Hi Petra. Now that is a hard one to answer. I guess it depends on where you’re at in Hollister. If you’re in my Aunts backyard you have to move the fence about every 10 years. Just remembered. They sold the place. They got tired of moving the fence.
The creep rate apparently varies in an unpredictable way. From Sylvester and Crowell, 1989 (quoted from Rogers and Nason, 1971): ``Movement did not occur between 1910 and 1929, judging from the amount of offset in two sidewalks that were laid in 1910 and 1929, and in a pipeline laid in 1929. Creep commenced sometime after 1929 and averaged 8 mm/yr. Between 1961 and 1967, the slip rate was about 15 mm/yr. Since 1979, two sites have been monitored in Hollister, one showing 6.6 mm/yr and the other, only 2.3 km northwest, creeps 12 mm/yr - the fastest rate of movement measured across any fault in the San Francisco Bay Region.'' (For those not metrically inclined, 12 mm/yr is half an inch a year.
Hollister has become rather ``yuppified'' over the last decade. (It's now considered to be within commuting range of San Jose.) Unfortunately, that means many of the features so interesting to geologists nowadays tend to get conscientiously repaired (in other words, erased). However, if you visit Hollister yourself you should expect to see for yourself most of what I told you about. One of these days I will drag you kicking and screaming out of your house and bring you down here so you can see this creepy town.
Hollister is a pleasant little town (must admit it’s getting a little to big for me) and the residents are generally friendly and often enjoy talking to visiting geologists about their famous fault... but they get justifiably annoyed at thoughtless tourists tramping around in their yards without permission. So if you decide to visit Hollister yourself, please respect private property rights and stay out of people's yards!!!
When you drive into Hollister from the North via California Highway 25, there is a small ridge to the right (West) of the highway leaving the road at a shallow angle. This is where the Calaveras fault intersects the highway. If you park off the shoulder there and sight down the edge of the highway you might see the offset in the road itself.
Of course we don’t always creep nice an slow like. Every once in a while we will get a good shake. I have never known of a quake over 2.5Ml to have centered in town anywhere though. Then we don’t need one as were always moving along at one speed or another. Take Care…Don in creepy town.