OT..Tufa towers

[Guest guest]

used to go camping here, what seems a million years ago

to see pictures

 

 

http://www.desertusa.com/mag08/dec08/tufa.html

 

Desert Wonder:

Tufa towers near Ridgecrest make for a fun local day trip

Story and photos by Lara Hartley

 

 

 

 

 

Cars can drive into the bowl-like area at Trona Pinnacles to camp

primitive-style amidst the tufa towers.

 

On a hazy winter day, unique cathedral-like shapes float above a coppery layer

of atmospheric dust with no apparent connection to the desert floor — part

mirage, part reality.

 

Captain Kirk was suspicious of the appearance of ‘God’ here. Mark Wahlberg

crashed his space ship here on the planet of talking apes. And Jack Robinson

flew by a pitted monolith in search of his daughter Penny.

 

More than 500 tufa columns erupt from the Searles Dry Lake basin giving the area

its otherworldly appearance, making it the perfect location for science fiction

movies.

 

 

Mike Smith, 19, of Ridgecrest, celebrates his climb to the top of one of the

tufa towers.

Scenes from “Star Trek, The Final Frontier,†the remake of “Planet of the

Apes†and “Lost in Space†are only a few of the movies, TV shows and

commercials filmed at this remote site in the Mojave Desert called Trona

Pinnacles.

 

The pinnacles are located eight miles south of Trona, 20 miles from Ridgecrest

in Kern County. Visitors have a wide variety of activities available at this

unique landmark. Hiking, picnicking, photography and geologic sightseeing are

all encouraged by the Bureau of Land Management which oversees the area. Only

primitive camping is allowed, as there are no developed sites.

 

Teenager Mike Smith and his friends decided on a balmy winter day to “follow a

dirt road out of Ridgecrest — and we ended up here.†Here turned out to be

the top of one of the towers.

 

Scientists have determined hot springs rich in calcium bubbled up under

Pleistocene era Searles Lake; mixed with lake salts and alkalines creating

calcium carbonate which bonded with algae and formed the tufa pinnacles. Over

thousands of years, the lake dried and the columns grew up to 140 feet tall,

covering 15 square miles.

 

According to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, there are three distinct sets of

formations, categorized by age and elevation. The groups are dubbed the

northern, middle, and southern groups which formed during three ice ages. There

are four tufa forms: Towers — taller than they are wide, 30 to 40 feet tall.

Tombstones — stubby and squat, 20 to 30 feet. Ridges — massive toothy tufa

ruins. (Trona has three ridges — one ridge is 800 feet long and 500 feet wide

and 140 feet tall.)

 

 

The unique landscape of the Trona Pinnacles consists of more than 500 tufa

(calcium carbonate) pinnacles rising from the bed of the Searles Dry Lake basin.

 

Designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1968, the Pinnacles are located

within 3,800 acres of Federal property managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

 

They are inside a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) designed to

protect and preserve unique resources.

 

 

On the highway between Trona and Ridgecrest are " Fish Head Rocks " originally

called " Whale Heads. " I think they look more like sharks.

 

 

 

 

http://www.desertusa.com/mag08/dec08/tufa.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

" Will we ever get to the point that we realize that we will be more secure when

the rest of the world isn't living in poverty just so we can have nice running

shoes? "