Last Friday, after stopping at the Antelope Valley to photograph poppies, I drove down the 14 freeway to Vasquez Rocks County Park near Santa Clarita.  I’ve always wanted to visit this park, but its always been slightly out of my way.  I’m glad I stopped.

Vasquez Rocks was set aside, in part, because of its unique geology; the rocks were uplifted as a result of activity in the Elkhorn Fault (an offshoot of the San Andreas fault), and with time the erosion of sand away from the sandstone left rocks that jut out of the ground at very picturesque angles.  The sandstone has a variety of mineral deposits, giving it unique colors.  In addition, I found a rich lichen diversity, and enjoyed taking detailed shots of it.

Several examples of the lichen present at Vasquez Rocks

In addition, Vasquez Rocks’ proximity to Los Angeles has made it a popular filming location for several movies and TV shows, including Star Trek, Zorro, and MacGyver.  Because I visited in midday, I wanted to focus primarily on intimate compositions (like the lichen above) or contrasty black and white shots; fortunately the clouds were on my side in providing an interesting sky.

Otherworldly

In addition to the great scenery, the upside of stopping here is that the rocks didn’t move in the wind!

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Sedimentary rocks are normally deposited as horizonal layers. Even when folded or tilted by faulting the originally horizontal layering is obvious. Upon closer examination, however, you may see very fine layers (usually 1 to several mm thick) that are at an angle to the main bedding. These tilted layers contained within larger layers are termed cross bedding.

What a mouthful right?  As sandstone is formed, sand is laid down, either by prevailing wind current, or water current.  However, over geologic time, those currents shift, causing sand to be laid down in a different direction.  What you get is cross bedding.  I love all the cross bedding in Zion National Park and thought it would make for a good abstract photo.  To make this, I intentionally underexposed the photo by ~1 stop, to emphasize the shadows, then I converted to black and white in Photoshop and applied a very light tint to the image.

Cross bedding abstract, Zion National Park, January 2010

You can see all of my Zion National Park images here.

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Here are some more images from my recent Sierra trip.  Before heading home, we stopped by Devil’s Postpile National Monument to go for a quick hike, and to check out the amazing display of columnar basalt present here.  It was kind of a cool morning, because they essentially closed the gates behind us for the year.  Its neat to know that you’re one of the last people to hike in a place for the whole year.  It was my second visit to the Postpile; although the face of the pile is best photographed in the afternoon (I’ve only been there in the morning), the tops of the columns can be photographed any time.  As it wasn’t overcast, I chose to take a more intimate view of the columns (i.e. excluding the sky) with my wide angle lens to show the expanse:

Columnar Basalt, Devil’s Postpile National Monument, October 2009

And I can’t resist a “self-portrait” in places like this, either:

Columnar Basalt, Devil’s Postpile National Monument, October 2009

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Last night I had time to sit down and process another image from our Bryce fly-by in late August.  Even at about 10am, I was amazed by the glow these formations have.  The ponderosa pines really contrast nicely with the brilliant reds in the rock, and I love the “3-D” feel this image has.

Looking into the Amphitheater, Bryce Canyon National Park, August 2009

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Our recent visit to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was one of multiple “firsts” for me.  A notable one was my first visit to Bryce Canyon National Park.  I’ve come close multiple times–driving by on the west, north and south, but I’d never been in to see the famous Bryce Amphitheater.  All I really have to say is, “Holy Cow!”  Bryce truly is stunning.

Part of the Claron formation, the rocks in Bryce were deposited by an ancient inland sea and are about 100 million years younger than the rocks in Zion National Park.  The rocks exposed in Zion are younger than the ones in the Grand Canyon; there are, however, formations that are shared by all three areas.  This creates a sequence of superformations geologists refer to as the Grand Staircase.  Bryce Canyon’s formations are the youngest known formations in the staircase.

The colorful hoodoos that Bryce is famous for are formed by a chemical weathering process, similar to erosion.  Today’s photo of Thor’s Hammer, the tallest of these hoodoos was taken in August 2009.  I would have wished for slightly better light, but a clearing thunderstorm gave me interesting dappled sunlight, and allowed the limestone to display its beautiful color!

Thor’s Hammer, Bryce Canyon National Park, August 2009

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