Hi All,

I worked like a dog this morning and was so tired this afternoon I thought I'd better lay down and take a rest. But rest wasn't to be enjoyed by me, I had both ears singing at the same time and a whiz banger of a headache like a bowl attached to the back of my head. So after awhile, I thought oh what the ...... I'll just go have a look around at the Rodgers Creek Fault and see if its giving off any signals.

First I made a stop at the store and picked up a six pack of beer, beef jerky, Hawaiian potato chips and a pack of smokes and then I knew I was ready.

For those who want to look at maps, my first port of call was up the Redwood Highway to Crane Canyon Road, over Sonoma Mountain, then to Bennett Valley Road and to a location that is just due east of Bennett Mountain. In the past Bennett Mountain was an oozing volcano. This is the place that had so much damage during the 4.2 earthquake on 9/22/99. Taking a good look around I found considerable evidence of the volcanic past of this area, finding many pumice stones and some that looked like elongated potatoes. I found as I approached the fault line my headache increased tremendously, but the minute I was in Bennett Valley, it totally stopped. I hung around for awhile and did my rock collecting, listened for birds and heard nothing. Unfortunately I found the beer I had purchased did not gave a screw top and without a bottle opener...oh, well.

Leaving there, I went back up and over Sonoma Mountain and just past Sonoma State University on the Redwood Highway I turned left on Roberts Road, connected with Lichau Road and headed up to the area I've been monitoring on the Rodgers Creek Fault, western side. Again I found when I left Bennett Valley and until I got on the mountain the headache returned, then left while on the fault and as soon as I left the RCF, the headache came back instantly. I did find the rocks on the western side of the Rodgers Creek Fault are entirely different than Bennett Valley. These are in the granite variety, not pumice.

So what should I make of this? From my general observations of people who have a constant ear ringing condition that only comes with earthquake activity it usually preceedes it just before an earthquake happens. The back of the head headache is almost always volcanic and something I rarely have and I'm perfectly well today. I'm still thinking the back side of the Rodgers Creek is going to show some activity in the near future.

As most of you usually comment on poor behavior of people at times I can say I saw some unusual behavior. Just as I was about to leave the western side of the RCF a young man drove a Lincoln 4DR sedan down the side of the mountain onto the dirt road I was on at considerable speed, enough so I got moving a little sooner than I planned. Then I saw another man driving a large car wearing a hat like a helmut, a plaid sweater on a warm day and white formal gloves. Last but not least the opposite side the coin. When I stopped at a signal light I had my top up and I saw two motorcyclists stop behind me. First I looked in my left door mirror and saw the face of the one on the left, then the right door mirror to the one on the right, going through this pattern again the one on the left waved at me, then looking to the right, the cyclist on the right waved into the right mirror. Humorous for sure.

At five miles from the fault line at home, I still have the back of the head headache, but after consuming half a glass of beer with dinner, it seems to be abaiting.

I remain puzzled about the possibility that Bennett Valley may be a reawakening volcanic hot spot. It really shouldn't be a surprise, but to date the litmus test is not conclusive. However, it reminds me so often of when I used to say Mammoth was having harmonic tremors for months and no one believed me then either, but today in the scientific papers at last, yes indeed, Mammoth does have volcanic tremors. Time will tell about Bennett Valley.

From The Road More Traveled...Along The Rodgers Creek Fault....Pat in Petaluma.