A Look Back at Ten Years of Geotripping: The Hawai'i That Was

This is one of my favorite bits of writing from Geotripper. I didn't actually write it until 2016-17, but I actually sketched it out way back in 2009 while sitting in a Mexican Restaurant in Bakersfield on a 112 degree day. On that day we were in no hurry to leave, so I was reading about the presence of the Gardner Pinnacles, a seven acre island that is the oldest bit of exposed volcanic rock in the Hawaiian Island chain. As I worked my way through a delicious three-entrée plate of tacos and enchiladas, I was imagining how many species of animals and plants might have existed there, including many that would have disappeared along with most of the island itself. My musings ended up as several handwritten pages of text that would eventually become the first post of the series. I lost the pages somewhere within a few days, but I never forgot the desire to write a series of posts on this incredible place. An extended visit and field class in the summer of 2016 finally gave me the inspiration to get the whole project off the ground. Instead of describing the beaches and tourist hotels, I was seeking to understand the ancient Hawai'i, the one that existed before European contact, and the one that existed before Polynesian contact.

This has been a continuing series of my personal celebration of ten years of blogging. The compilation below appeared on May 5, 2017.

Since last summer I've been working on a blog series based on the geology, natural history, and anthropology of the Hawaiian Islands, loosely based on our field studies class last summer. There are a lot of stories told by these isolated islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I finally reached the (possible) end of the series yesterday, and so today I'm putting together a compilation of the posts (click on the titles to get to each blog).

The Hawai'i That Was: A New Blog Series
This was the opening post that described what I hoped to do with the series. It included a picture of the Gardiner Pinnacles, the last bit of volcanic rock in the Hawaiian chain of islands. This bit of rock is the final remnant of an island that may have rivaled Kaua'i or Maui in size.

The Hawai'i That Was: To know what was we need to know Hawai'i today
I remember that the location and relative size of the islands meant little to me until I actually visited. In this post I laid out the geography of the main islands of the chain.

The Hawai'i That Was: Why Should We Care?
We are often far too ignorant of our dependence on the land and resources, and forget that they can be abused and wasted. All human societies alter the landscapes that they occupy to increase their chances for survival, and some are more successful than others. Hawai'i is a microcosm of the human experience on Earth.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Beginning of All Things, (Ba)salt of the Earth
Hawai'i begins and ends with basalt, the product of the partial melting in the mantle of the Earth. Basalt is the foundation on which the entire story of Hawai'i is written.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Abode of the Gods and Creation at Kilauea
Kilauea is the site of Hawaii's ongoing eruptive active, 33 years and counting. We saw some spectacular spattering when we visited at night. The video is in this post.

The lava lake in Kilauea Iki in 1959. We walked across it last summer

The Hawai'i That Was: Walking a Lake of Fire in "the Little Source of Great Spewing"
In 1959, a huge eruption produced gigantic columns of spewing lava and filled a depression creating a lake of fire. It's still hot today nearly 60 years later. We walked across the abyss.

The Hawai'i That Was: Pu'u O'o, the Volcano We Couldn't See
The present day lava flows at Kilauea originate at a vent called Pu'u O'o a few miles east of the summit. We didn't get to see it on this trip, but I flew right over it in 2009. Here are the pictures!

The Hawai'i That Was: Living on Uncertain Ground - The First Human Wave Arrives
Hawai'i was one of the last uninhabited places on planet Earth. We get a first look at what life was like for the earliest colonizers, and begin to understand how they changed the islands.

The Hawai'i That Was: How Can the Biggest Mountain in the World Stay So Hidden?
It was a bit strange that we were on Mauna Loa, the world's biggest mountain, and barely ever saw it. The weather on the Big Island can be fickle! No worries though, I found a lot of images in the archives.

The Hawai'i That Was: Mauna O Wakea, the Opening to the Heavens, and the Realm of Ice
There is a second gigantic volcano on the Big Island that is taller than Mauna Loa, but of somewhat less bulk. Mauna Kea is considered the realm of the gods, and in a sense modern technology reflects this as some of the world's most powerful observatories on the summit search the Universe for understanding.

The Hawai'i That Was: A Tale of Two Kipukas, and Thoughts on the Rarest Plants in the World
Ever wondered about the world's rarest plant? How about one that existed as a single specimen? That died? Someone preserved just a few seeds, so it may come back (there are about 200 planted in the kipuka today). The role of kipukas in preserving the Hawai'i that was is described in this post.

