Good Times Great Places

10/11/2023

A little over a year ago, I visited the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park for the first time. It was great to see a different perspective of the canyon. I hadn't heard of this awesome view point called Point Imperial, but I'm glad I went there. At 8,803 ft ASL, it's the highest point on the rim of the canyon. One of the coolest things about the spot is that you see where the canyon begins. You can see the track of the Colorado river as it approaches the Grand Canyon among a relatively mundane landscape, but then the canyon really opens up. It's cool to see where "normal world" meets "magical world." The awesome spire is called Mt. Hayden, which is fairly popular for rock climbing. As you can imagine, the hardest part of this climb is the approach. This spire was named after an Arizona pioneer around 1870 named Charles Hayden, who is referred to as "the father of Tempe." He made significant contributions to the area. Back in the 1920s, this view point was a popular place for people to take a slow wagon ride out to the point. It sure is nice to be able to cruise right out there with a car these days. You gotta check this place out!

07/11/2023

Recently, I visited the incredible Grand Canyon. It certainly is appropriately named. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but it is also very interesting to learn about. It's an awesome geological story. There are 27 sedimentary rock layers here. These range from rocks that are 270 million years old at the top to rocks 1.84 billion years old at the bottom! These rock layers were deposited as this region included different types of environments over the millenia. An inland sea was present at various time periods. Sometimes it was a mud plain, and sometimes it was a desert environment with sand dunes. After long periods of time, these layers hardened into rock. These rock layers stacked up on each other. Eventually, geological forces pushed this entire region upwards quite a bit. Geologists aren't sure why this uplift occurred though. Then this region became a drainage basin for the Colorado River to come through. The river downcutted into the rock as it moved through fairly quickly with quite a bit of sediment to act like sandpaper. The canyon eroded away horizontally as rain and wind cut away at the canyon to widen it. A fun acronym to help remember how the canyon was formed is "DUDE". Dude stands for deposition, uplift, downcutting, erosion. "Dude, what a canyon!"

31/10/2023

I recently visited the awesome Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. This slot canyon is such a magical natural work of art formed from deposition and erosion. Millions of year ago, this region of "The Colorado Plateau" consisted of large sand dunes. Eventually, these sand dunes hardened into Navajo sandstone. After a while, small drainage basins formed when rain fell. With time, water eroded away at the rock to form canyons. Flash floods from heavy monsoon rains heavily eroded this canyon and formed beautiful formations. What a natural art museum this has become! Interestingly, some of the formations even look like animals and birds. Seems unreal! BTW, there is also an Upper Antelope Canyon.

27/10/2023

I recently visited the awesome Horseshoe Bend near Page, Arizona. It's a beautiful natural work of art, and the artist is The Colorado River. It's so cool to see the river meander around this sandstone with 1000 feet walls. This is an "incised meander". Millions of years ago, this region was a flat floodplain. The river meandered like how rivers generally meander in flat areas. Why? When one side of the river starts moving faster, more erosion takes place on the faster side and more deposition happens on the slower side. This starts a bend and then it continues to form more bends. Eventually, this region known as The Colorado Plateau was uplifted quite a bit. The river eroded downward and cut into the rock a great amount to make this awesomeness. Eventually, it's likely that the bend will get cut off and a natural bridge will form. If you've never been, you gotta go!

24/10/2023

I recently visited Bryce Canyon National Park. It's a magical place: a beautiful natural work of art with an awesome geological story. It includes cool rock formations like "hoodoos", towers, and spires that were formed from erosion and many days/nights of freezing and thawing of water. Millions of years ago this region of "The Colorado Plateau" went through long periods of various environments. Shallow seas came and went, tropical environments existed, and sand dunes existed. Over time, these environments caused sediment that hardened into rock. These layers of sedimentary rock created layers like a cake. Eventually, tectonic forces forced these layers straight up quite a ways. These layers were eroded away at different rates by wind and rain, exposing these layers to create "The Grand Staircase" of several layers between Bryce and The Grand Canyon. The top of The Grand Staircase includes The Claron Formation layer of Bryce Canyon. This rock is a muddy limestone from seas about 90 million years ago. When this layer eroded, it started to form tower-like shapes, largely from "frost wedging". When rain or snow gets in cracks in rock during the day, it can freeze at night. Water expands as freezes, causing the rock to split and break rock off. This has led to the beautiful and unique natural art of Bryce. You gotta go!

11/10/2023

I'm heading out on this epic adventure today! The Colorado Plateau around Southern Utah and Northern AZ is arguably the best place to view and appreciate Geology on Earth. Tomorrow will be my first time hiking up the famous Narrows of Zion NP. On Saturday, I'll witness the rare and exciting annular solar eclipse at Bryce NP! What a place to see to it.

