Hi Everyone,

Hope you liked the caption, because that's what it says on the T-Shirt Don bought me on the way to the Lake. We decided to take another adventure, but this one a bit north, to discover the volcanic secrets of Lake Pillsbury. The only problem is in trying to get there, only the hardy keep with it. There are 14 miles of unimproved buckboard winding, narrow road. At some points if you look over the side, you can't see the bottom and at other places, you can't see the top. We spotted one geologic feature that was stunning. It appeared to be a pluton in the middle of a canyon, however, this is not the type you would view at Yosemite. It was deep brownish red, broken with fractures and stood at least 750 feet high. There was some vegetation growing out of the fractures, which made the rock structure even more visible.

On the way we spotted a Tule Elk right in the middle of the road. Something we hadn't even thought about. Upon nearing the lake we stopped in Soda Springs, which is all of one grocery store and took some time to quiz the locals. They told us most the quakes had been happening near the lake, however, of late, they reported feeling them closer to their residences, which are about 4 miles as the crow flys, being higher in elevation than the lake.

We also learned that all of the springs on the south eastern side of a ridge nearby are all cold but do emit a smell of sulfur. Some of the springs on the north eastern side of the ridge in an area named Bear Creek are hot. But what we did not learn is if they were in a location lower than we were in. Most of the locals have no idea whatsoever this is an active volcanic region. They were aware members of the USGS, Stanford University and UC Berkeley had made visits there.

The rocks in this area are totally different than the ones seen at the Marin Headlands and the Rodgers Creek Fault. They still need evaluation, however, serpentine was in great abundance along with many forms of rocks with granite running through them. I collected many of them from the shoreline which had been polished heavily from the wave action.

Though there are two roads leading up to and away from the lake, we had hopes having what seemed must be the worst getting there, the other road would take us back, without so much difficulty. We learned it was worse than the one we had already traveled and allowed plenty of time returning, after having had the experience once already.

Just before we left Petaluma we checked the data on the web for the Bay Area and south. We noticed a acceleration in the creep data for San Juan Bautista and in checking again, its still accelerating (see the link below). At the moment there is no explanation for the acceleration and is associated with the Calavaras fault. So we'd say heads up for the south bay area.

Though we really didn't find what we had hoped by way of visual observations of the Lake Pillsbury volcanics, it is indeed a beautiful location with a very large lake and one not so overly habitated that you can't enjoy yourself. There were a few water skiers on the lake, but generally we almost had the place to ourselves. There are many places to camp or just have a day picnic. The temperature was near 100, but thanks to the lake, taking a stroll with rolled up jeans, cooled my feet sufficiently.

Another "hot on the trail in earthquake country" event has come and gone, by best friends in seismo land, having a great adventure, lots of laughs and learning as we went.

From North and South of the Bay, Petra & Don

• San Juan Bautista Creep Data