On this hike we explored the earthquake trail at the Sanborn County Park described by Phil Stoffer in his USGS publication, Where's the San Andreas Fault?. The section of the pub that covers this hike, 6. Earthquake Trail, Sanborn County Park: A Geology Hike Along the San Andreas Fault is found on p. 51 in the South Bay section (N.B. 16 MB PDF).
We found Post A easy enough, but we couldn't find Post B initially. Phil said it was north of the bathroom, but we just found the patio in the fairy ring and the pond with the redwoods that were connected in three places.
We blundered along and walked right by Stop 1 but eventually found Stop 13. We ended up doing most of the hike backwards, which made it more difficult to find the next stop and follow the descriptions. I'm therefore putting the photos in the order we should have taken them to help you find your way.
The photos are pretty boring. They serve to complement Phil's publication and show you the trail. Oh, and the trail is documented as 2.5 miles, but with all the reconnoitering, my GPS actually read 5 miles when we were done.
Posts mark fault, but Post B was not to be seen (Post A was easy to find, but my shot of the grassy knoll was stolen by subversives) |
Hidden entrance to trail at Stop C |
The hard-to-follow trail leads down the scarp |
Stop D: Boulders deposited along the alluvial fan |
Stop 1: A creek cuts through the alluvial fan |
The trail we just walked by |
Stop 2: Douglas fir |
Stop 3: Rocks deposited along the alluvial fan |
Stop 5: Trail junction (we never found Stop 4) |
Stop 6: A stump from a thousand-year-old redwood |
Stop 7: A fallen Douglas fir... |
...and its roots |
Stop 8: A sag pond and scattered boulders |
Stop E: Fairy rings |
An old kiln stands nearby |
Stop F: A culvert which has undergone right lateral displacement, but I can't see it here... |
...however, I can see cracks on the other side of the bridge |
Nearby pillars display a date of 1955 and a geology pick commemorating Vernon Pick, a successful Utah uranium prospector who temporarily owned this land |
Update: Detail of Pick's symbol (on left pillar) taken 2009-10-03 |
Update: Detail of 1955 (on right pillar) taken 2009-10-03 |
|
Although we never found stops G and H, we did find the sag ponds, and the hostel, marked by this pillar |
The Sanborn Park Hostel, trying not to be seen... |
...and doing a nice job of it |
Stop I: Boulders deposited by mass movement |
A landslide from the 1995 rains which show the layered beds of alluvial sediments |
We had lunch near stop J while some animal behind us busily threw stuff out of a tree |
Looking up through the redwoods and firs |
Lori, with a vineyard and winery in the background |
Stop 9: An abandoned stream behind a shutter ridge |
Stop 10: More of the shutter ridge |
Stop 11: A dead madrone. Really. |
Woodrat middens |
Ghost Rock |
Update: Another shot of Ghost Rock taken on 2009-10-03 with flash reveals a completely different—and comic— face |
Ponds, springs, and redwoods joined in three places |
Fairy rings surround patios nicely |
|
Copyright © 2008 Bill Wohler Last modified: 2008 About photos |
Free DNS |