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From Little Treasures Come Big Stories: Travels Through Death Valley National...
Photo by Mrs. GeotripperI returned from Death Valley to a load of work back on campus, but over the next few days I'll be posting on some of our adventures. On Saturday morning, we awoke to sunrise on...
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Write About a Tree and it Falls Over: How it was in Yosemite today....
On our last trip to Yosemite in October, we had a delightful time witnessing the contrast between the vivid fall colors and a fresh new coating of snow. I also spent some time photographing a group of...
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A Bald Eagle, a Raven, and a Turkey Vulture Were Having Lunch Together...No,...
To my birding readers: how is this for an odd scene? It's the strangest bird picture I've ever taken, and the first ever of a bald eagle. I imagine they've been in our area for awhile, but until today...
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Earthquake Swarm in Southern California
An earthquake swarm is shaking up part of Southern California along the San Jacinto fault near the town of Anza. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, three moderate quakes occurred in quick...
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Adventures in a Roadcut: It's All in Your Point of View
It's March in Central California, which makes for a really fine time for a geology field trip. We headed east into the Sierra Nevada foothills for a look at some Mother Lode history. For those of you...
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Such a Peaceful Scene...and the Birth of Horrific Destruction
A beautiful serene stretch of river on a sunny spring evening. How could anything like this be associated with the extermination of not just a culture, but of many cultures? How could this be linked to...
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Life from an Ant's Point of View: Springtime in the Sierra Foothills
I find that the average lifespan of an ant is something like a month or two. So bear with me while I have some silly thoughts about ant culture. What must the average ant think when it sees the...
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California's Great Valley Turns Technicolor
Springtime is arriving in the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Great Valley (most people know it as the Central Valley, but we have our pride). This is the time when the rare rains have awakened the...
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Spring arrives in the Sierra Nevada Foothills (and a gratuitous mammal photo)
A long work week, and then another family gathering, this time in Porterville in the southern part of California's Great Valley. We couldn't resist the desire to see what was happening in the Sierra...
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The Other California: That slope won't be a problem will it? The Wrightwood...
You learn something new everyday. At least I hope you do. I learned something astounding revealed by satellite imagery of the Mojave Desert.We were headed home a week or two ago, and were taking a...
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The Other California: Getting a Good Look at California's Faults
The San Andreas fault in Lone Pine Canyon near Cajon Pass in Southern California. Photo by Mrs. GeotripperIf there is anything that people know about California, it's the San Andreas fault. In a vague...
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Mining the Rocks, the Water, and the Air...Using Up the Land in the Western...
My recent journey home from Southern California included a series of diversions and "short cuts" that afforded me a chance to see some new territory. We diverted from Interstate 215 to take a look at...
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More Land-Use Oddities from the Mojave Region: The Tehachapi Loop
In yesterday's post, I was musing over the intense use of the land in the western Mojave Desert, in which we mine the land, the water and the air for resources we want and/or need. As we continued our...
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The Other California: Yokohl Valley Drive in the Southern Sierra Nevada...and...
To be clear, the "blank spot" on the map is MY blank spot, not the cartographer's. For all the geological explorations I've been documenting here at Geotripper for the last five years, there is a...
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What Does a Geologist/Earth Scientist Look Like? Let Us Know!
Look! A geologist! And he's an old white guy with a rock hammer! No stereotypes here (Photo by Mrs. Geotripper).A post today over at Jacks of Science bemoaned the stereotypes of scientists as indicated...
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Joshua Trees Blooming Across the Southwest: Is it a problem or just a good year?
During my travels a few weeks back, I noticed a lot of Joshua trees were blooming along Highway 138. We stopped and snapped a few close-ups without giving it much thought. I knew they bloom off and on...
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Discovering your Inner Fish: Dr. Neil Shubin coming to Modesto Junior College...
So what do you do if you want to find an ancestor to the earliest amphibians? You figure out where the oldest amphibians lived, and search the world for rocks that are slightly older, and represent the...
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A Day for Dam Big Rocks
Some of my students have a penchant for misusing a certain expletive when they want to describe something related to reservoirs. I occasionally take advantage of oral presentations by referring to "dam...
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Accretionary Wedge #56: Because Every Picture of the Earth Tells a Great Story
Andrew Alden at About Geology is hosting this month's Accretionary Wedge, and the topic is landscape topography through the eyes of a geologist: Once upon a time, you took a picture of something that...
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Interested in Earth History? This is where you should learn about it...June...
North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park (yes, Gaelyn, we'll be on the North Rim, hope to see you there!)There is no place on this planet like the Colorado Plateau. It's hard to find anyplace else on...
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