The Hawai'i That Had Never Been: A Mountain That is Younger Than Me, Mauna Ulu
An exploration of a mountain that didn't exist when I was in grade school, along with another of Hawai'i's fascinating kipukas. Mauna Ulu is a fascinating place to explore.

The Hawai'i That Was: There was a Monster in the Water at Laupahoehoe
The tragedy of the 1946 tsunami at Laupahoehoe, and how it saved hundreds of thousands in the Pacific Ocean later on, but didn't in the Indian Ocean in 2004.

The Hawai'i That Was: Where are the Rivers? Waterfalls on the Big Island
Many parts of the Big Island have no rivers despite near constant rainfall. In other places, there are some really nice waterfalls! We explore some of them in this post.

The Hawai'i That Was: A Veritable Rainbow of Sand (and cute gratuitous sea turtles)
Did you know that there are beaches in Hawai'i that are made of gemstones? Or that beaches range in color from black to white with a whole rainbow in-between? Lets explore a few.

The Hawai'i That Was: Look at the Cute Squirrel! (NOT a squirrel)
You will no doubt see a squirrel-like creature on some the Hawaiian Islands. It's not, it's a mongoose, which is an important control on pests in other lands. In Hawai'i it IS the pest. It's had a devastating affect on the native birds of the islands.

The Hawai'i That Was: Exploring Pololu Valley on an Unstable "Dead" Volcano
The Big Island is not noted for having huge coastal cliffs, but there are some nice ones on the northeast coastline. The origin of the cliff is a notable story as well, that of a gigantic prehistoric landslide.

The Hawai'i That Was: What Happened to the Stones of Pololu? A Look at Pu'ukohala Heiau
This is the story of the Pu'ukohala Heiau, one of the most intriguing archaeological sites in the Hawaiian Islands. It was built by King Kamehameha I prior to his uniting of the islands under single rule. The stones they used to build it came from the other side of the island.

The Hawai'i That Was: Lapakahi, the Kind of Place Where the Rest of Them Lived 
History seems to always be about the kings and presidents. We usually hear little about what life was like for the "commoners". Lapakahi is an archaeological site that protects a commoner's village on the northeast coast of the Big Island.

The Hawai'i That Was: Have We Got Some Real Estate for You! Exploring Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
Hawai'i has a number of national parks, and one of them seems a strange choice, backed up against a Costo store near Kona. It's a barren lava flow, but treasures are hidden within its boundaries.

The Hawai'i That Was: Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, the Place of Sanctuary That Might Not Be So Safe (Geologically)
Can you ever feel safe? There are different kinds of 'safe' in Hawai'i. A few hundred years ago, small infractions could get you killed, but you could find safety and forgiveness if you could make it to a place like Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. Geologically though? Maybe not so much.

The Hawai'i That Was: Watching the Destruction of the Islands in Real Time
Flying from the Big Island to Kaua'i is like riding a time machine both backwards and forwards. We see the progression of the erosion and subsidence of the islands over the last 5 million years, but we are also seeing the future of the Big Island, five million years into the future.

The Hawai'i That Was: We Arrive on Kaua'i and Find the Beauty of Age
The Big Island and Kaua'i are separated by only a few hundred miles, but they might as well be worlds apart. They are different from each other in many ways. We begin an exploration of the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands.

The Hawai'i That Was: History and Beauty at Ke'e Beach and the Na Pali Coast.
On the north side of Hawai'i is a spectacular coast of some of the highest beach cliffs in the world, and the remains of a hula school that operated for perhaps 800 years. Not many universities in the world can make such a claim.

The Hawai'i That Was: An Idyllic Paradise on the North Shore of Kaua'i. Sort of.
Hanalei Bay is one of the most beautiful places on planet Earth. But even paradise can be a place of danger. Why are all the houses built on stilts?

The Hawai'i That Was: Hanalei, Where the Waterfalls Seem to Stream From the Clouds
The north side of Kaua'i captures the warm moist tropical trade winds, and collects prodigious amounts of rainfall. The mountains here are the wettest places on Earth, with one spot that gets nearly 500 inches of rain per year.

The Hawai'i That Was: Rising Out of Depression on Kaua'i, and Sleeping Giants
Have you ever wondered where that unique mountain in the opening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was located? Actually dozens of movies have been filmed on Kaua'i somewhere. We also climb the Sleeping Giant, a slumbering hero of the native Hawaiians.