19/09/2023

28/08/2023

My adventure for the week begins! I'm bussing to Portland, and flying to Calgary tonight. I'll be in Banff NP until Friday. Then, I'll be visiting my Dad in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where my parents grew up. Good times great places

15/08/2023

I stopped by Devil's Churn, a.k.a. Cook's Chasm near Cape Perpetua, OR today. It was neat as hell. There is a lot of basalt rock around there due to volcanic flows about 30 million years ago. This basalt was eroded by powerful ocean waves for a long period of time, and a sea cave formed. Eventually, the roof of the cave collapsed, and this inlet was formed. A vertical hole was formed in the rock, too. Around high tide, enough pressurized water and air is forced up the hole, and an "ocean geyser" appears, which it is also called a "spouting horn". It doesn't happen very often, but I got to see one!...I even got a pic of me with good wind hair....Geologists actually think the hills nearby include eroded volcanoes from a hot spot. The continent has drifted west for millions of years. This Cape Perpetua region was actually located over the same hot spot that Yellowstone is located over now!

05/06/2023

I spent the last couple days around Seaside, Oregon. It's a fun resort coastal city that's great to visit when the weather is good :). This region between Cannon Beach and Astoria is a special area of the United States. The natural beauty, geology, ecology, and history is awesome. It's home of the much photographed "Haystack rock". This seastack, cliffs, and other rocks off shore were formed because of a large lava flow that originated way out by southeastern WA. This area was actually above the geologic hot spot that Yellowstone is above now. The continent above the hot spot drifted that much west. This hot spot caused lava to flow all the way to the Oregon coast. It flowed into the sea bed, cooled down, and formed basalt rock. Tectonic forces below forced the sea bed above the sea surface. Erosion of softer materials left cool rock structures off the Oregon coast. There is a reason why many movies have been filmed in this region. In Ecola State Park, I saw where scenes from The Goonies and Kindergarden Cop were filmed. Awesome area!

01/06/2023

I hiked up a little hill near Brownsville, Oregon yesterday. Brownsville is a cute town most known for being the filming location of "Stand by Me." It was nice to overlook the beautiful green Willamette Valley. This valley is mostly flat with such rich soil, due to there being a large temporary lake here called Lake Allison. Lake Allison existed around 14,000 years ago because of the Missoula floods. These floods occurred about 40 times at the end of the last ice age. Ice dams created Lake Missoula (in western Montana). When the ice dams broke, huge floods would occur down the Columbia River and then down into the Willamette Valley. Pretty neat huh?

21/05/2023

I was walking in a forest recently, and I enjoyed seeing all the nice ferns. I've noticed the cool curls on the ends where new fronds/leaves come from, but I didn't know much about these curls. It turns out it's something neat called circinate vernation when plants uncurl new leaves like this. They are coiled up to protect the sensitive new growth. Check out this time lapse in the comments!

07/03/2023

Holy snow accumulation Batman! Curry Villlage in Yosemite Valley is one of the main areas of tent cabin accommodations and a place of many amenities. I used to live there during the summers of 2000-2002 when I worked at the Yosemite Lodge front desk. This has been one of the snowiest winters ever in Yosemite Valley. The valley doesn't typically get that much snow, as it sits at 4000 feet ASL. Snow levels are usually around 5-6 thousand feet. A large persistent trough in the jet stream has hung around the West for weeks, and major cold Low Pressure systems have brought in big snows all over California. The pattern is finally expected to change end of this week. Unfortunately, a warm and very wet storm is forecasted in CA with rain up near 8000 feet. This could cause major flooding. Hopefully, it won't be like the great Yosemite flood of 1997. BTW, I am not there now. The park has been closed for over a week and will be closed for quite some time.

22/02/2023

There was a rockslide on El Capitan in Yosemite yesterday! I used to live and work in Yosemite, so I'm very familiar with this beautiful 3000 foot tall granite monolith. This rock was formed from glacial erosion about 100 million years ago as a major glacier carved out Yosemite Valley cliffs. Rockslides like this happen there occasionally. The exact causes of these rockfalls are not usually determined, but rockfalls are a result of various forces: tectonic forces, erosion, weathering, vegetation... Tectonic forces lead to cracks in the rocks. Weathering and tree growth can widen these cracks and loosen it. Water gets in the cracks too: when it freezes at night, it expands, which further widens the cracks and loosens it. Eventually, large rock slabs fall off. El Capitan is a very popular rock to climb on. Fortunately, it appears no one was hurt by the rockslide.

Part of a Yosemite Landmark will never look the same.Monday, a piece of granite broke off El Capitan, which caused dust to linger around the cliff for several m

17/02/2023

Snorkeling in Vanuatu was pretty friggin' sweet!

When we went snorkeling at Tanna Island, I figured there would be some nice coral reef and some neat fish. It turned out to be way cooler!

