RHP (Arcadia, CA) - Victorville
Our first stop will be at the Mojave
River just outside Victorville. Tripsters will recognize this
as the KOA turnoff. The Mojave river at this point flows
year-round, although the stream bed a few miles upstream is
bone-dry. The water we see here actually travels underground
in the porous sandy sediments that make up the desert soil. At
a place called the Upper Narrows, the underground stream
encounters granitic rock which the water cannot flow through,
so it is forced to the surface. (You can see this rock just
north of the campground on the surrounding hills.) If the
river did not flow underground, there would be no water at
this spot because of the high rate of evaporation in the
desert.
Three miles below this spot, the river
hits sandy sediment and continues its underground traveling.
Only during heavy rains does water flow in the river bed of
the Mojave River, with the exception of this 5 mile segment
which flows over non-porous rock.
You may want to get some rock samples
here. See Mr. Horton for good examples of rock samples.
Whenever collecting samples, try to get a fresh rock specimen,
not one that has been weathered. Get as small a sample as
possible. Place your sample in a plastic bag, and mark your
bag with a permanent black marker with a unique number. Then
record this number in your notebook, indicating the location
of the rock found (be precise enough so that someone else
could find the location by your notes). For example, if you
found a rock in the Mojave River at the first stop, mark the
location as Victorville, California, at the Intersection of
I-15 with the Mojave River. When in a mountain range, give a
valley or ridge name, don't just put "San Gabriel
Mountains".
After leaving this spot, we will travel
to the Barstow McDonalds. This could be the last place to buy
a cold coke for the remainder of the day.
VICTORVILLE - BAKER
The Mojave Desert is characterized by
low relief (flat) topography, with residual peaks and ridges
of primarily volcanic origin. While driving, look for volcanic
features such as craters and cone-shaped structures. Most
volcanic cones are black or dark red in color, and are
somewhat cylindrical. Also look for lava flows. Lava that
flows on the surface of the earth is often time basalt, a lava
rich in iron and magnesium. It is also very fluid and can flow
easily. These flows are most often black, and chunks of this
basalt can be seen throughout the Mojave Desert. Make sure to
get a sample of this if possible.
As we leave Barstow, we should see the
first of many dry lakes in the Mojave desert. Dry lakes are
characteristically white and very flat. The Space Shuttle
makes use of this whenever it lands at Edwards Air Force Base.
The runway is a dry lake bed.
Dry lakes were once regular lakes back
when the climate was much wetter (thousands of years ago).
They have since dried up, but when it rains, water, flowing
from nearby mountains (and full of minerals that is in
solution with the water) fills to a limited degree these lake
beds. The water quickly evaporates in the desert heat, leaving
behind the minerals that were in the water. These minerals are
often times called "salts", and are white.
Look for the Afton turn-off. We may pull
over (if time permits) to look at an ancient beach formed by a
large (but now dried-up) lake called Lake Manix. Fossils of
early dogs, bears, cats, mammoths, horses, camels, bison,
antelopes and sheep are found here. Also discovered were
fossils of pelicans and flamingos. (Undoubtedly a cave-man
Club Med.) The lake was fed by meltwater from the San
Bernardino mountains (15,000 to 75,000 years ago) to fill this
once great lake when the climate was much wetter.
About 15 miles from the Afton turn-off
is the infamous Zzyzx turn-off (pronounced `Zy-zix). Thousands
of travelers flock to this sign to take their picture in front
of it. Zzyzx Road takes you to a research laboratory used by
many universities including Cal Poly Pomona.
BAKER - TECOPA
About four miles out of Baker and to the
left is Silver Lake playa, another remnant of a once-great
lake. It is about seven miles long. Towards the north tip of
the lake, look at the small foothills at the far end of the
playa. The horizontal lines along the base of the hills mark
the former water level thousands of years prior.
Our next stop is the stream cut gap
through bedrock by the Amargosa river. The Amargosa river
(which may be dry this time of year) creates a small oasis for
a stand of trees and wildlife. The insect lovers will try to
catch some bugs here. You are free to roam the wilderness
looking for rock samples. This is also a place where a
"benchmark" has been placed. A benchmark is a metal
plate about the size of a baseball that is mounted in cement
at various locations across the United States. Each benchmark
has a number which can be looked up to find the exact altitude
at that location (the altitude at the benchmark is 519 feet).
