By LAURIE KAVENAUGH
Chico Enterprise-Record
RIDGECREST — Bob, our old Ford Explorer, was parked at the base of the Trona Pinnacles while we explored this desert oddity Nov. 17.
I kept glancing back at the site of our bouncy buddy, a four-wheel drive vehicle that has taken us through some pretty rough terrain in the past few years.
Even though I was certain I had never been this way east of Ridgecrest and south of China Lake Naval Weapons Station, the scene looked vaguely familiar.
It was the last day of a five-day trip Thomas and I had taken to visit a petroglyph site in the Southern California desert. Thomas had spent hours on the Internet researching the area and we came up with a dozen things to see. We narrowed our list to a few sites and the Trona Pinnacles was our last stop.
The pinnacles are tufa towers that formed when this flat sandy area had once been the bottom of ancient Searles Lake. Searles Lake was one of five large main lakes that had been part of the Owens Lake System long ago when the last glaciers melted and filled these empty places with water. This lake system stretches from the top of Owens Valley south to the Mojave Desert and east beyond Death Valley.
It just shows the desert isn't always as it appears. What's dry and desolate now was once a lush, verdant area that supported thousands of herds of Bighorn Sheep, antelope, sloths and other wild game that supplied ancient Indians with food, tools and clothing.
We left Ridgecrest before 8 a.m. and drove about 20 miles east along Highway 178 to the turnoff to the pinnacles.
The pinnacles are made of tufa, much like the tufa found today at Mono Lake along Interstate 395. But the Trona Pinnacles were formed some 10,000 to 100,000 years ago when carbonated brine bubbled up through the lake bottom and formed calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate mixed with deposits of algae colonies, creating long horizontal tubes that were left standing when the lake dried up.
Shapes vary from tombstones, wide and flat, to tall lean towers, to ridges and cones.
The landmark is open to the public and free with some 500 pinnacles spread out over 14 square miles. Overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, there are driving and walking trails through the area.
We left Bob at the trail head and walked up the hill to the highest concentration of pinnacles. Long ago, someone had dug a tunnel into one of the larger tufas. It was actually supported by iron bars on either side of the doorway, and Thomas couldn't resist walking in. It was empty, as one would expect, but a little creepy nonetheless.
The trail went over a high point where several tall tufas had mounds of deteriorating debris around their bases. From there, we looked out over the landscape and could see the southern group's odd silhouettes in the morning sun.
We headed for the main group of tufas in the center. As we plodded along the road for about 20 minutes, we realized desert distances can be deceiving.
What looked like it might be just across the way was easily two miles. We eventually ended up among a thick group of "tombstone" shaped tufa. We found a number of old tin cans, shotgun and pistol shells and bits of glass, all aging in the desert sun.
We rounded the largest group and headed back to the main road. A half-hour later, we came to the north group and stopped again to look at these towers of stone. Some are 140 feet tall.
Back at the parking area, again I had that odd feeling of familiarity.
It was finally on our way out we stopped by several signs that explained the mystery. The pinnacles have been the backdrop for many TV shows and movies through the years, including "Lost in Space," "Planet of the Apes," and "Star Trek V."
Next time, we see Renegade Canyon and what some say is the highest concentration of petroglyphs in the western hemisphere.