The Hawai'i That Was: Into the Last Stand of Wilderness in Kaua'i, the Alaka'i Swamp
We take a hike into the last refuge of many of the native species of the Hawaiian Islands, a high-altitude "swamp" on the Alaka'i Plateau. It is an absolutely unique environment, unlike any on Earth.

The Hawai'i That Was: What the Worst Disaster You Can Think of? The Terror of Na Pali...
The cliffs of the Na Pali is one of the most incredible shorelines in the world, and are stunningly beautiful. On the other hand, they are evidence of one of the most violent of disasters, one that was so intense that it sent waves crashing against the other islands more than a thousand feet high.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Lost Wetlands of the Mana Plain on Kaua'i
A portion of the west coast of Kaua'i exemplifies the conflict between the modern world and the natural environment that existed before. Volunteers are attempting to rebuild some of the wetlands that once existed on the Mana Plain.

The Hawai'i That Was: Waimea Canyon, the View You "Have" to Earn...
Our trip was near an end, and we took one last hike, one that end at the brink of a place so spectacular that it's been called the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". We learned about the need to "earn" a view.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Final Refuge
For the our final blog in the series (for now at least), we have a look at Waimea Canyon, a deep gorge produced when half the island threatened to collapse and sink into the sea. We end with the realization that the natural environment that once existed in Hawai'i still survives in isolated corners here and there. These are the last refuge for many species, and many of us.

The Hawai'i That Was: A Geological and Anthropological Exploration of the Islands

Since last summer I've been working on a blog series based on the geology, natural history, and anthropology of the Hawaiian Islands, loosely based on our field studies class last summer. There are a lot of stories told by these isolated islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I finally reached the (possible) end of the series yesterday, and so today I'm putting together a compilation of the posts (click on the titles to get to each blog).

The Hawai'i That Was: A New Blog Series
This was the opening post that described what I hoped to do with the series. It included a picture of the Gardiner Pinnacles, the last bit of volcanic rock in the Hawaiian chain of islands. This bit of rock is the final remnant of an island that may have rivaled Kaua'i or Maui in size.

The Hawai'i That Was: To know what was we need to know Hawai'i today
I remember that the location and relative size of the islands meant little to me until I actually visited. In this post I laid out the geography of the main islands of the chain.

The Hawai'i That Was: Why Should We Care?
We are often far too ignorant of our dependence on the land and resources, and forget that they can be abused and wasted. All human societies alter the landscapes that they occupy to increase their chances for survival, and some are more successful than others. Hawai'i is a microcosm of the human experience on Earth.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Beginning of All Things, (Ba)salt of the Earth
Hawai'i begins and ends with basalt, the product of the partial melting in the mantle of the Earth. Basalt is the foundation on which the entire story of Hawai'i is written.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Abode of the Gods and Creation at Kilauea
Kilauea is the site of Hawaii's ongoing eruptive active, 33 years and counting. We saw some spectacular spattering when we visited at night. The video is in this post.

The lava lake in Kilauea Iki in 1959. We walked across it last summer

The Hawai'i That Was: Walking a Lake of Fire in "the Little Source of Great Spewing"
In 1959, a huge eruption produced gigantic columns of spewing lava and filled a depression creating a lake of fire. It's still hot today nearly 60 years later. We walked across the abyss.

The Hawai'i That Was: Pu'u O'o, the Volcano We Couldn't See
The present day lava flows at Kilauea originate at a vent called Pu'u O'o a few miles east of the summit. We didn't get to see it on this trip, but I flew right over it in 2009. Here are the pictures!

The Hawai'i That Was: Living on Uncertain Ground - The First Human Wave Arrives
Hawai'i was one of the last uninhabited places on planet Earth. We get a first look at what life was like for the earliest colonizers, and begin to understand how they changed the islands.

The Hawai'i That Was: How Can the Biggest Mountain in the World Stay So Hidden?
It was a bit strange that we were on Mauna Loa, the world's biggest mountain, and barely ever saw it. The weather on the Big Island can be fickle! No worries though, I found a lot of images in the archives.

