Vasquez Rocks County Park | 26 February 2011

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Scenes from Vasquez Rocks County Park, Los Angeles County, California, USA.
Date: 26 February 2011
Time: late afternoon

From a You Tube channel full of boring hike videos, this video may be its most boring. Vasquez Rocks County Park is a small (~1.5 square mile) public preserve which over the years has been featured in numerous commercials, magazine ads, films and television programs--perhaps most famously in an episode of the original Star Trek series.

The night before this video was taken a mid-latitude cyclone passed through southern California bringing significant winter rains to Los Angeles city and snow to the highest elevations of Los Angeles County's mountains ranges. One result of the precipitation was runoff in Vasquez Rocks' normally dry streambeds (on view beginning 4:18).

The exceptionally scenic landscape of Vasquez Rocks is the result of several geologic processes.

First, the bedrock underlying the park -- exposed in outcrops throughout the park and surrounding country -- is a sequence of sandstone, breccia and conglomerate sedimentary rocks called the Vasquez formation. Originally deposited in horizontal layers in a continental environment, the Vasquez formation dates to the Oligocene Epoch (approximately 37 to 25 million years ago).

Second, subsequent to the formation of the Vasquez sedimentary sequence, the horizontally-layered rocks were deformed. To a significant degree, such deformation was probably the result of compression (expressed as countless earthquakes) distributed regionally by motion on the San Andreas fault, a plate boundary structure which lies to the north within 15 miles (~25 km) of Vasquez Rocks. At present, the rocks of the Vasquez formation dip steeply to the west.

Third, the forces of weathering and erosion working on the exposed bedrock has carved a network of streams, the arrangement of which is affected to a significant degree by the geologic structure that's developed since Oligocene time, and the relative hardeness of the Vasquez formation's constituent rock layers. More easily eroded rock layers form valleys, whereas harder rock layers form prominences in the landscape.

At Vasquez Rocks County Park the result of these various forces is a geomorphology dominated by north/south-trending hogback ridges and intervening strike valleys.

Surface drainage of Vasquez Rocks Park is accomplished via a stream network of one of two named streams: Agua Dulce and Escondido creeks. Agua Dulce Creek drains the west side of the Park, whereas Escondido Creek--a tributary to Agua Dulce Creek--drains the center and east parts of the Park.

The highest elevation (approximately 2820 feet a.s.l.) in Vasquez Rocks County Park is located on the summit of the prominent north-south trending hill forming the western half of the Park. The Park's lowest elevation (approximately 2270 feet a.s.l.) is found in the bed of the stream flowing through Escondido Canyon where the stream exits the southern boundary of the Park. Total relief for the Park is approximately 550 feet.

Vegetation in Vasquez Rocks Park is a mixture of chaparral shrubs, grasses, and widely-spaced juniper trees. Along the intermittent stream beds thick carpets of hydrophytic grasses are present while mosses coat the surfaces of some of the stream-side rocks.

Answer the question at the end of the video and win a prize.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Vasquez
• Rocks
• Los
• Angeles
• County
• geomorphology
• geology
• Earth
• science
• runoff
• hydrology
• breccia
• conglomerate
• sandstone
• mid-latitude
• cyclone
• nature
• hiking
• clouds
• snow
• streamflow
• water
• elevation

[1nikg]

i must get back into munro bagging.

[bapyou]

@1nikg

"i must get back into munro bagging."

What's that?

[1nikg]

@bapyou hicking/climbing as many scottish mountains as possible. a munro is a any mountain over 3000ft. been a while since last one. its grt up the highlands,no noise or litter

[bapyou]

@1nikg Well allright. Get out and bag a munro then! Sounds like fun.

I've actually been entertaining the idea of climbing the highest peak in each of the dozens of mountain ranges spread across California's Mojave Desert. It would take years to do and a great deal of planning.

Be well.

[diannabowen]

you should go to Montana, (where I moved from) it is beautiful there - and easy to get out of range of the cars. I lived in Gardiner, right on the southern border of the state, and if you go a little farther south into Wyoming and hike the trails there... Some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.

[bapyou]

@diannabowen Hello Dianna.

I drove through Montana in summer 2003. A truly beautiful area. I stayed a few days in a small town called Winnett, Petroleum County, out on the Plains. I like the wide open spaces of the Plains. And also the colorful badland areas such as those in Garfield and McCone counties. Dinosaur country.

I haven't been to Gardiner, but I see on the map it's on the northern edge of Yellowstone NP. I'm sure it is beautiful.

Be well and take care yourself.

[1nikg]

@Bennett5629 the highest, Ben Nevis has a tourist route,ive seen people in wheelchairs using it,need strong arms though and plenty of time.i know theres others ,i could find out if you wish?

[1nikg]

@bapyou thanks your riight! it may take years and loads of planning,but im sure you know how rewarding it would be. im jealous,in a good way :)

take it easy

[diannabowen]

@diannabowen just watch out for bears

[spamstoper3]

5*****