Pinnacles Rock Spires
The rock comes from a volcano that erupted about 23 million years ago, roughly 195 miles south of where it stands now. The San Andreas Fault has carried the western half slowly north along the Pacific Plate; the matching half, the Neenach Volcanic Formation, stayed behind near present-day Lancaster. Erosion has done the rest, sculpting rhyolite and breccia into spires, fluted columns, and the long crest of the High Peaks. Talus boulders the size of houses have rolled down the canyons and lodged against one another, leaving cool dark caves where Townsend's big-eared bats raise their pups each spring. The east and west entrances of the park do not connect by road.
Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.