Greater than a century in the past, one of many deadliest earthquakes of all time shook the Bay Space. Whereas the 1906 earthquake destroyed greater than 80% of San Francisco, its epicenter was considered close to the city of Olema in Level Reyes, the place the quake had ripped up the land most dramatically (later, seismologists decided the epicenter was truly offshore of San Francisco).
That’s as a result of Level Reyes sits proper on the San Andreas Fault, which ruptured and slipped northwest as a lot as 20 toes throughout the earthquake. On the time, although, the San Andreas Fault didn’t also have a title. Nobody might clarify the devastation Level Reyes’ rural inhabitants, a lot of whom ran dairy and beef ranches, noticed to their houses, barns and different buildings.
At the moment, the Olema Valley panorama has healed, and the fault line has been reworked right into a bucolic park. However the scar of the 1906 pure catastrophe stays.
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On a current sunny Saturday, I drove to the Level Reyes Nationwide Seashore to hike the Earthquake Path, a brief paved 0.6 mile hike simply throughout from the Bear Valley Customer Heart. Whereas the short loop has different charms — a shaded picnic space, a babbling creek, academic indicators explaining plate tectonics — the actual draw is a fence.
Yep, a fence. However not simply any previous fence. This can be a fence that, throughout the 1906 quake, lurched 16 toes aside right away because the Pacific Plate slid northwest with an earth-rattling rumble. The present construction is definitely a reconstruction of the unique fence, courting again to the park’s inception within the ’60s.
Approaching it about midway by way of the wooded path, it doesn’t stand out too prominently at first.
At first look, I solely seen the left portion of the picket fence, which seems to be completely abnormal by itself, located subsequent to some steps. However as a substitute of continuous to climb up the hill in a straight line, it halts abruptly. It’s not till you flip your head to the appropriate that you simply’ll see the place the fence resumes: Flung haphazardly 16 toes to the aspect, it seems to be prefer it was designed by a drunk individual.
“The fence above you, cut up by the rupture, stays as one piece of proof marking the motion,” learn an indication marking the fence. “… Climb the steps, stand on the mended scar of 1906 and picture it taking place once more.”
So I did. Placing my mind’s finest imaginative powers to make use of, I pictured the North American and Pacific plates sliding in opposition to one another 115 years in the past, ripping this humble fence and miles of Olema Valley farmland aside in a single catastrophic second. I imagined it taking place once more proper at this very second, my toes planted precariously on a significant fault line. I imply, everybody’s at all times saying we’re due for an additional humongous earthquake in California. Who’s to say it couldn’t occur proper now?
Nope, OK, too scary. I scurried again down the steps.
The fence isn’t the one indication of the 1906 earthquake on the Earthquake Path, although. Simply above it are a line of blue posts, marking the lively San Andreas Fault hint. This characteristic has the potential to be both very cool or very scary, relying in your stage of worry of earthquakes (mine: fairly excessive).
Nonetheless, the occasions of 1906 are far sufficient previously {that a} innocent little hike in all probability gained’t shake you to your core. The wild factor, although, is that the San Andreas Fault continues to be transferring — about 2 inches a yr. Sooner or later sooner or later, the 2 plates right here would possibly slip as soon as once more for the primary time since 1906, releasing greater than a century of stress. Who is aware of what Level Reyes will appear like then?