Working the grade off the desert floor into the mountains of Inyo County, California. This is on the Tecopa Road, the truck heading up to Emigrant Pass.
Not a tree anywhere. Can you see my truck back at the road?
Generally, trails in the mountains lead to other trails or a mine or prospect. Here, they may just wander off into the rocks.
A lonely Old Spanish Trail marker a mile off the Tecopa Road stands sentinel over the broad basin below.
An lava rock exhibiting flow direction? Or just another igneous rock?
Cyclic sedimentation. It’s thought the weight of each successive layer distorted layers below. Thought this was flow banding but that pertains to volcanics. These hills are carbonate filled, limestone rich. Uplifted sediments.
Preferential weathering in which harder materials remain while softer materials are worn away.
Banded quartzsite. Quartzsite in stripes and solids everywhere. Small purple and pink pieces are somewhat numerous, may make good tumbles.