Bedford Canyon Formation
Posted by Skywise on July 24, 2012 at 23:59:02:

Went mountain biking in the Santa Ana Mountains again. Took a trail where the geology was dominated by the Bedford Canyon Formation. Don't know much about it yet, but one reference I just found* describes it as "a deep-marine basin deposit of Jurassic age." It's also pretty thick. The trail climbed at least 1800 feet, and it was all made up of this formation.

*http://coopercenter.fullerton.edu/pdfs/GEOLOGYandPALEONTOLOGYofORANGECOUNTY.pdf

Anyway, at one switchback there is an excellent exposed face with much folding.

Sorry for the size of the picture (and this is only 25% of the original!), but any smaller reduces the appearance of the finer layers.

Here's a google maps link to the location...

http://maps.google.com/?ll=33.755846,-117.593004&spn=0.000883,0.001751&om=1&t=h&z=20

Oh, and I did get a small souvenir, which happens when the mountain decides to have a face-to-face discussion with you about the importance of wearing a helmet!

The funny thing is, this happened with only about 100ft to the trail head on the way back down the mountain! Where I went down was only 1/10th as rugged as parts further up. Still can't figure out what flipped me over.

Brian


Follow Ups:
     ● Re: Bedford Canyon Formation - Canie  18:35:55 - 7/25/2012  (79991)  (0)
     ● Re: Bedford Canyon Formation - Island Chris  05:52:29 - 7/25/2012  (79990)  (0)