11/02/2023

My trip to Vanuatu was great, but it had its ups and downs. Here's my dad and I reflecting on this roller coaster ride of a trip.

I brought in my dad Tedd to talk about our family's exciting adventure at the island nation of Vanuatu. We experienced quite the ride. There were some great ...

21/01/2023

Vanuatu only became its own country in 1980. It has an interesting past. Check it out!

Vanuatu actually only became a country in 1980. Before that, it was governed by two nations and it was called The New Hebrides. Let's talk about this interes...

17/01/2023

Vanuatu has an interesting military history that's for sure. It was quite the surprise for the locals when U.S. troops showed up there with all their equipment and technology. At least it has made for some interesting snorkeling.

Vanuatu's location was significant in World War II, as the Japanese military was expanding throughout this region. American forces set up a Naval base here t...

14/01/2023

Palm Trees and coconuts: let's talk about 'em.

Vanuatu has many beautiful palm trees. Many of them have coconuts. Coconuts are really valuable fruit. Let's talk about them!

11/01/2023

One of my favorite things about visiting Vanuatu was learning about the awesome geology there. There are so many volcanoes, including the most accessible active volcano in the world. We got rained out of our trip to the top of it unfortunately, but it was still neat to get near it. It would be great if you check out my video about it.

Vanuatu is a nation along the Ring of Fire in the South Pacific. The geology there is awesome, as these islands were formed from volcanism along a line of co...

10/01/2023

I'm finishing up my show on the island nation of Vanuatu! Geology, history, beauty, oh my! Be on the lookout.

04/12/2022

Here's my video on how Mt. Hood formed. Volcanism baby: fascinating stuff

The geology of Mt. Hood is awesome. Let's talk about volcanism and the Cascadia Subduction Zone!

17/11/2022

My latest episode is up on Mt. Hood! It's an awesome volcano and Oregon's highest point. Great geology, fun things to do, and interesting facts. Check out the episode!

Mt. Hood is Oregon's highest mountain, and it's awesome! It's a fascinating volcano that not only is beautiful, but it also is a source of many great recreat...

24/10/2022

Bryce Canyon National Park is an incredible place. When I first came upon the "Bryce Ampitheater," my mind was blown. It's a beautiful special place that looks like something out of an awesome alien world. It's one of the magical natural creations in The Colorado Plateau that came from deposition, uplift, and erosion. Around 50 million years ago, this region was under a large lake and floodplain. This allowed for the collection of sediment. When the water receded, all that sediment turned to rock. Around 20 million years ago, this whole region was lifted straight up due to tectonic forces. This caused the area near Bryce to be high enough to freeze several nights of the year, but it often warms up quite a bit during the day. This is a big part of the erosion that has happened to shape these rocks. Frost wedging is when water from rain or melted ice gets into cracks in rocks. At night, if it freezes, the water turns into ice and expands. This opens up cracks in rocks, and eventually, rock pieces break off. This process, as well as other erosion processes including acidic rain and calcium carbonate in this rocks, has led to this awesome landscape.

20/10/2022

I had a great first day of my trip yesterday. I stopped by the awesome Valley of Fire state park northeast of Las Vegas. I didn't see any fires, but I did see some cool beautiful and interesting red rock structures. This rock is Aztec sandstone that came from sand deposited from ancient seas in the Jurassic period (150-200 million years ago). Yep, this was a time period when dinosaurs lived as we learned from the documentary Jurassic Park. One of the cool things there were the petroglyphs. These drawings on rocks were created around 4000 years ago from Native Americans. Nobody is sure what the drawings mean. You have any ideas?

18/10/2022

I'm starting my sweet road trip from Las Vegas through several awesome national parks and monuments today! The Colorado Plateau is, as the kids say, "amazeballs." Geology, beauty, and hiking, oh my! Good times, great pictures coming up.

11/10/2022

Nice lil' trip to Mt. Adams! At 12,281 ft ASL, Washington's 2nd highest mountain is a potentially active stratovolcano. It has quite the prominence, as it towers 9,800 feet above its surroundings. Due to eruptions as the Juna De Fuca tectonic plate subsided under the Pacific Plate, major cone building started around 520,000 years ago, but most of the mountain formed 40,000-10,000 years ago. The last eruption was about 1,000 years ago. There are 12 glaciers on it, and the flatness of its top is due to eruptions coming from separated vents. It was named after President John Adams, but I have my doubts he ever spent time there. The Native American name for it is Klickitat. Go check it out sometime!

02/10/2022

Beautiful Multnomah Falls is Oregon's tallest waterfall at a total of 620 feet high. The upper falls is 542 feet. These Falls were created 15,000 years ago during the Missoula floods. There are two falls, because the upper basalt cliff erodes more easily than the lower cliff. Wild story: in 1995, a 400-ton boulder fell off the upper cliff, and a 70-foot splash and rock debris nailed a large wedding party. 20 people were injured.

