A Joshua tree by the light of the setting sun at Joshua Tree National Park. The entire is crawling with typical desert flora in rocky soil formed from the mostly physical erosion of the monzogranite pluton that protrudes in the park.
An interesting social phenomenon seen out west is the "shoe tree." We saw four while we were wandering the area. Interestingly, there is also a similar deal called a "medicine pole" where people leave just about anything. It's supposed to bring you luck.
Paleodunes at Red Rock National Monument just outside Las Vegas. It's a world class rock climbing destination. The formation looks similar to the Entrada Formation of the Colorado plateau, but I can't say for sure. You can see, however, the major wind directions over time. You can also tell that it was emplaced in the air because the formation is oxidized -- that's why it's red.
Central Death Valley from near the resort. Yes, there's a resort of sorts in the middle of Death Valley. Anyhow, You can see how strong the winds are here because of the angle of the dunes. I like this picture because you can see the relative size of things. The valley itself with the dune field and the mountains that form the walls. The basin & range is neat like that.
Mt. Whitney! The approach road went through a canyon well-filmed in Hollywood. Most of the "lands" of the various Star Trek series and the old Wild West-esque movies were filmed in the area.
The craggy peaks were formed by glacial erosion during the last ice age.
Probably the best-recognized natural monument in the western US -- good ol' Half Dome of Yosemite. Similar to Whitney, it was formed by glacial erosion. Even in this shot, you can tell where the glaciers were on the landscape; they were in all of the valley-areas. The entire Yosemite valley was, back 18ky, filled with ice.
A sequoia in Yosemite. The tannic acid in the plant tissue is what turns the so-called redwoods red. We also went to Sequioa and Kings Canyon, where the biggest of the trees are, but the perspective is lost. By that I mean, they're so big, that it's hard to fit them in the shot.
Note: this is also one of my attempts at an "artsy" photo...
Tufa at Lake Mono. Formed through chemical precipitation of calcium carbonate in the extremely alkaline lake environment.
Of biological interest, the area with the tufa is also infested with brine flies that literally ride the waves and number in the millions per square meter.
I still like to play, don't worry. When given the chance to play in Lake Mono, the shoes came off and the pants were rolled right on up.
It should be noted that the bottom sediment is slimey. Also, when it gets disturbed, it starts to smell sulfurous. Delicious.
Also, you really do float slightly higher in the water.
I'm still a sucker for pretty things. This is a milkweed dad and I spotted at Lava Beds.
One of the main attractions of Lava Beds National Monument. There are over 300 of these lava tubes riddling the subterranean landscape of the park. There are even some that have ice in them year-round.
The day we went to Crater Lake was absolutely gorgeous. The blue water with the blue sky was one of the more awe-inspring sites on the trip. The lake is in the caldera of a volcano. The island pictures, Wizard Island, is a resurgent dome indicating that there is still volcanic activity going on down below.
Headed back south again, this is on top of Obsidian Dome near Mono Lake. The rock that I am, ah, throwing (at dad's prompting!) is a vitric pumice. That is, it's bubbly glass probably from the eruption of the Long Valley caldera.
La Brea Tar Pits in down town Hollywood. There's actually a pretty neat museum (that building in the background) that explains the tar pits and then , of course, the "reenactment" pictured.
Dad and I had eaten lunch a couple blocks south of here and found tar oozing out of the ground near a tree. It was surprising.
The science part of La Brea. Volunteers gear up with old clothes and breathing apparati and excavate the tar pits. They've found everything from mammoths to sabretooth tigers and direwolves in the pits.
Those are the highlights of our tour of the fire and ice formed lands of the western US. It was the last big trip dad and I got a chance to do, but it was worth every penny and we definitely made the best of it. I picked up Nevada and California, so I have officially been to 49 states. This, of course, guarantees that I will be going to Hawai'i sometime soon. I've one more state (and most of the world) left to see!
On a closing note, we also came across the following sign in Yosemite when we made a wrong turn and ended up heading toward a ranger parking area.
It's nice to know that mistakes like that are made!
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