Traveling South: The San Luis Obispo County Highpoint

[Brad Young]

We're at Vicki's sister's house relaxing still over breakfast and coffee (actually the teenager is still asleep). Thanksgiving Day is shaping up to be gorgeous. I plan on "cleaning" the last topo I have to clean for the book, and then the girls and I will (per a long family tradition), be kicked out to walk to the beach while Vicki and Kaaren prepare food and talk, and get stuffing ready and visit, and get the turkey in the oven and catch up with each other, and.... Well I think that presents the general pattern.

On the way down here we diverted to the eastern edge of San Luis Obispo County to hike to it's highpoint, Caliente Peak. It's not that high at just over 5,100 feet, but it's a longer hike as California county highpoints go: it's just over 16 miles (round trip). Katie, Tricia, Charlotte and I picked this one off on Tuesday in perfect weather. Vicki and Madeleine shared part of the hike.

This highpoint sits way out toward I-5, in a dry/not-quite-desert area of the state. We drove out from Paso Robles to start the hike at about 11:00 a.m. (which may have been a little late since we didn't finish until dark; we seem to be pretty casual about long hikes nowadays):










The hike is not exactly in wilderness. It follows an old road to a very old, fallen down lookout tower that is on the summit of the peak. The route gains only 1600 feet in eight miles:










The views of Carrizo Plain National Monument are great:




The highpoint is a bigger bump on the ridge than the other, similar bumps:







The highest point of land atop the peak is at the corner of the collapsed lookout tower:







We summitted at 2:30 in the afternoon, after which we rested and finished our lunches:




We haven't been hiking much lately, so 16 mies was a big hike. We finished at dark, pretty tired and with a long drive ahead:







Still, it was a day well spent. I've now done 41 out of California's 56 county highpoints (two of the state's 58 counties share a single highpoint). Katie has done just over half of them, and Tricia has done almost twenty. It's a good way to see parts of the state that we wouldn't see otherwise.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[Uncle Stinky]

Very nice!

[JC w KC redux]

The views of Carrizo Plain National Monument are great:

I missed this posting somehow - maybe because we were climbing in the Pinns.
That linear ridge in the distance has to be the mighty San Andreas - really fun to check it out on Google Earth.

[Brad Young]

Katie had just studied the San Andreas fault in school and was sure we were looking at it.

She'd be thrilled if you were able to confirm (on the photo?) that that is the fault. Could you?

[JC w KC redux]

Katie had just studied the San Andreas fault in school and was sure we were looking at it.

She'd be thrilled if you were able to confirm (on the photo?) that that is the fault. Could you?

Yes, that long linear scarp in the distance has to be the main trace and the smaller left-stepping series of ridges are squeeze-ups(pressure ridges) that mark the eastward migration of the fault system through geologic time. Go out to Google Earth and zoom in to get a better look. Here's a pic I did as screenshots to get you guys keyed in. For a longer adventure start at Point Reyes (Tomales Bay is the fault rift) and see if you can follow it through San Andreas Lake, Crystal Springs Reservoir, Pinnacles, Parkfield - all the way to the Salton Sea. My favorite part is the Big Bend as it passes through the L.A. area. You can see the Garlock Fault branch off to create the northern border of the Mojave. A keen eye will also detect a slight bend as the fault passes through Santa Cruz - that's what's uplifting the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Big Bend is uplifting the Tranverse Ranges. Gotta love CA geology!

Can you see it?!!!

[Brad Young]

I just showed it to Kate. She wasn't surprised that she was right. Damn, teenagers can be cocky. Were we that cocky when we were that age?

Does the actual San Andreas Fault pass through or near Pinns?

[JC w KC redux]

I just showed it to Kate. She wasn't surprised that she was right. Damn, teenagers can be cocky. Were we that cocky when we were that age?

Does the actual San Andreas Fault pass through or near Pinns?

I know I was very cocky when I was that age.

As far as the mighty SAF and the Pinns, it's like that old Palmolive commercial - you're soaking in it!
Pinns is there as a direct result of fault movement. When the SAF jumped onto the land about 4 million years ago, it landed where the Neenach volcanic field was and tore that field into two pieces. The piece on the western side of the fault(the Pinns) was carried with the Pacific plate to it's current location. The measured distance between the Neenachs and the Pinns provides an excellent "gauge" for long term slip on the fault.

The big picture





A closeup showing Hwy 25 and the Rift Zone. Hwy 25 crosses over the rift just before the cutoff for the road to Gonzales. There's more to the story

[mungeclimber]

Where are the rest of the Pinnacles!!!


We want them back!

[F4?]

LA got the other 1/2

I think we got the better half!

[Brad Young]

Some of the cocky may have come from the recently submitted college applications. Apps for the U.C. system and the Cal State Universities closed last Friday at 5:00 P.M. Katie got her first acceptance (by email correspondence) at 6:40 P.M. (although it was to her 6th choice out of the 7 she submitted).

Nice maps and explanation, J.C. Now I wish I'd had the same analysis before we went, I'd have been more observant.

[rhyang]

Nice pics !  I enjoyed that hike .. the lookout was still standing in Feb. 2003 -



Cool sandstone formations along the way -





Nice views looking out across the interior ranges -

[Brad Young]

Nice Rob. That's definitely the same hike and the same lookout. Although, judging from the green you must have done it in the spring.

[F4?]

PS according to the topo above there should be a campground on the westside.

[rhyang]

Nice Rob. That's definitely the same hike and the same lookout. Although, judging from the green you must have done it in the spring.

Definitely February -- I took the long way home after spending some time hiking & scrambling in Death Valley.  Unfortunately it was about the same time as the Columbia space shuttle disaster which was the topic of no small amount of conversation (one of the folks in our group worked for NASA at the time).

[JC w KC redux]

PS according to the topo above there should be a campground on the westside.

many U.S. topos were made back in the 50's

not sure how old this one is - I have the whole state on DVD.

[JC w KC redux]

Some of the cocky may have come from the recently submitted college applications. Apps for the U.C. system and the Cal State Universities closed last Friday at 5:00 P.M. Katie got her first acceptance (by email correspondence) at 6:40 P.M. (although it was to her 6th choice out of the 7 she submitted).

Nice maps and explanation, J.C. Now I wish I'd had the same analysis before we went, I'd have been more observant.

Glad she is getting some good news. Getting in was the easy part for me!


Glad to share what I know - I need to go to the UCSC map library and see if they have a detailed fault map for the Monument.

[JC w KC redux]

Cool sandstone formations along the way -

That first group of rocks looks granitic - the second group looks like graywacke - I know - NERD!

[mungeclimber]

what's really going to bake your noodle is that we know what greywacke is!

[mynameismud]

That dude in the Lord of the Rings.

[mungeclimber]

close that was Smudgel, but some call him Ubergoober.

*who btw, has been hitting the gym.


Tomorrow night is looking likely.