorge, San Antonio Canyon
Hemming and Hawing on the Hogback: The San Gabriel Mountains are the steepest mountains in the world. Often the only flat spots are on dangerous stream floodplains and on top of landslides. Several examples from San Antonio Canyon include the Hogback and Cow Canyon Saddle
A Canyon as Deep as the Grand, and a Road For No Reason: The Glendora Ridge Road offers some of the greatest panoramas of any road in southern California, and there doesn't seem to be a reason for it being there. I suspect I know what the reason is
The Forbidden Valley: An introduction to the San Dimas Experimental Forest
A Minor Challenge: A quiz to introduce the unusual geology of the Santa Clarita Valley
Dreams of Avarice and the First Gold Rush: You thought the gold rush started in the Sierra Mother Lode? There was a rush six years earlier, but the Mexican miners kept their secrets better (and there wasn't very much gold, either)
The Oldest Rocks (Well, maybe...): The San Gabriel Mountains have very old rocks, maybe the oldest in the state. But it depends on how you define "oldest". A short introduction to radiometric (isotopic) age dating

PENINSULAR RANGES

A granitic mountain block vaguely similar to the Sierra Nevada, but also very different. The "peninsula" refers to Baja California, which makes up the bulk of the province

The Other California: Another Friday Fun Foto: A brief introduction to San Jacinto Peak, the highest mountain in the Peninsular Ranges, and one of the most prominent mountains in the state, with a 10,000 foot slope in one area.
A Mystery Photo for the Day: A view of a rock that looks like it belongs somewhere in the Sierra Nevada, but that is not where it is...
When is a Peninsular Range Not a Peninsula? Baja California is a peninsula, but the rocks continue into Alta California. This post explores the village of Idylwild next to the highest part of the province at San Jacinto Peak

I clearly have lots of ground to cover, and will update this page as necessary.