De Anza: Up the Mountain

[jbeegoode]

Back at De Anza, we climb the big mountain and take many pics.

https://thefreerangenaturist.org/2017/10/05/de-anza-up-the-mountain/

Jbee

[nuduke]

I think it must be partly your choice of photo and the artistic eye that over time makes the landscapes you visit so extraordinary, ravishing and rugged.  I mean they probably are like that but at the same time there must be lots of less exceptional bits when you are actually there that you don't show.  The first picture of the mound of stones looks like it's small and just an interesting pile of stones but then when you point out the scale with the people on top, it hits you with some force that this little formation is huge!  How do you think it was formed?  Weathered upwelling of volcanic lava?


John

[jbeegoode]

It is granite and easily flakey, so that indicates slow cooling, as I remember. This looks to be a cone, which has had layers fall off and down and then these carved, and shaved by wind and rain. It was all under water at sometime and pushed up and quaked, bent over a long long time. There are lots of holes and odd shapes everywhere. These are outtakes of the most fun, most dramatic carves. It is all fun, and collectively the place feels unusual. There isn't really anything mundane about the area, the flora, and terrain in any direction is fascinating. If you walk far enough, there are areas that have fewer formations, but then it will have one in the middle that transforms all. There are miles and miles of this.
Jbee

[nuduke]

It is granite and easily flakey, so that indicates slow cooling, as I remember. This looks to be a cone, which has had layers fall off and down and then these carved, and shaved by wind and rain. It was all under water at sometime and pushed up and quaked, bent over a long long time. There are lots of holes and odd shapes everywhere. .....
Jbee

Miraculous the effect of random geology and happenstance over aeons.  The sense of awe remains undiminished.
John