The Hawai'i That Was: Mauna O Wakea, the Opening to the Heavens, and the Realm of Ice
There is a second gigantic volcano on the Big Island that is taller than Mauna Loa, but of somewhat less bulk. Mauna Kea is considered the realm of the gods, and in a sense modern technology reflects this as some of the world's most powerful observatories on the summit search the Universe for understanding.

The Hawai'i That Was: A Tale of Two Kipukas, and Thoughts on the Rarest Plants in the World
Ever wondered about the world's rarest plant? How about one that existed as a single specimen? That died? Someone preserved just a few seeds, so it may come back (there are about 200 planted in the kipuka today). The role of kipukas in preserving the Hawai'i that was is described in this post.

The Hawai'i That Had Never Been: A Mountain That is Younger Than Me, Mauna Ulu
An exploration of a mountain that didn't exist when I was in grade school, along with another of Hawai'i's fascinating kipukas. Mauna Ulu is a fascinating place to explore.

The Hawai'i That Was: There was a Monster in the Water at Laupahoehoe
The tragedy of the 1946 tsunami at Laupahoehoe, and how it saved hundreds of thousands in the Pacific Ocean later on, but didn't in the Indian Ocean in 2004.

The Hawai'i That Was: Where are the Rivers? Waterfalls on the Big Island
Many parts of the Big Island have no rivers despite near constant rainfall. In other places, there are some really nice waterfalls! We explore some of them in this post.

The Hawai'i That Was: A Veritable Rainbow of Sand (and cute gratuitous sea turtles)
Did you know that there are beaches in Hawai'i that are made of gemstones? Or that beaches range in color from black to white with a whole rainbow in-between? Lets explore a few.

The Hawai'i That Was: Look at the Cute Squirrel! (NOT a squirrel)
You will no doubt see a squirrel-like creature on some the Hawaiian Islands. It's not, it's a mongoose, which is an important control on pests in other lands. In Hawai'i it IS the pest. It's had a devastating affect on the native birds of the islands.

The Hawai'i That Was: Exploring Pololu Valley on an Unstable "Dead" Volcano
The Big Island is not noted for having huge coastal cliffs, but there are some nice ones on the northeast coastline. The origin of the cliff is a notable story as well, that of a gigantic prehistoric landslide.

The Hawai'i That Was: What Happened to the Stones of Pololu? A Look at Pu'ukohala Heiau
This is the story of the Pu'ukohala Heiau, one of the most intriguing archaeological sites in the Hawaiian Islands. It was built by King Kamehameha I prior to his uniting of the islands under single rule. The stones they used to build it came from the other side of the island.

The Hawai'i That Was: Lapakahi, the Kind of Place Where the Rest of Them Lived 
History seems to always be about the kings and presidents. We usually hear little about what life was like for the "commoners". Lapakahi is an archaeological site that protects a commoner's village on the northeast coast of the Big Island.

The Hawai'i That Was: Have We Got Some Real Estate for You! Exploring Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
Hawai'i has a number of national parks, and one of them seems a strange choice, backed up against a Costo store near Kona. It's a barren lava flow, but treasures are hidden within its boundaries.

The Hawai'i That Was: Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, the Place of Sanctuary That Might Not Be So Safe (Geologically)
Can you ever feel safe? There are different kinds of 'safe' in Hawai'i. A few hundred years ago, small infractions could get you killed, but you could find safety and forgiveness if you could make it to a place like Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. Geologically though? Maybe not so much.

The Hawai'i That Was: Watching the Destruction of the Islands in Real Time
Flying from the Big Island to Kaua'i is like riding a time machine both backwards and forwards. We see the progression of the erosion and subsidence of the islands over the last 5 million years, but we are also seeing the future of the Big Island, five million years into the future.

The Hawai'i That Was: We Arrive on Kaua'i and Find the Beauty of Age
The Big Island and Kaua'i are separated by only a few hundred miles, but they might as well be worlds apart. They are different from each other in many ways. We begin an exploration of the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands.

The Hawai'i That Was: History and Beauty at Ke'e Beach and the Na Pali Coast.
On the north side of Hawai'i is a spectacular coast of some of the highest beach cliffs in the world, and the remains of a hula school that operated for perhaps 800 years. Not many universities in the world can make such a claim.

The Hawai'i That Was: An Idyllic Paradise on the North Shore of Kaua'i. Sort of.
Hanalei Bay is one of the most beautiful places on planet Earth. But even paradise can be a place of danger. Why are all the houses built on stilts?

