Two sleeping giants (mountains) ABC Wednesday 041509

My local mountains, Mt. San Jacinto, which towers above Palm Springs, and Mt. Gorgonio, which includes the towns of Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead, both arise from the desert floor to over 10,000 feet straight up. Especially Mt. San Jacinto, since it is formed from the earthquake activity along the San Andreas fault and rises to its peak very quickly. The Palm Springs tram goes up this mountain, from sea level to over 10,000 feet. I drove out to Sky Valley and got a good view of the two mountains one day on my spring break vacation. They have been covered by clouds for a couple of days, so I was fortunate to get these pics when I did! The bottom ones are Mt. San Jacinto, near Palm Springs. The top ones are Mt. Gorgonio, which includes the towns of Big Bear, Arrowbear, and Lake Arrowhead. Despite their cone shape, these two mountains are NOT volcanic. They were created by two plates of the North American continent moving different directions. The Palm Springs side is moving north at the rate of about 1 inch per year (if I remember correctly)...eventually Palm Springs will move north! Yeah! I'm going to be near San Francisco in about 6 million years! There have been some very large earthquakes along the San Andreas fault and these two mountains. I was up on Mt. San Jacinto when an earthquake hit in the valley, about 8 years ago, and believe me, I could really FEEL that granite moving! And, rumbling! The local Cahuilla Indians have a legend to explain it...there was a giant called Tahquitz (Tahquitz Canyon is named after him...) and he usually slept, but when he moved and stretched out his arms, well, that was an earthquake! So, let's hope he continues to sleep for many more years. We are WAY OVERDUE for a big earthquake here near Palm Springs. So, Tahquitz, SLEEP WELL! ABC Wednesday for April 15, 2009.