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| Destinations : Rainbow Basin |
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By: Len Wilcox - 2/2000
All photos and text (c) Len Wilcox. All rights reserved.
Rainbow Basin is a natural cut in the side of a mountain that exposes the eons in splashes of color and layered waves, all cast in stone. It is a mishmash of shapes, colors and surreal formations, yet there is logic here; it is the logic of water and wind, and gravity, and the movement of the earth over incomprehensible periods of time.
The Bureau of Land Management has built a road through here, a dirt track that winds through narrow gorges and gouges. With each turn something new, something stunningly simple or incomprehensibly complex hangs over the roadway, each more colorful and fascinating than the previous. According to the experts, this was once a lush marsh and the home of many prehistoric creatures. Miocene horses, camels, mastodons, saber tooth cats and a million insects once lived here. While many of the fossil remains have been excavated, many have not and are visible in the rock.
This is a beautiful geologic wonderland with nearly every color of the
rainbow represented. There are fault lines, plunge pools, mud caves,
hogbacks, and other rock formations that defy being named or described.
Many of the fossils found in Rainbow Basin are now on display in museums around the country. So many were discovered here that the geologists have named the Barstovian Stage as the period of time that these animals, which are now extinct, whose ancestors now live in Africa, roamed the North American continent.
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| The fault lines and rock formations... |
...contribute to the beauty... |
...of the Rainbow Basin. |
Trip Tips: Well worth the trip. In Barstow, take old highway 58 to
Irwin Road, go north on Irwin Road; turn west (left) on Fossil Bed Road. Follow the signs to Rainbow Basin.
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Rainbow Basin is one of those rare places in the world that lives up to
its name and exceeds its advance billing. Not many desert tourist books
mention this place, or give it more than a paragraph or two. It doesn't look like a canyon or even a basin, but it's been called both.
Rainbow Basin is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. Surprisingly, for as pretty and unique as it is, Rainbow Basin is relatively undiscovered by tourists. The road to it is unpaved, and the location is not widely publicized by local residents. So it remains a peaceful, quiet place, but an eerie one, with its unusual, other-worldly formations. It is a favorite of mine, and it would be a favorite of anyone who comes here with a camera in hand.
All Photos are from Desert Dancing: The California Journal (c) Len Wilcox and Hunter Publishing.
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