slgwv's photos with the keyword: San Andreas

Somewhere along the Cuddy Valley road, looking east--location is as best as I can remember, but someone who recognizes the area feel free to comment! San Emigdio Mountains on the left. This valley is the trace of the San Andreas fault, and I'm sure that not one in a hundred of the people living in the slew of vacation homes and such along here know they're sitting right on top of the fault. This was where the enormous 1853 Ft. Tejon quake occurred, estimated at >8.0 based on contemporary accounts. Geology in action!

Yes, this is it--the famous San Andreas Fault in southern Californa, boundary of the North American and Pacific Plates. The fault zone runs generally from lower right to upper left. The most currently active trace is parallel to the range front but out in the valley, beyond those low hills on the right. The light-colored rock in the center is sandstone units called the Devil's Punchbowl, a county park. The prominent drainage at lower right-center is Big Rock Creek. The mountains bulking up at the left are the San Gabriel Mountains, which are fault bounded--an uplifted block, in fact--and define the northern boundary of the Los Angeles Basin. The low country visible out to the upper right is part of the Mojave Desert. Seen looking northwesterly from CA State Route 2, the Angeles Crest Highway. It's a remarkably scenic route that doesn't fit most images of SoCal!