Only ignorant people wash their driveways with water hoses to get the dirt off of them when they live in a desert... Did you hear that Kern County???

This year I was the MESA faculty adviser, and was asked to do a "green" educational outreach project with some students. The students naturally selected were those of the newly founded Geology Club, and the project (appropriate for people who are unaware that they are living in a desert) was on water conservation.
We teamed up with some folks over in Digital Arts who helped make our information look pretty and appealing (ie, the poster above, which was simply a photo I took in Yosemite until Will transformed it). The culmination of our hard work was a week of display booth on campus - complete with water taste test - during what I called "Earth Week" (the week during which Earth Day falls).


You can check out our outreach efforts (Odyssey: The Journey of Water) at our website. In fact, please do check it out... it's not outreach without people seeing it!!! As a grand finale we viewed the documentary Flow, which was enraging, and either pushed me to rapidly pursue a PhD and get employed by the UN or to rapidly get a yurt in the mountains and run away from this world... I'm not exactly sure which. But if you haven't seen Flow yet, get on it. And read Water Follies too while you're at it. And Bottlemania. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

last school field trip of the semester...

Parkfield (pop.18) and Montana de Oro are not new to my field trip assortment, but this year I put them together and teamed up with my Rock Buddy and his class to make the excursion. On the day out I was annoyed by not being able to photograph the bend in the bridge well enough to see the right-lateral motion on the San Andreas Fault. Then, when I looked at my photos, I found this one and proved myself wrong...


Later on that day, right before we headed home, sea lions were spotted just off the coast! I was pretty excited, but there's just not enough zoom on this camera to capture them clearly. They are the shiny things on the rock. The shiny things in the water are seaweed type stuff.

desert scenes, abundant licking, and a heart shaped xenolith

My annual field trip pilgrimage out to the Mojave came with a lot of the old, but with fresh new eyes... A few faithful ones made it up the dunes and we jumped and didgeridoo-ed our way down until nearing exhaustion, as is required there.

Desert Scenes:

Kelso Dunes

Flowering Cactus Growing out of Vesicular Basalt

Joshua Trees

Bristol Dry Lake: a new terrain adventure for wheeling extensive distances in surprisingly short spans of time... B the Singer was gone in a flash!

Abundant Licking:

J-Spazz and B-Singer are all over this rock salt

The Knee (above) and All American below show them all how it's done

...I didn't even ask (only to take the photo)

And a Heart Shaped Xenolith:

Heart shaped piece of Farallon plate xenolith, composed almost entirely of olivine, likely making it a dunite inclusion. But a HEART-shaped one.

Moro Rock (the one with 1 "r")

View behind Moro Rock, at Castle Rock.

Lunch spot at Moro Rock, looking down into the valley.

Big red snowy trees.

Near Potwisha (where I camped for xmas), gorgeous little stroll by the river - had no idea this was here before!!!

Last week's delayed update was a jaunt with my Faithful Rock Buddy up into Sequoia National Park for a relaxing 4 mile hike in the fresh crisp air, big trees, snow, and that other giant intrusive igneous rock named Moro. (You might remember the other, Morro, from previous posts). Later we also did "research" at various wineries (ok, 7) for my future "wine & geology" class.

Riding the Ridge Route

My "commuter bike" - rather than take my beloved road bike on this journey, I opted for the knobbier tires and the massive saddle bags of my commuter so that I would be able to carry a full fledged picnic along the ridge for us to enjoy. My ipod (which obviously normally resides in the case taped to my bike frame) did not come on this journey!

Due to the locked gate some of you might remember seeing from my previous Ridge Route post, I came up with the concept of biking it. We headed out yesterday and did some 17+ miles on it, way up high in the Transverse Ranges, battling wind the whole time. It amazed me on the Century I rode a few years ago how the wind managed to be a headwind the whole time, even when we switched directions, so I wasn't entirely taken off guard when that happened again yesterday.

Most of the shots I took look the same, so I picked a couple with riders & geology in them. You'll note that these shots tend to be looking up hill. This is largely because it felt like most of the ride was up steep inclines. Of course, every steep incline meant a downhill on the return. The downhills though, on this ancient battered overgrown rubble-filled sand patchy road, were more bone-rattling "try not to die as I veer around yet another steep corner" panic ridden rather than opportunities for my hobby of taking photos while riding a bike.

Here we are at Swede's Cut, which is comparable to Beale's Cut in a sense. This cut, however, was not dug by hand, but rather by steam shovels brought up there by mules. Beale's Cut, which in its glory days reached a staggering 90 feet deep, is out-shone by Swede's Cut, which is to this day, 110 feet deep. Geologically, it's a fabulous example of Plate Tectonics. I mean really. Here we are, up on a high ridge in the Transverse Ranges, ogling some tremendous angled and interbedded sediments: the muddiest of mudstone shale and the biotite-iest of arkose sand. Clearly the edge of a delta? And now here? Brilliant.

For a sense of ridge-ness, this is a view up on the Ridge Route, and waaaaaaaaay down in the distance is the I5, all ugly and trafficy. From up where I took this photo it sounded like bees in the distance.

