Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board earthquakes

Has anyone ever experienced an earthquake while hiking Mt. Whitney or in the Owens Valley?

No, but I did experience a mild one in June of "98 while in the Mammoth area. I believe that it was about 4.something on the Richter scale and lasted for approximately 10-15 seconds. Which is an eternity in an earthquake (I know I have lived in the San Fernando Valley during the '71 Sylmar quake and the '94 Northridge quake).

Yes, I was descending near the cables in late September of 95 when I felt a jolt and heard a noise that I took for a sonic boom. Later found out a quake somewhere in the 6+ level had occured centered near China Lake. A few rocks fell, but not big ones and not real close to us.

Adrian

I believe the last big earthquake centered near Whitney occured around the same time it was first scaled by a white man, about 1872. If I'm not mistaken that earthquake thrust the summit of Whitney some 10 feet higher than what it was at before the quake.

Yes, while climbing in the Owens River Gorge; created a few small rock slides. Very freaky place to be during a quake!

current earthquake info at

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/special/California_Nevada.php

h_lankford,

Thanks for providing the USGS Earthquake Web site. It is obvious that there are a lot of earthquakes in the Mt. Whitney vicinity, but most of them are minor.

There is a blow up of the Mount Whitney region at earthquake map .

Took me by surprise last night while watching the Discovery channel that, like Yellowstone, the Long Valley area around Mammoth was once a supervolcano.

Yes, there are some active spots in the Eastern Sierra. Most notable are the vents at Horseshoe Lake by Mammoth. You can see the effect on the trees and no lingering (as noted on the posted signs) in that area is allowed due to the venting gases.