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The Fabled Island of California? Stunning New Research Suggests the Early...
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_CaliforniaSome of the earliest maps of California show it to be an island. The "correction" to this misconception didn't occur until 1746 when the Gulf...
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Death Valley is Really Second Generation Death Valley: A Look at Death Valley...
Death Valley is a stunning example of a fault graben, a large area of crust that subsided because of extensional forces that produced widespread "normal" faulting (where the fault plane slopes towards...
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There are Islands in the Desert: A Look at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
There are islands in the desert. One might argue that islands are supposed to be surrounded by water, and water is in short supply in the driest corner of North America's Basin and Range province. But...
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Flowers, Folds, and Floods on the Way to Yosemite
So this thing happened yesterday. California, despite near-normal amounts of precipitation this year, is still in the grip of a long-term drought. The first part of March was wet, but for the last...
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A Single "Moment" in Geologic Time: A Finder of Lost Worlds in Death Valley
Red Pass in the Grapevine Mountains, Titus Canyon RoadDeath Valley is one of the premier paleontology parks in the entire National Park system. There is a stunningly complete record of fossil-bearing...
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The Richest Mineral Resources in Death Valley: Isolation and Gullibility
A great many dreams lie broken in the rock and gravel expanses of Death Valley National Park. The California Gold Rush had brought hundreds of thousands of people to the state in the 1850s, and though...
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A Treasure in my Back Yard: Grand Opening Celebration for the Tuolumne River...
It's been a long time coming, but it looks like the Tuolumne River Parkway trail in Waterford will be completed soon. There will be a Grand Opening celebration on May 21 at 10 AM at the parking area at...
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The Rim of Fire and the "Impending" Mega-Earthquakes: Look past the...
Every few years (or months) there is a flurry of activity, and everyone gets hot and bothered and worried that the world is about to come apart. There's concern, even panic, and then things settle down...
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The River Lives Again...Flows Increased on the Lower Tuolumne
I took a stroll on the Tuolumne River Parkway trail for the first time in several weeks, and something was strange. I heard the river. One needs to understand just how strange that really is. For the...
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Traversing Dark Canyons Where the Mountains are Upside-down: Titus Canyon...
This is lonely country. There are no outposts of civilization, no phone service, and a single thin gravel road winds through the complex of canyon narrows. This is the kind of country where canyons and...
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What's Your Favorite Stereotype of a Desert? The 2% Answer? The Dunes at...
Think of the word "desert". What''s the first picture that pops into your mind? Is it Saguaro Cacti, like an old western? Is it cliffs and spires like other old westerns? Is it a painted desert, like...
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Damn Fool California Farmers Bringing on a New Dust Bowl
The video is very short, but in eight seconds it shows the stupidity of bad agricultural practices in Central California, practices that have led to disaster in the past, and maybe into our immediate...
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George Lucas Had It Wrong. A Day of Fierce Pride at MJC
No, I'm not talking about the prequels to Star Wars! It was something much earlier. People could be forgiven for not knowing this, but Star Wars was not George Lucas's first successful film. He was...
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Rock Will Not Be Contained: Problems at the Ferguson Slide near Yosemite
The Ferguson Slide today, April 30, 2016I thought of an Ian Malcom quote from Jurassic Park (1983) today: "If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be...
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There's No Place Like This: Celebrating 100 Years of America's Best Idea
"There's no place like this".It's something that you hear once in awhile in a crowd of people seeing Yosemite Falls for the first time. You'll hear it from people seeing a geyser explode from the...
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Yosemite's Dance of the Seven Veils: The Valley on a Rainy Day
She freed and floated on the air her armsAbove dim veils that hid her bosom's charms...The veils fell round her like thin coiling mistsShot through by topaz suns and amethysts "The Daughter of...
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Transit of Mercury across the Sun
I got up early to catch the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun, and was almost frustrated. My idea of perfection would have been to catch the disk of the sun rising against the peaks of the...
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Yosemite's Waterfall Riches: When the Junior Varsity Team Outdoes Everyone...
Ribbon Falls (1,612 feet) just west of El Capitan. The colorful red trees aren't fall colors; they're conifers killed by California's extended drought.You wouldn't know it from the fine physique I...
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Cherishing Our Rivers: A Journey on the Water with the Tuolumne River Trust
Are you lucky enough to live near a river? For much of my life I didn't have that privilege. Southern California has creeks at best, except when they were flooding and otherwise causing havoc. The...
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The Other California: A Chance to See a Unique Piece of our State, our local...
Santa Cruz Island in Southern California. Here is your chance to explore this dynamic and unique ecosystem! Source National Park ServiceI work with some pretty incredible people. Modesto may be not be...
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