Roller Derby!

Well, a few of you know that I picked up a new sport a couple of months ago, and yes, that sport is roller derby! And no, for those of you who grew up with me, I did not magically learn how to skate during these last 4 years in Bake-town. The ladies, or Divas I should say, are a great bunch and I'm happy to be on a team again. Although, I must admit that I am not happy to be just about the least talented on the team... lots of work to do!!!

Anyway, this weekend we had our first "bout", against Visalia:

I was not playing (thankfully!) and unfortunately 2 things lead to the less-then-fabulous 2 photos that I have below. 1) batteries died. 2) even if they hadn't, I got so into cheering for my team - I would not have gotten around to taking photos anyway. Our girls did amazing for their first ever bout. We were almost tied at the first half. But then endurance failed and fatigue set in, and we fell behind unrecoverably in the second half.


Here our team is warming up. We're on quad skates, not inlines. This is a terrific opportunity for fun socks (don't worry, I have plenty!). The belts are actually more functional than fashion accessory, the jammers can grab a belt to help them get pulled through the pack and whip themselves around the track. The tights are also functional... darn it. This is a fundamental way to prevent your skin from peeling off onto the floor... which means that I will have to invest in some tights before our next bout on May 9th.

She's "lead jammer" - check out the stars on her "helmet panty" (yes that's what it's called).

What I'm doing this Friday...

Tres cool, non?

Update: This lecture was fantastic and not to be missed! While it was not perhaps as academic as my crowd might have wanted, it was not a lecture to my crowd - but rather to the central valley public. Keeping this in mind for the audience, Dr Johanson was really terrific. When can I got to Africa?

surprise!

For Becky's birthday (and an urgent passport renewal) I skidaddled back to Canada for a whirlwind weekend on far too many flights. The reuniting of the 3 musketeers again, if only for a short while, was fantastic. I'd say that night officially settled that we have been friends for 2/3rds of our lives. CRAZY.

On the down side, I'm disliking travel less and less. The places to go I still want to go to, but the flying the check in, the waiting, the security, the stop overs, ugh. I thought that the flight to Chicago on the way there was annoying with the snorting/gurgling man next to me who had no sense of personal space (or his personal space was significantly bigger than my personal space allowed), but then the 5 hrs spent in the Chicago airport with CNN loudly blaring through the wee hours and wee mice quietly scampering through my "bed room" (floor) made me appreciate that at least while I was on that plane with the loud man I was getting closer to my destination. Then, on the return, we sat on the plane in NY for 1.5 hrs while some people in Dallas did math to determine whether or not we, in NY, were too heavy to fly. This of course cut into and over my time slot for catching the Bakersfield bus from LAX upon arrival. Knowing this, and knowing that I could do nothing about it, just made my NY-LA flight miserable and depressing. I'm a big complainer, I know. Deal with it.

But really, I do think there are perfectly acceptable reasons to sit on a plane for 1.5 hrs waiting to take off:

• de-icing the wings
• storm
• emergency pilot replacement
• woman in labour on plane (that might take longer than 1.5 hrs)
  
• technical difficulties requiring multiple engine checks
• slew of other planes in line to take off prior
  

Doing math in another state does not qualify in my opinion. Indeed, if they had taken people/stuff OFF the plane, then I might have seen some merit. But they did not. Everyone and all their stuff stayed on the plane, and we eventually took off and landed 10 minutes after my bus left.

Lesson in California History... continued

Not too long ago, I brought you the southernmost portion of the Ridge Route: Beale's Cut.

Today, I bring you snap shots of the northernmost portion, just south of Gorman.
You know you're on the Ridge Route when you find the right signage.


The only remaining part of the former 3-lane highway. Right at Gorman.

The part of the road that still has washed out areas is locked up. I mean, REALLY locked up. They don't want you in there. In fact, you evidently need a quorum to unlock the gate. Or, you can walk...

The work being done on it for repairs... since it was washed out by heavy rains in 2005, the primary improvement is drainage.

Remains of the Tumbleweed Inn - one of MANY hotels on the Ridge Route.

Tecopa, Tecopa

I took advantage of the long weekend, and took my Geology of California class out on a fabulous field trip to my favourite outcrop in California so they could get some practice drawing stratigraphic sections and using Brunton compasses to make measurements. I hope they learned a lot. I know we all had a great time!

The outcrop.

A great view of the Basin and Range Province of California.

Inside a talc mine - they're all looking at me "how'd you get up there?"

Poking around Dublin Gulch (I've blogged about this place before).

Monkey found a newspaper fragment (LA Examiner?) from 1925 around Dublin Gulch.

Then we went and found some trilobites, but I somehow didn't take any photos of that little jaunt. Hmmm...

