Hi Kiddo. You picked a good area as they have had some pretty impressive quakes in the area in the past.

There was an M>6.0 in 1927, and two M>6.0 in 1941 then an M>6.4 in 1986.

There appears to have been a foreshock of M>5.9 about 24hrs. before the 07/21/1986 M>6.4 quake that occurred near the town of Chalfant. We felt that quake here in Hollister as a gentle rolling motion.

In September of the same year on a hunting trip to the White Mountains area I took a little detour through the town of Chalfant. I was able to talk to some of the locals and they said they could see dust rising from the desert floor during the quake. A couple of mobile homes came off the blocks, but other then that there wasn’t much damage to the structures in the area. Couldn’t say the same for the nerves though.

There were five M>5.0+ as well as numerous M>4.0+ that occurred on the 21st through the 22nd. The last M>5.0+ quake occurred on 08/01/1986. The people that I talked to said they have been feeling quakes off an on for many years in the area, but this took them by surprise. They felt the quakes that struck the Mammoth Lakes area in 1980 and some of them thought that was where this quake was, but a little bigger then the ones in 1980. They were surprised to learn that it was almost in their backyard.

One person said he heard the quake. When he looked towards the direction of the noise he could see a wave coming at him. He said it looked like someone rolling a log under a rug. He felt the wave pass then a second or two later felt the ground shake. He didn’t say where this was. When my hunting partner heard this he wanted to go home. I told him we were going to be out in the open so it was unlikely that anything would fall on us if we had another quake. I don’t think that made him feel any easier as a couple of days later we heard a roaring noise. He thought it was another earthquake, but I knew it was a jet. I looked up expecting to see one, but nothing there. When I looked straight ahead I could see two Navy jets about ¼ to 1/2 mile east of us. They were also below the level we were standing at. They were really pouring it on. They made a 90° turn towards the east and at the last moment they climbed before hitting the mountains to the east of us. We never saw or heard them again.

Poor Jim. I really felt sorry for him. On the way back I took 395 through Long Valley Caldera. When I told him we were inside a somewhat active volcano he looked at me as if I was crazy or something. He never went hunting with me again. Can’t understand why. The darn thing never did erupt. Not even a burp, or a hiccup. I guess his imagination got the best of him. Take Care…Don in creepy town