Geology trip through Sierra Nevada, part 2

Okay, continuing with the account of our fantastic trip!

typical scene, climbing up steep slopes, whew

Walking along rivers created by hydraulic mining (these things will change the scenery completely), we ran into this little guy on the road. Our professor picked him up and we got to pet him (and snap fotos)- look at his orange eyes.

hello, humans.

Driving across, at one point, we paused at a stoplight with a homeless man with the sign "hungrier than Donner, will take anything". A little graphic, since he was referring to the cannibalistic Donner Party.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

We stopped at Lake Tahoe (which formed from melted glaciers), where we saw remnants of glacier rocks dragging down, forming streaks on the rock surfaces. There were interesting eggey-cross section ring shapes as well, which we identified as hornblende rings which reacted with the hot magma flowing past these rocks.

We spent our night in Mammoth Lakes (delicious dinner at Base Camp Cafe) & continued onward West to Mono Lake and Yerington Mines.

Mono lake with tufa columns (and baby shrimps in the salty water)

Mono Lake (whose name comes from the fly larvae Native Americans used as a major food source) had tufa columns around the edges, which are solid limestones formed from emerging spring water full of carbonates. Star Wars, anyone?

We stopped at Yerington to look at Jurassic granodierites and quartz monzonites.

The ride getting here was ridiculous. This stop was almost left out of the itinerary because we needed to drive through hilly, bumpy unpaved roads. R and I sat in the back of this bumpy ride, laughing and giggling at how tumultuous this was. We left behind a huge dusty trail- Kasey would have never survived this dangerous (a.k.a. exciting) ride.

deep blue copper azurite crystals- looks like a watercolor paintng

And then, final destination, Reno, Nevada. We hit up the buffet (empty on a Monday night) and walked past the slot machines & flashy lights. Back at the hotel, we watched Death Race & chatted about the trip, school, life. Next day, we flew back to Houston via Denver.

Bruce: "who pays for these electricity bills?"

I had a wonderful time on this trip- it was definitely an eye-opener for me. I was amazed at the amount of amazement geologists felt at looking at "rocks", which are not just rocks for them anymore- they tell a story, a snapshot of the time and place they were created. I can't count how many times someone exclaimed "look at these rocks!" or "these are some beautiful outcrops!" while I tried to figure out why they were so significant.

I think I'll pay more attention to rocks in my landscape when I'm traveling around and also try to identify how & why interesting structures could have been created. To be a great geologist, you need to not only know your stuffz, but also must pay attention to details and be patient. Oh, and being in great shape & an awesome rock climber, in addition to driving over dirt hills and navigating unmarked roads with ease, wouldn't hurt either.

Oh, and passing through airport security took a bit longer than usual because we all had rock samples we were flying back to Houston. The TSA officer had to ask on repeated occasions staring at the X-ray: "are those... rocks?"