This is pretty boring looking photo. There’s some stone in the foreground, a lake, and some wooded hills in the background. The sun glinting off the ripples in the water isn’t amazing.
But the boring appearance doesn’t do justice to this photo. You see, that funny looking rock in the foreground is andesite, an igneous rock, and its sharp edges reveal that this rock was never worn down by water or glaciers. And yet, the rock is right next to a lake, which one would expect to have been a part of a glacier back in the time of such things. So this rock is kinda out of place, it’s eerie in its setting.
“What’s the deal?” you may wish to know. Well, that lake is the Jackson Meadows reservoir, formed by a dam in the Middle Yuba River. The water level is raised so high that the water now reaches rock outcroppings that it never could in antiquity. It’s a nice spot, off the beaten path, but accessible by the paved Henness Pass road, which travels alongside the scenic Pass creek.
