Friday, June 04, 2010

Field Trip Class 2010: Adventures in Eastern-Central California's Geology

The "Pink Postpile" - Devil's Postpile was inaccessible due to snow, so we found this in the Fish Slough Volcanic Tablelands instead. It was fantastic!

The group at the newly named "Pink Postpile".

Wheel changes were a multi-time-a-day occurrence: the pit crew at work.


The wooden ones I get, but the iron? Can you even imagine? (Bodie)

I'm not sure what this magical powder for men is. (Bodie)

When in Bodie, gotta get in a stamp mill.

An impressive balancing erratic at June Lake. Naturally this calls for tagging - not by our group of course.

Paper cranes at Manzanar cemetary.

Typical menu at Manzanar Internment Camp. The thing that puzzles me is the 4oz of curry powder available.

Heart-shaped arch at Alabama Hills, inclement weather in background.

Silly attempt at towing by hand... totally worth it for entertainment value.

Inclement weather + slow driver + two wheel drive van = getting stuck in a ridiculously small snow pile. *sigh*

Ascending the 680ft high Eureka Dunes, they too "sing", and are the highest in California and rivaling for the highest in the USA.

Teamwork and a little creativity means that anyone can go anywhere. Even at 9500ft.

The group at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest - trees over 4000 years old!

The Chaflant Group Petroglyphs (Fish Slough area), some of the largest (5ft diameter) petroglyphs around.

Two little brine shrimp from Mono Lake.

The group at the scenic vista overlooking Mono Lake.

Gotta love "xing" signs. (Gull Lake)

Why is this whole sign in quotes? (Mammoth Geothermal)

Foxy Brown and Troy Pliocene on the Eureka Dunes. These two were trip mascots; unfortunately Foxy Brown escaped at the ammonite site in Union Wash and was never seen again.

It's amazing how many people go in anyway, and end up receiving the $175 ticket. (Hot Creek Geologic Area)

And of course several other places were visited too - but these constitute my favourite images of the trip.

3 comments:

Heather and Josh said...

Ah, Nat. I love your posts.
Three comments:
-I am intrigued as to what the previous colour of the face powder was. I imagine all these men walking around with nicely buffed grey faces...
-In that menu, what is tsekumono?
-Was the $175 worth it?

Garry Hayes said...

Wonderful country out there! One of my favorite corners of the world. Thanks for the pictures!

gnat said...

H - apparently Tsekumono is a Japanese pickle (i.e. pickled stuff, not a single gherkin)
The powder is most intriguing, we also found a product called "mother's friend", which ultimately lead to an intense research expedition (but we forgot to photograph it) http://www.bottlebooks.com/questions/common/Mother%27s%20Friend.htm