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The Green Flash, the Green Rim, and Coastal Sunsets
I'm in a beautiful place, no doubt about it. I'm in central Oregon on the Siuslaw River visiting for the holidays, exploring new terrain that I've never really seen before. Luckily, we have the time to...
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The Tormented Lost Souls in Hades? Or Maybe the Denizens of the Largest (?)...
You've seen the bumper stickers, no matter where you've been in the country: Trees of Mystery, Wall Drug, South Dakota, and Mystery House of just about anywhere, and of course, Sea Lion Caves. I've...
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Happy New Year From Geotripper! A Resolution: Follow Those Dreams!
I've never been one for resolutions. Changes in my life tend to happen at the various times when the need for change becomes apparent and I try acting on them as a result. That being said, the new year...
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The Stacks are Odded Against Us! Subduction's Gift in Southern Oregon and...
Sea stacks on Highway 1 near Elk, in Northern California Sea stacks are isolated rocky islands found along rugged coasts where wave erosion is intense. They form for a variety of reasons (from glaciers...
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Birds of My Neighborhood: Geotripper Explores the Home Base on National Bird Day
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)I'm told that today is National Bird Day (thanks, Randall), which was convenient to today's post since I was already collecting pictures of birds from my last two...
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The Finest Science Center in the Great Valley Needs a Museum Director
If you follow this blog at all (and many thanks if you do!) then you know that we recently occupied what I think may be the finest teaching facility of its kind in the Great Valley of California, and...
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Science Education Leaps Forward in California's Great Valley: Want to be...
I announced this opening on Geotripper yesterday, but I thought that this press release would provide some more detailed information about the position. This is an exciting time for science education...
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On the Most Inaccessible Mountain Range on the Planet: Walking the Mid-Ocean...
What is the most inaccessible mountain range on planet Earth? The Himalaya? The southern Andes? Some mountain range in the Antarctic wastes? Nah. The most inaccessible mountain range is so difficult to...
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Science on Screen at the State! Whale Rider, Sunday January 12 at 3:00 PM
For my Modesto area readers: I've been involved for the last 18 months with an innovative program at the State Theatre called Science on Screen. The program offers movies with science themes and...
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Where the Sierra Nevada Rises from the Sea: Point Reyes National Seashore
Drake's Beach, with outcrops of Purisima Formation that reminded early sailors of Dover.Around 30 million years ago major parts of Central California were in Southern California. It's about that...
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Birds of My Neighborhood: Geotripper Explores a Bit of the "Original" Great...
In the last few weeks I've been documenting the bird species in my local neighborhood, primarily around the cow pasture that sits a few blocks from my house. Much to my surprise, I was able to identify...
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Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake in Southern California
There was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake in southern California this morning at 1:35 AM, centered about three miles north of Fontana along the southeastern edge of the San Gabriel Mountains in a complex...
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A Picture Tells the Story. We're in Big Trouble Out West.
Source: http://drought.unl.edu/MonitoringTools/NASAGRACEDataAssimilation.aspxIt's a terrifying picture. We have been through 12 of the driest months ever recorded in California, and there is no relief...
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Where the Sierra Nevada Rises From the Sea: Tomales Bay and Bolinas Lagoon
Let's cross back onto North America for a short bit. In this off and on series about the most beautiful coastline in the world we have been jumping back and forth between the North American and Pacific...
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Birds of My Neighborhood: Geotripper Finds a Moment of Incredible Majesty...
A White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi) at the Merced National Wildlife RefugeI wonder if you've noticed an additional aspect to my blogging in recent weeks. It wasn't a New Year's resolution because it...
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Where the Sierra Nevada Rises From the Sea: Birds and a Hole in the Head at...
Sea stacks at Bodega Head, with the Point Reyes peninsula in the distanceWe are reaching the end of my series on the Central California coastline from Big Sur to Bodega Bay. I've been calling the...
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Birds of My Neighborhood: Geotripper Declares Cedar Waxwing Day!
One of my new year's resolutions which was actually not a resolution, and wasn't made in January, was to lose the extra pounds around the waist (there's a resolution no one ever thought of before...),...
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Rebuilding What Was Lost: Wildlife Refuges in California's Great Valley
Yeah, I live in one of the most boring geologic landscapes imaginable. California's Central Valley (or Great Valley when we are suffering from low self-esteem) is one of the flattest places in the...
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Where the Sierra Nevada Rises From the Sea: A Compilation of Posts
The Sierra Nevada of California is one of the great mountain ranges of the world. The soaring granite peaks, the deep glacial valleys, and the towering Sequoia trees represent some of the most...
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0.42 Inches of Rain Last Night! California's Long Drought is Over! Wait a...
No, the drought is not over. More on that in a minute...I've been waxing eloquently (I hope, but whatever) about how thrilling it has been to be teaching in our new Science Community Center on the...
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