The Hawai'i That Was: Hanalei, Where the Waterfalls Seem to Stream From the Clouds
The north side of Kaua'i captures the warm moist tropical trade winds, and collects prodigious amounts of rainfall. The mountains here are the wettest places on Earth, with one spot that gets nearly 500 inches of rain per year.

The Hawai'i That Was: Rising Out of Depression on Kaua'i, and Sleeping Giants
Have you ever wondered where that unique mountain in the opening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was located? Actually dozens of movies have been filmed on Kaua'i somewhere. We also climb the Sleeping Giant, a slumbering hero of the native Hawaiians.

The Hawai'i That Was: Into the Last Stand of Wilderness in Kaua'i, the Alaka'i Swamp
We take a hike into the last refuge of many of the native species of the Hawaiian Islands, a high-altitude "swamp" on the Alaka'i Plateau. It is an absolutely unique environment, unlike any on Earth.

The Hawai'i That Was: What the Worst Disaster You Can Think of? The Terror of Na Pali...
The cliffs of the Na Pali is one of the most incredible shorelines in the world, and are stunningly beautiful. On the other hand, they are evidence of one of the most violent of disasters, one that was so intense that it sent waves crashing against the other islands more than a thousand feet high.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Lost Wetlands of the Mana Plain on Kaua'i
A portion of the west coast of Kaua'i exemplifies the conflict between the modern world and the natural environment that existed before. Volunteers are attempting to rebuild some of the wetlands that once existed on the Mana Plain.

The Hawai'i That Was: Waimea Canyon, the View You "Have" to Earn...
Our trip was near an end, and we took one last hike, one that end at the brink of a place so spectacular that it's been called the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". We learned about the need to "earn" a view.

The Hawai'i That Was: The Final Refuge
For the our final blog in the series (for now at least), we have a look at Waimea Canyon, a deep gorge produced when half the island threatened to collapse and sink into the sea. We end with the realization that the natural environment that once existed in Hawai'i still survives in isolated corners here and there. These are the last refuge for many species, and many of us.

New Exhibit at the Great Valley Museum: Homo Naledi and MJC's Dr. Debi Bolter

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I work in a wonderful Science Community Center, which has a the marvelous Great Valley Museum (the GVM) taking up most of the bottom floor. The museum has existed for more than thirty years, but spent most of that time in a cramped 1930's vintage house. It had been a dream for decades that the museum could grow into a larger facility, but it wasn't until about three years ago that it finally happened.

The museum is equipped with a world-class planetarium, a Science on a Sphere, a live animal exhibit, and a permanent set of exhibits on the natural history of the Great Valley. There is a nice storage facility and curation laboratory, and quite soon there will be an Outdoor Education Laboratory (you'll be hearing lots more about this part). It also has a large space for rotating exhibits, and I'm happy to report on the latest: A New Star in the Ancient Human Family: Homo naledi and Modesto Junior College's Dr. Debi Bolter.

You may have heard the news about the discoveries of a new Hominin species in the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. It was in the headlines in 2014, and was a cover story in National Geographic. Fewer people may realize the close connection between the discovery and one of the anthropology professors at Modesto Junior College. Dr. Debi Bolter was part of the team who analyzed the teeth and skeletal elements found in the cave.

Dr. Debi Bolter of Modesto Junior College

Denise Godbout-Avant has worked with MJC and the GVM for many years, and lately as a volunteer has been collaborating with Dr. Bolter and other professors across our campus to produce a comprehensive exhibit about the discovery of Homo naledi. I was privileged to be in attendance at a sneak preview of the exhibit this evening.

Denise Godbout-Avant, curator of the Homo naledi exhibit

One of the unique aspects of the exhibit has been the use of some very complex 3-D printing to produce very detailed models of some of the skeletal material discovered in the Rising Star Cave. It was one of the unusual aspects of the research that the programs for the detailed scans was made available freely to other researchers. Printing these bones is a long and arduous process undertaken by MJC professors Joel Hagen and Dave Martin. Richard Avant painted and prepared the samples, while a number of MJC students assisted in other aspects of the exhibit.

Homo naledi is the middle skull, with a modern human on the right

The geology of the site is an important aspect of the research, as the cave is uniquely inaccessible. The bones lie in a chamber at the end of the "Superman Crawl" and the "Dragon's Back", extremely narrow passageways that make the accumulation of the bones in the particular chamber somewhat of a mystery. How did they get in there? Did they crawl in? Were they thrown into the chamber? Was there another entrance at one time or another?