25/09/2022

How does Crater Lake have such incredibly blue water? Did they add blue dye? Does the blue man group bathe in it? Perhaps the Smurfs have something to do with it. Let's find out!

Crater Lake is a magical place. One of the best things about it is the amazing blue water. Why is the water that blue? Let's dive in!

09/09/2022

It was a beautiful day at Pamelia Lake today! It's located near the base of the awesome Mt. Jefferson, which is Oregon's 2nd highest peak. This stratovolcano is about 10,500 feet ASL, and it was named after Thomas Jefferson. It started forming about 730,000 years ago from crustal melting as the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate subsided under the N.American plate. It last erupted around 1000 years ago, and it has a low chance of ever erupting again, but it's not considered extinct. It was much larger, but it has been exposed to much glacial erosion. Good times great mountain!

27/08/2022

I recently took a trip to Scott Lake, Oregon. I love the view of The Three Sisters volcanoes from there. Originally named Faith, Hope, and Charity, they're now named North Sister, Middle Sister, and South Sister (a little less creative, huh?). They're all a little over 10,000 feet above sea level, and they were formed from magma reaching the surface as the Juan De Fuca tectonic plate subsided under the N. American plate. The middle and north sister haven't erupted in over 14,000 years and are not expected to erupt again. However, the S. Sister erupted about 2,000 years ago, and it's considered potentially active. There are 16 named glaciers around them. I had an interesting moment when I simultaneously connected with the volcano God and the Sun God as I touched the top of N.Sister and felt a blast of the Sun's radiation :)

09/08/2022

Check out the full episode on Crater Lake!

Crater Lake is a magical lake. It's the deepest lake in the USA, and it's one of the bluest and clearest lakes on Earth. How was this special lake formed? He...

06/08/2022

One of the coolest things about certain tropical regions are the Banyan trees. These trees look awesome and are fascinating, but they're actually killers. They start off as epiphytes; that means their seeds need a host tree to produce a plant. If an animal drops a Banyan seed in a crack or crevice of a tree branch above ground, the banyan "fig" tree can be born. The banyan roots will grow down toward the ground, and then other roots will grow around the host tree. The host tree will eventually be strangled and decompose. This leaves a hollow center in the Banyan. The tree, which is the national tree of India, got its name when European explorers saw Indian traders, referred to as Banyans, chilling in the shade provided by these trees.

26/07/2022

After about 32 hours of travel, we made it to Vanuatu! What a beautiful interesting country of 83 volcanic islands. It's most known for having the world's most accessible active volcano. It's also known for its swimming holes and great scuba diving. It was formerly known as New Hebrides, when it was equally governed by the British and French until 1980. Incidentally, the day to celebrate its independence is July 30, so there will be a big party here this week. A lot of awesome stuff coming up this week!

25/07/2022

I'm chilling at LAX ready for my big 11 hr flight to Fiji and then a two-hr flight to Vanuatu! Vanuatu is a country of 83 volcanic islands stretching about 1300 kilometers. Its most famous volcano is an active volcano called Mt. Yasur. I'll be there until 3 August. Good pics great videos coming up!

23/07/2022

It was great to attend The World Athletics Championships last night at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The Championships are a track and field competition that began in 1980 and happens every two years. This year is the first time it has been held in the USA. This new incredible Hayward Field was built in 2019. It was a major upgrade from the previous Hayward built in 1919. The original stadium was named after Bill Hayward, who was the University of Oregon track coach from 1904-1947. Last night's most exciting moment was during the men's 200 meter final when Noah Lyles beat the American record of 19.32 seconds by 0.1 second previously held by Michael Johnson.

21/07/2022

I learned some interesting things about this pumice stuff at Crater Lake...

North of Crater Lake is the Pumice Desert. Why is there no vegetation here, and what exactly is pumice? Interesting stuff!

10/07/2022

So you want to know more about how Crater Lake was formed after Mt. Mazama's eruption? Cool, let's talk about calderas. https://youtu.be/7cU0DkwKZUM

Crater Lake is one of the most beautiful and unique lakes in the world. How was it formed? Something about a caldera: what's that? Check it out!

03/07/2022

I encountered Bigfoot Bill at Crater Lake! And he was supposed to meet up with the wizard from Wizard Island :) https://youtu.be/rAvsep7DXrY

I ran into an interesting guy named Bigfoot Bill. He hiked the Pacific Crest Trail to Crater Lake and was on a mission to find Sasquatch. Apparently, an inte...

29/06/2022

Time to start the Crater Lake show...

https://youtu.be/MdW6f-FFbIA

Crater Lake is an amazing and unique lake in Oregon of the United States. How did the crater of this beautiful lake form? Here's the gist. Stay tuned for mor...