To check to see if you are reading this, any person who finds
the benchmark and can give me the identification number will
receive 10 extra credit points. It is located somewhere in the
vegetation. Good luck!
To the north are the Dumont sand dunes.
Sand dunes are created when weathered rocks are reduced to the
size of grains of sand, and then are blown into an area where
they can collect, either at the foot of a mountain, or in an
area where the winds are switching directions frequently.
We should arrive at Tecopa Hot Springs
in the early evening. This is our hopeful camping spot.The hot
springs there are warmed by magma that is closer than normal
to the surface. The mineral hot springs are used as a natural
heated swimming pool at the campground. The showers are also
heated in the same way. Because of the large amount of salts
already dissolved in the water as it rises to the surface, you
will find it difficult to get soap and shampoo to dissolve.
Use shampoo sparingly!
TECOPA - DEATH VALLEY
Five miles out of Tecopa is the town of
Shoshone. Just outside Shoshone are chunks of black rock that
you should now immediately recognize as basaltic lava (or just
basalt). This is called the Funeral Basalt and is 1-2 million
years old. The term 'funeral' is a name given to this
particular rock formation. All rock formations are assigned a
name to help identify them. A rock formation can be localized
(as is the case of this basalt) or can cover thousands of
miles (i.e., the "Aztec Sandstone", which is a red
layer of sandstone that stretches from east of the Grand
Canyon to Eastern California, and from the Mexican border
north to Colorado). After turning on highway 178, look at
about 2:45 (right if you only have a digital watch and you
don't know what 2:45 means) for an old abandoned Borax mine
(white spot on hill). As we travel further, notice the layer
of black rock on top of the Greenwater Mountain range. That
layer is also the funeral basalt.
About 5 minutes after turning on highway
178, we will begin descending into Greenwater Valley. This
valley has been down-warped recently (5,000- 10,000 years
ago). We can tell this because the funeral basalt is inclined
inward on both sides of the valley, and we know that it was
originally deposited as a horizontally flat layer.
Soon we will pass the top of Jubilee
Pass, and begin our descent into Death Valley. At Jubilee
Pass, notice the cavernous weathering of the rocks. This is
typical of rocks that can be dissolved with water (carbonate
rocks). It is these types of rocks that also form caves like
Carlsbad caverns. Water runs underground and dissolves the
rocks leaving behind holes. These rocks are called Tertiary
rocks. The term Tertiary is a name of a geologic period of the
past. On the back of this road log is a geologic time scale.
Each period of geologic time is given a name, and each is
identified by certain characteristics. For instance, if we
find dinosaur fossils in a rock, we know it is during the
Mesozoic Era, and more specifically either the Triassic or
Juriassic period, for this is the time during which dinosaurs
were living.
These Tertiary rocks, according to the
tentative absolute age, are from 2-70 million years old.
While descending into Death Valley, look
across the valley at the Confidence Hills. The sharp-eyed
observer should be able to pick out several horizontal
markings which represent the different levels of the lake that
once filled Death Valley between 10,000 and 75,000 years ago.
The lake was 600 feet deep and well over 100 miles long. Now
it is a giant dry lake bed.
As we enter the valley, observe the two
mountain ranges that border it on the west and east. These
ranges both contain peaks well over 10,000 feet high. As the
blocks which these mountains are sitting on are pushed
upwards, the block that Death Valley sits on is sinking, so
much so that much of Death Valley is below sea level. From
your mountain camping experiences you will remember that as
you go up in elevation, the air temperature drops. This also
works in reverse; the lower you go the hotter it gets; so be
prepared for the worst as we enter Death Valley. Average
daytime temperature for this time of year is about 100, which
isn't too bad; however, this place also marks the spot of the
highest temperature ever in North America at 134 degrees. If
it's that hot, school is canceled and we make a bee line to
the nearest swimming pool at Furnace Creek.
