Intro to my California trip

My monthlong trip to Hawaii and California is over. I saw lots of beautiful places, covered thousands of miles and took many photos which I am eager to share with you. This post serves as an introduction to my twelve days in California.

There is little doubt that it was the best geotrip I’ve had so far. I saw many classic examples of geology which are usually shown in geology textbooks like pahoehoe from Hawaii, debris flow fans in Death Valley, and tufa towers of Mono Lake to name just a few. I saw everything I wanted to see in Hawaii (erupting volcano, green sand beach, mantle xenoliths, etc.) and in California I actually saw more than I planned. I did not believe when planning the trip that I have time to take a look at the largest trees in the world in Sequoia NP and see the beautiful landscape of Yosemite but I managed to press these into my plans as well. It is needless to say that twelve days is not enough to get to know California and its geology well but I got a taste of it and really liked it very much. So much that I definitely plan to return in the future. I will return to USA already within this year but it will be a different trip to a different place. I will write about that later when the time is right.

Red Rock Canyon State Park was my first destination. It was conveniently on the road from LA to the Owens Valley and well worth a visit. It has many nice outcrops of sandstone and mudstone.

It was very variable trip and not only geologically. I experienced freezing cold high in Sierra Nevada, dry heat in Death Valley and strong winds in many places. This particular morning and especially the preceding night near Obsidian Dome were quite cold. It is no wonder because this place is about 2,500 meters above sea level. I discovered that night that my old sleeping bag is no longer an adequate protection from temperatures like that. I believe it was -10 °C and I couldn’t sleep after about midnight because of cold. So I was up as soon as it was light enough. This photo was taken during the early morning hours. You can see a nice boulder of obsidian with gray pumice. Road to this place was still blocked with snow. So I had to take a 6 km hike but did so happily because it was a great way to get some warmth.

Mono Lake and many interesting geological features around it was one of the highlights of my trip. Here you can see tufa towers which grew in the lake when the water level was higher. These limestone (tufa is a type of soft limestone) towers form because the lake water is rich in carbonate ions which combine with calcium brought into the lake by springwater.

American roads tend to be often straight and usually surprisingly wide. This is not something I am used to see because roads in Europe are much more winding and generally narrower also. This road descends to Death Valley from northern direction. I visited Eureka Dunes before and was on the way to see the rest of the valley.

This place is near Racetrack Playa with its sliding rocks. I believe that the name “Teakettle Junction” is older and the tradition to hang teakettles there came later but who knows. Nice tradition anyway.

Sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells right before sunset.

Oh, these American roads. They can be a lot of fun. I can understand now why so many Americans prefer to drive 4×4 vehicles. It is a necessity in many cases. I am not wealthy enough to afford to rent these. So I have to be careful when choosing which roads to drive with a smaller car. I had no plan to go and see the Lippincott Pass but I did take a trip over the Red Pass in another range which was theoretically driveable with a 2WD car but in reality was only very barely so.

I don’t know exactly what it symbolizes. Perhaps solitude and desolation because it is in one of the ghost towns. This ghost town is named Rhyolite and it is located in southern Nevada. So in addition to Hawaii and California I also visited Nevada although very briefly. I was drawn into this town partly because of its name (rhyolite is a rock type) and mostly because I just wanted to see how a ghost town in America looks like. I have to say that what I found there was disappointing. Perhaps I had an illusion of something western-like but this town seems to be younger and it has just some ruined houses. Nothing very special except this wooden structure which was the funniest thing I saw in Rhyolite.

I spent most of my time in California behind the mountain ranges which makes climate very dry there. But during the last days of my trip I also saw much more populous areas of California which have more human-friendly climate. On this picture is an orange tree growing in Central Valley near the Sierra Nevada mountain range. To me it is strange to see a tree with blossoms which also carries ripe fruits. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

Nice to see that some old cars are still moving. I would not choose this one as my four-wheeled companion on a geotrip but it is a delight to see those on the road.

Sierra Nevada is mostly composed of granitoid igneous batholiths. This one is probably granodiorite and it hosts a nice inclusion of diorite (10 cm in length). Such inclusions are really abundant. I found them in many places and on both sides of the range.