The Great Valley Museum is a scientific treasure in a region that is often lagging in scientific education. The people of our region voted to support science education when they passed a bond issue a decade ago that resulted in the construction of the Science Community Center and the expansion of the Great Valley Museum. If you have not yet had an opportunity to visit the museum and take in the exhibits and maybe even a planetarium show, now is a great time to stop by! Bring the kids, for there is plenty for them to do as well. Information on hours and location can be found on the museum website at http://www.mjc.edu/instruction/sme/gvm/index.php. Follow the GVM on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GVMatMJC

The Other California: A Chance to See a Unique Piece of our State, our local Galapagos Island

Santa Cruz Island in Southern California. Here is your chance to explore this dynamic and unique ecosystem! Source National Park Service

I work with some pretty incredible people. Modesto may be not be the most exciting place to live, a Central Valley town with a depressed economy and limited opportunities, but the professors and teachers I work with are fighting to provide our students a chance to reach their dreams (and even to give them an idea of what to dream about). Many of our faculty are doing world class research, and we have nationally known poets and writers. They could live anywhere, but they've chosen to live here and work to build their community

It's also important to know that despite our limited resources, our administration recognizes the value of field experience not just in geology, but also biology, archaeology, and anthropology. Students who have pursued their education at our school have had opportunities to explore far-flung parts of our world, including Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Baja California, and all eleven western states. It is a challenge to put such trips together, and they can be expensive, but the experience and knowledge gained is priceless.

Which brings us to today's topic. Early on in my blogging career (in the Pre-Pleistocene year of 2008), I had a regular feature called the "Other California" which describes those parts of our fair state that don't always show up on the postcards and travel brochures, but which display incredible geology and natural history. Our state is rich with landscapes and species that are found nowhere else. And so today I want to let you know about a marvelous opportunity to see one of our most unique landscapes, the Channel Islands.

The Channel Islands are the oceanic extension of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Structually, they've had a strange history that includes being a part of the Earth's crust that has rotated more than 90 degrees from their original orientation. They have been compressed and faulted, and isolated from the mainland for several million years. That means that fauna and flora have been isolated as well, and they have undergone selective pressure in order to survive. There are more endemic species here than anywhere else in the state. There is a species of bird, the Island Scrub Jay, that is found nowhere else, as well as a canine, the Santa Cruz Island Fox. As recently as 10,000 years ago there was a race of Pygmy Mammoths who survived on the islands for some time after their relatives had died out on the mainland. And...humans lived with and occasionally hunted them! The islands have a rich archaeological heritage of the Chumash people that goes back thousands of years. 

You have a chance to explore Santa Cruz Island with an archaeologist, Professor Susan Kerr, and a biologist, Professor Teri Curtis through the auspices of Modesto Junior College. The class is Archaeological and Biological Field Studies of the Channel Islands (Anthropology 155 and Biology 155 for a total of 2 semester units) and it will take place on August 7-12 on Santa Cruz Island. Cost includes registration fees for the class and $480 for housing, transportation, meals and activities, including kayaking and hiking. There is an information meeting on May 19th for those of you who live in the Modesto region, at 6 PM in Science Community Center room 212 on the west campus of MJC. If you can't make it to the meeting, contact Susan Kerr (kerrs -at- yosemite.edu) or Teri Curtis (curtist -at- yosemite.edu). I hope you can join them!

The Abandoned Lands...A Journey Through the Colorado Plateau

This is a land that breaks people...

Fajada Butte on the morning of the Summer Solstice, Chaco Culture Historical National Park, New Mexico

Over and over, people come here, seeking any number of things: land, security, riches, spiritual enlightenment. And then they leave. It is a tough land, where simple survival is difficult. Sometimes a well-prepared culture will come here and stay for a few centuries. Sometimes the sojourn is measured in decades. For us, it was two weeks.

Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Culture Historical National Park

Does this sound like a condemnation of this landscape? It is most certainly not. This land, the Colorado Plateau, encompassing parts of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico is most precious to me, a place I return to whenever I can. It is beautiful beyond words. It is a source of inspiration, and a fountain of information about the earth itself. But to visit this land, we must extend a bubble of our more comfortable environments, in little pods of slightly cooler air contained in vehicles that can transport us hundreds of miles where our forebears had to walk, or ride horses a few miles a day. There are towns and cities in this region today only because we bring energy and resources from elsewhere.

