Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Journalist looking for bear stories

Journalist looking for bear stories in Yosemite, and maybe elsewhere in Sierra

Yos forum

Harvey: I think you know how much I respect you and your contributions to this forum. At least I hope you do, because I am about to give in to an irresistible urge that someone else might find less than amusing. In reading the post (and even reviewing the film three times) about the observation of exfoliation and the guy looking for black bear stories, it occurred to me that they both ought to be networked with the Southern New England Chapter of the Residential Monoculture Lawn Covering Growth Monitoring Initiative and the Society of American Engineers Division of Coatings and Pigmentation Dehydration and Chemical Curing Observation and Quantification Laboratory. If you know what I mean.

So this is a request for forgiveness rather than permission from tectonic epicenter and felis concolor country.

Whut???

I believe Salty is referring to watching grass grow and paint drying.

Gotcha!

yes, but our Chief Sarcastercizer should be happy to see some posts about something other than WAG bags, bearvaults, and how much water to drink.

Salty, don't give up on that Twain Harte area rock exfoliation post. You may think it is slow, but not if you look at the 39 second mark.

I am glad to see the new topic. And that is a nice little pop there at :39. I guess if we weren't so distracted here raising emergency relief funds for the recent tragic loss of all that fine stemware and Italian tile over in Napa I'd be more impressed. Now, if the whole slab had cut loose and they had ridden it down into the canyon, and Steve C had recovered the memory card a year later . . . Maybe next time.

Well, I for one was really impressed and amazed at the exfoliation video. And I would not have seen it without Harvey's link.

When I was a geology student, even the professors did not have a good handle on why granite breaks up in that exfoliation pattern, and I was a student of some of the best. Now years later, the theories were put forth that the unloading of overloading rock somehow enabled the granite to expand, as if it were like a sponge.

Now this video appears, showing a truly rare event. For someone to be present on the granite slabs, to be video recording, and to capture the granite cracking and exploding like that, it's a much more rare event than ever being struck by lightning or winning a lottery.

"Amazing" just doesn't express the significance. Thank you Harvey for posting it.

By the way, Paul Rogers has written the bear article. It is a good read:

Conflicts with Yosemite bears fall dramatically as people, bears learn new lessons

One of the pictures from the article:



All the pictures are here.

Turns out to have been a great story. About lack of bear encounters. The paint is dry, and is looking pretty good.

Salty, here's something way better than watching paint dry, from Wagga's side of the globe, it's the pitch drop experiment! This is the longest running science experiment of all time. The pitch had dropped 8 times since 1927 but nobody had ever seen it happen. The stories of how it was missed are maddening - camera failures, bathroom breaks, etc... Now, with the internet, you can get in early on watching the 10th drop.

The Tenth Watch Live Feed

The Pitch Drop Experiment

I love the fact that they keep a beaker under it.

Dagnabit Sierra!