In Death Valley, we will be making stops
at various points of interest. Our first stop will be at
Ashford Mills, an abandoned processing mill. It was used first
for gold and later for gravel used for concrete. Farther out
is a cinder volcanic cone that we hope to hike to (bring your
canteen).
Other stops in Death Valley include
Badwater and Furnace Creek.
DEATH VALLEY - LONE PINE
As we leave Death Valley (about 3:00
p.m.), look towards the right as we descend into Panamint
Valley. There are more sand dunes here which are blown by
prevailing winds and trapped by the mountain at the valley
head. We hope to make an insect stop at Darwin Falls, a river
fed by springs that "disappears" a short distance
from the falls. To get there you will have to take a short
hike. As the insect hunters are hunting we can browse through
the geology. Nobody I know has ever been here, so who knows
what to expect.
Leaving Darwin Falls (if we stop), we
enter a place called the Darwin plateau, a thick layer of (you
guessed it) basalt. Look for columnar jointing of the basalt
(looks like a three dimensional stop sign). I will explain
this later.
Our highway takes us to our next hopeful
campground, Tuttle Creek. To make this a true wilderness
experience, there is NO running water. Oh boy! This will truly
make you grateful of the camp showers when we return.
We will probably stop in Lone Pine to
buy the necessary survival foods; cokes and candy bars. The
elevation is about 4500 feet, so it should be cool tonight and
possibly cold in the morning; a welcome change indeed!
LONE PINE - RED ROCK CANYON
Good Morning!!! Scrape the ice of your
sleeping bag and let's continue south (If it was as cold as it
normally is this time of year).
We will make a short stop at the Alabama
Hills to get a rock sample or two, and look at the Sierra
Nevada mountains as well. The Alabama Hills are made up of
Triassic metamorphic rocks (rocks formed underground from
intense heat and pressure). Included in there is Mount
Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14,494
feet high. The Sierra Nevadas are made up of granitic rock
that was lifted through block faulting. Erosion has since
carried away most of the layers that were on top of the
granite leaving behind the impressive chain of mountains you
see here.
Today we will be visiting one or more of
the following sights;
1. Lone Pine Fault Scarp
2. Coso Geothermal Area
3. Fossil Falls
4. Red Rock Canyon
5. Mojave McDonalds
Because we're not sure exactly where we
are camping or the physical condition we will be in, this
day's schedule is highly variable.
Just north of Whitney Portal road is a
fault scarp that runs parallel to the Alabama Hills from the
1872 earthquake along the Alabama Hills fault, one of many
faults that make up the Owens Valley fault system. This
earthquake was thought to be the largest earthquake in
California in historical times; however, because the area is
so sparsely populated, little damage was done. There were
23-29 deaths that occurred. A grave marker west of the highway
is located on an older fault scarp.
As we head south again on 395, look for
Diaz lake to the west (8 miles south of Lone Pine. This lake
was formed during the 1872 earthquake when two fault scarps
were produced which trapped water to form a lake. One of the
scarps is visible at the north end of the lake on the west
side.
To the east is Owens lake (mostly dry).
Again look for horizontal markings on the hills indicating
former lake levels.
Coming up is the Cosos Thermal area and
Fossil Falls.
In this area, look for Red Hill, a prime
cinder cone volcano.
Following highway 14 south, we will
travel through Red Rock Canyon, another possible stopping
place.
Red Rock Canyon marks the termination of
the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Common through Red Rock
Canyon is the Ricardo formation of rocks. The general color of
this formation is tan or buff. In some places, a black band of
rock (basalt) is found in the middle of the Ricardo formation.
As we travel down highway 395, be on the
lookout for more basaltic flows and volcanic craters that may
have produced them.
RED ROCK CANYON - MT. KARE
We enter civilization again at the town
of Mojave, where a McDonalds is located. Depending on the time
we may or may not stop.
As we travel through Palmdale, look for
an impressive road cut that includes a look at highly
contorted rock caused by the San Andreas fault which runs
along the north side of the San Gabriel Mountain range (it's
worth a stop if we see it and if anyone is still conscious).