SOUTHERN COAST GEOLOGY ODYSSEY: 101 south to Sunset Bay

Basalt monolith
Basks in prodigal sunlight

Dreams of bikinis

Rigid magma spine
Keeps talking ‘bout glory days
Not so hot right now

Maybe men did this
Built a highway in the sand
Turns out they didn’t

Bipolar vandal
Breaking in two times a day

Ransacking the bay

Elder trees once said
It’s time to set down some roots
Timing’s everything

Broken in upheaval
My hidden faults revealed
Too sediment-al

Defiant posture
Land intimidates the sea
Look at my mussels!

Sediments tilted
Up and down are east and west
What the hell happened?

Multi-lane highways
Time crafted for nobody
And not meant for cars

Rocks dissolve before
The universal solvent’s
Twice daily licking

The sea sets forth its
Restless liquid arsenal
Per lunar command

Millennial war
Battered ramparts stand between
Order and chaos

Floating continents
Bump and jostle each other
Sometimes get upset

Wind and waves persist
Earthen fortifications
Bow to gravity

Bits of history
Recorded in sand and stone
Lost in the telling

A short speculative clip about plate tectonics. Probable original source is National Geographic...I think.

Comments

Test Paddling the Thresher 140

Wilderness Systems has broadened their sit-on-top offerings this year with the introduction of the Thresher (this includes a 14 and 15.5 foot version). The Thresher seems designed to bridge a gap between overly stable, relatively slow fishing platforms and sleeker more touring-orientated craft, all for the sake of fisher-people who need to cover significant distances to reach their intended fishing locales, whether that's in the middle of a huge bay or out beyond the breakers in the open sea The characteristics that make this boat a good fishing option, should also make it a killer expedition photography platform/beer barge. I knew my test trials wouldn't be complete until I auditioned this state of the art bid for kayak fishing supremacy. The Thresher 140 I've probably been remiss for not highlighting this before, but the reason I've been able to rent and evaluate various sit-on-top kayaks is because of the reasonable and renter friendly policies of the

Miller Island Expedition: Columbia River Ghost Cult

My brother Fred sent me a checklist of things he didn’t want to forget for our second attempt at a Miller Island Expedition. Foil pans Steak Beer or whiskey/tequila Bacon Shovel TP Bug spray Homebrew Ghost repellents Scouting Miller Island from the Lewis and Clark Highway (Washington side of river) “Ghost repellents?” I asked. Well, it turns out that Fred had been doing some research and found an old article from American Anthropologist by Wm. Duncan Strong called The Occurrence and Wider Implications of a “Ghost Cult” on the Columbia River Suggested by Carvings in Wood, Bone and Stone. The article, written in 1945, revealed that bone carvings depicting figures with prominent rib cages, a symbol of death, were found in old cremation pits on Miller’s Island. Excerpts from the article: “It can be shown that among these peoples there was an old belief in the impending destruction and renewal of the world, when the dead would return…” “One of the most striking fea

John Day River: Thirty Mile Creek to Cottonwood Bridge

"Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;" -Romans 1:20 "I'm not so sure about that, but whether or not we all make it through these rapids alive, I'm confident the grading criteria will be fair." - Scott "Get ready to explore your world without boundaries." - Wilderness Systems Owners Manual Sunrise found us on the outskirts of Wasco, high on the Columbia Plateau, our 3 vehicle convoy speeding through golden fields of wheat on toward Condon and then West to a 7:30 AM meeting with a rancher who would provide us a private launch site to the John Day river and also execute our car shuttle. Startling verdant fields, free of the vestiges of irrigation, belied narratives of drought that punctuated the news. The fresh born morning, still cool to the senses, felt like the fledgling hours of a

The Narrative Image

Search This Blog