Abandoned corral at the Acoma Pueblo

This became apparent to me these last two weeks. We had a wonderful journey, 30 students of geology and anthropology and their professors, on a trip that took us through the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and numerous other parks and monuments. As the trip continued, I was reminded over and over how ephemeral our existence is in a harsh landscape. There were abandoned cliff dwellings, abandoned towns, abandoned railways, abandoned trails and roads. It is a place that sent people packing for other places when life became unsustainable. There are of course lessons here for our current civilization.

Hoodoos and fir trees at Bryce Canyon National Park

But mostly this land is beautiful, and reveals a rich history, of 13,000+ years of human occupation, and 2 billion years of geological history. For the next few weeks I will try to let you see this beautiful landscape the way we saw it. It has been abandoned over and over, but we are part of a society that occupies the land today, giving us access to a marvelous story.

A Cold Day in the Zoo Facing our Animality

Is this a terrifying moment? Not really.

I haven't been to a zoo in a decade at least. I like animals and all, but I usually find zoos kind of depressing, like a sideshow at a circus. I know that zoos are trying to change that, and that exhibits these days try to reproduce an animal's natural environment as much as possible. No zoo is completely successful at this, but one can see that some are committed to trying. Still, it is hard not to see the animals on exhibit as a sort of Victorian statement of human superiority over the savage beast. On the other hand many of these animals are incapable of survival in the wild, or their "wild" has been destroyed by human encroachment.

90% of the original forests in Madagascar are gone, and so are most of the lemurs. It was a cold day, by the way.

Still, I don't really like the idea of zoos, but I may never have the chance to travel to Africa or the Outback to see these animals in the wild, and TV can, in its rare fine moments, present animals in spectacular fashion, but with no sense of personal interaction. So zoos are it. I responded to a relative's birthday request by taking him to the zoo in San Francisco yesterday (he's 26, but he's also an anthropology graduate student; he takes to the primate center the way I take to dinosaur and mineral exhibits in museums).

Something happened that has never really happened to me before. It was the gorilla compound...one of the younger gorillas was interacting with the zoo visitors. That was new to me; most animals don't seem to note our existence unless they see us as a threat. I'm not used to the idea of maintaining eye contact, and making symbolic facial expressions and hand motions. But it was happening this time.

No, I don't feel a "circle of life" kinship with this particular animal...

I know I'm not supposed to anthropomorphise the actions of animals that have no real mental connection to us (dolphins aren't smiling all the time), but that's the thing: gorillas are among the creatures most like us. I felt a connection with this young animal that I never feel with cats, dogs, or birds. I look at these pictures and I can't help but feel there is a very close kinship with these primates.

 In a movie, this is a terrifying moment. The kids didn't know what to think for a second.

 There were some stares back and forth.

 Then there was some kind of communication with the hands...

Again, we aren't supposed to anthropomorphise the expressions that we see in animals, but try telling me that these aren't expressions of interest and curiosity, maybe even a bit of levity.

At this point, I didn't actually realize the trouble the gorilla had gone through to make contact with the kids. I stepped away and saw that the young gorilla had moved a big ball against the wall and was standing on it.

I start contemplating humanity, and consider what we have done with these creatures. We kill them and eat them. We make table top curios out of their hands and heads. We brag about shooting these ferocious beasts on jungle safaris (I know not so much anymore, but poaching continues unabated).

We talk about "beastly" behaviour, but who is more beastly?

These are among the animals closest to humans in their evolution and genetics. Whenever I hear some television preacher or conservative politician exhorting how they refuse to believe we descended from apes, I think what is the problem with that? These primates are a fascinating look into our own past. Of course, then I throw something at the TV and say "You are wrong! We descended from a common ape-like ancestor! And it's not a matter of 'belief', it's based on overwhelming evidence!"

I know that I am not the first person to ever think of this sort of thing. There is this whole science called physical anthropology that has documented our relationships with these fascinating creatures. My son the graduate student never lets me forget!

And after looking into the eyes of this individual conscious thinking being, I'm not going to forget.

By the way, did I mention that it was cold in San Francisco yesterday? The chimps took matters into their own hands to stay warm...

Many thanks to Mrs. Geotripper who took most of the pictures for today's post.