blue cut fault

The fault forms the straight, abrupt base of the Hexie Mountains east of Queen Valley.

Time to move.Once back into the wash, navigation becomes less difficult, but it’s nearly an all uphill 3 miles to the blue cut wash plateau.

The two faults within the ETR with current seismic activity and large cumulative offsets are the Pinto Mountain Fault, which bounds the northern edge of the range, and the Blue Cut Fault, which divides the region in the center.

This is never a place I’d recommend someone hike for pleasure, it’s moderately strenuous and the hazards are numerous, but the solitude makes it worth the journey for me.Pinyon Well, prospects, ruins, and an old guzzler site can be seen on the topo map above. Due to the time of year, there was near zero The blue cut fault is named for the blue granodiorite that is exposed on the mountainside to the southwest and marks the main branch of the fault.

It is a good day when I can hike nearly 18 miles in desert wilderness and only come across a single piece of trash (now properly disposed of), aside from the rusted tin cans and other historical artifacts left behind from area mining days.

Fault zones are important factors in localizing natural springs. Even the most innocent appearing desert plants can be sharp enough to cut into our clothing and/or skin.Plant eating wildlife in the region appears to find plenty to provide themselves with nourishment.

Fault zones are important factors in localizing natural springs. At nearly 800,000 acres, it’s not uncommon to go hours (and sometimes days) without seeing another human being, especially in the more remote regions.Along Geology Tour Road is Malapai Hill. Other than birds, coyotes and jackrabbits, I saw very little wildlife during the day I did this hike.

Fault Name Index Blue Cut Fault. A 40° swing in temperature is not uncommon for these parts.Rock formations in Joshua Tree are fascinating and some of the rocks along the blue cut fault are estimated to be over 1 1/2 billion years old. While I’ve yet to encounter a mountain lion in Joshua Tree National Park, I’ve come across the remains of at least a half dozen desert big horn sheep while on hikes in the Pushawalla area. Type of Faulting: left-lateral strike-slip Length: at least 30 km Most Recent Surface Rupture: Quaternary I post photos, hiking, local search, and random thoughts here.One of 51 earthquake fault lines in Southern California, the Blue Cut fault extends for about 50 miles through the Little San Bernardino Mountains, under Pleasant Valley, and into the Pinto Basin. Nature has long reclaimed nearly all evidence of human use of the area, but there are several interesting milling and mining remnants (several not on maps) to be discovered on the surrounding hillsides.The remains of a big horn sheep are a reminder that coyotes are not the only predators in the area.

Much closer (and still mostly within the borders of JTNP) are hills of the Little San Bernardino range. Thanks to the terrain, you can’t just leisurely walk around this area looking for gold nuggets without the risk of being stabbed numerous times in the process (by a cholla).There are few Joshua trees across the blue cut landscape, but the silver cholla cactus (Opuntia echinocarpa) is abundant, and the spines can be sharp as daggers.

erinacea) growing in the region compared to the silver cholla, which was quite abundant throughout my hike. © 2020 California Historic Route 66 Association – Helping you get your kicks in California! Stories of fires and of earthquakes, stories of cars and trains, stories of travelers coming and going, stories in rocks and in routes. Sometimes worse than the live ones (like shown above), are the millions of needle sharp spines from dead cactus, lying on the ground and waiting to puncture the flesh at your ankles. Once upon a time there was Jeep access to this area (it’s long been closed to vehicle and bicycle traffic) and before that, mule pulled wagons worked their way to the top of the Pushawalla Plateau and into the canyon that leads to what is now Indio Hills.Near the top of Pushawalla Plateau are a series of iron pipes cemented into the ground and roped off in cable (When you’re eyes are trained for spotting mine tailings (oftentimes areas of grayish color pulverized rock), you begin to see evidence of them on several mountainsides in this region.