Little Bridge, Crack, Brimstone, but not Corkscrew

[Bluegreen kayak]

Earlier in the week, I bought the second edition of Geology Underfoot in Death Valley, now with color pictures and updates including the 2020 Ridgecrest earthquake. In it I read about Ventifact Ridge and decided to check it out. It's the ridge located just west of the entrance to Artists Drive, something I've passed numerous times without really noticing it.



Pulled onto the side of the road and walked up easily. The top apparently is a dead ringer for the surface of Mars, which the book demonstrated with pictures.



Many interesting rocks, mostly basalt. This one has grooves from wind-blown sand.


More long grooves etched into a rock.


My favorites were ones like this that looked like a sponge but felt hard as rock.


Rhyolite with a sand-blasted knife edge.


And a basalt knife-edge.

It took less than an hour to explore this, but I found it fascinating. While I was up there, the wind kicked up a bit and I could feel and hear the sand hitting my jacket - had to turn away to protect my face.