Lake Dolores/Rock-A-Hoola/Discovery Waterpark... another piece of California History

After driving back and forth on Hwy 15 countless times and not making the stop here, I finally did (accompanied with a few die-hard students who still had some energy left after the long weekend field trip). I first noticed this place, seemingly an odd location for a water park (mid-desert) when I drove here back in 2005. There were water slides (or one at least) actually up and visible from the road then. After several drives back by this place I finally committed to memory the name "Rock-A-Hoola" that I could see on the sign and did a google search. I found this forum that provided many answers, odd stories, and probable false posts. An interesting read none-the-less.

The summary is this:

• It originally opened in 1962 as Lake Dolores, named for the founder's wife. It was a campground waterpark, and potentially the first "real" waterpark known. It grew over 22 successful years to include stand up water slides, zip line, and all kinds of other dangerous sounding thrill rides in addition to standard waterpark stuff. (People entering the park had to sign an extensive waiver - we saw some of these in the broken down buildings when we strolled around in awe)
  
• After a period of closure, the park was sold and re-opened as Rock-A-Hoola in 1996, but the new owners went bankrupt and the park was returned back to the original owners 3 years later. Most of the signage and papers we saw around indicated the name Rock-A-Hoola alone or in combination with the more historically well-known Lake Dolores (as in "Lake Dolores Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark" was found on business cards strewn about)
  
• Sold again, and re-opened under yet another new name: Discovery Waterpark - the third and final run went from 2002-2004. The only evidence we saw of this name were a few plain-font address labels lying around an old office behind the ticket counter.
  

From left to right:

• Top row - google maps outdated image still showing waterslides that are now torn down, sign in parking area, entrance lined with 50's themed route 66 (which is further south than the road this is on) posters
• Middle row - KyKy by the former lazy river, envelope and tickets found in old office, view of the park from the top of the location that used to have waterslides
• Bottom row - the waterslides (photo from themeparkreview.com), regulations sign for the waterslides (I like how there's no warning about health safety like heart problems, but there is a no zipper rule), the hill that held the waterslides as seen today
  

This Weekend's Lesson in Southern California History

Amongst a trip to LA to visit family, I made a commitment to find and photograph the "famous" Beale's Cut (that no one I've talked to so far has heard of before me). I bought the Ridge Route book, because I am fascinated with this sort of history.

In 1862 General Beale completed this cut [by hand], providing a route through the San Bernadinos that effectively connected northern and southern California. The following year it was deepened to its maximum of 90 feet! This definitely ranks up there with Burro Schmidt's tunnel in terms of engineering feats. However, Schmidt has Beale beat in terms of uselessness and randomness. Or perhaps, Beale has Schmidt beat in terms of usefulness?

Looking north up Beale's Cut, earliest known photo. Taken from here.

By 1910, traffic had significantly changed... from the horses and carriages that scrambled up and over the cut in the late 1800s to motor vehicles (the allegedly had to drive up the cut in reverse so that fuel reached the engine), to cargo trucks in the early 1900s. As a result, the Newhall Tunnel was constructed for truck traffic nearby, actually tunneling through the mountains, and the Cut was essentially abandonned. Traffic though (again, depending on which source you read) still used it until the original construction of Ridge Route in 1915.

Depending on which source you read, the cut collapsed sometime in the late 1930's, losing 2/3 of its depth. Below is the photo that I took with my phone (why oh why did I forget my camera???), at approximately the same angle as the B&W photo above. It's obviously overgrown.


The Cut was used for backdrops (either superimposed or actually filmed there) for Westerns. There is also apparently a famous (but superimposed) photo of some Western star jumping on a horse across the cut. Look it up on google if you want.

This is an aerial photo looking south with the Cut in the middle. Hwy 14 is to the left.

Cool stuff I say. Cool stuff.

More Snowshoeing

To begin 2009 right, I went with Trukee friends to their cabin for some snowshoeing and Donner Party BBQ sauce.

The statue at Donner Park - the snow was up to their feet (the feet of the statues that is) at the time the Donner Party was stuck up there at Donner Pass.

It started as a gorgeous day for snowshoeing, and FlyBoy and I tested the hill-climbing capabilities of our shoes by scrambling up some short, but nearly impossible inclines.

Then, as a storm approached, we reached this pond for a spectacular view of the mountains (Sugarbowl?), clouds, and my frightening "fashion sense" - I'm not sure how else to refer to my outfit there...


Later that week we approached a sea of Elvi at Mt Rose - and giggled ourselves silly.


After soaking in our fill of Elvi, we went for a jaunt near Lake Tahoe - and while it was flat, the 8600 ft elevation was surprisingly breathtaking. Hmmm... worth jumping anyway though!

Ski in the new year

On January 1st I was invited for a 10 mile loop back country ski excursion in Sequoia National Forest. Not having done anything like this since grad school's Wednesday afternoon triathlon training (skiing) at Little Cataraqui Creek, I figured I was up for the challenge. It was a blast! Too hot within the first 10 minutes, many of us had to strip down to our long johns for the day - but the scenery was outstanding and there was almost no one out where we were at all. At the end of the day, exhausted and starving, we stopped at Bear Mountain Pizza in Squaw Valley and stuffed ourselves silly. Delicious.