Sally
and I went hiking at Vasquez Rocks state Park this Saturday. I have been Vasquez
a number of times at night because it is reasonable dark there and yet it is
only a twenty minute drive from home. This makes it a great place to watch meteor
showers. I went there once to see the Perseid meteor shower in August. I couldn't
get anyone to go with me so I went alone. I brought a small sand chair out into
the park (which is officially closed at night) and sat back and watched the
shooting stars. About an hour after I had been at the park I heard a pack of
coyotes howling. I didn't think about it much, but after a while I noticed that
they had gotten closer. Soon they were quite loud and I estimated that they
were about a mile away. I then thought, so a man can run a mile in 4 minutes,
I wonder how fast a coyote can run a mile. I figured that it was probably a
lot less than 4 minutes and decide that I would return to my truck and look
at the meteors through the window. The Vasquez Rocks are formations sculpted by 8 to 15 million years of earthquake activity along the Elkhorn fault, an offshoot of the San Andreas Fault. Compressed, folded and tilted as much as 50 degrees, and up to nearly 150 feet high, erosion gradually stripped away soil from around the rocks leaving these ancient and spectacular creations.
Vasquez rocks received its name from bandit named Tiburcio Vasquez and his gang who used the caves and rocks as a hideout. Vasquez' hiding place was never discovered and Vasquez might have evaded capture altogether if it hadn't been for his weakness for women. Vasquez had an affair with the wife of one of his gang. The husband shot and wounded Vasquez and then told the sheriff of the hideout. Vasquez was later captured and hanged in 1875.
Even if you have never been to Vasquez Rocks you have probably seen it a dozen times in movies. The rocks have an other-world feel to them that makes them perfect for science fiction movies. When Captain Kirk fought the Gorn, he did it at Vasquez Rocks. Bill and Ted's Bogus Adventure was filmed, in part, at Vasquez Rocks, Also The Flintstones, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Blazing Saddle, Austin Powers and Lone Ranger TV series episodes.
