t more. >> well, hello, everybody. i'm huell howser. get ready for an adventure. right now, we're right off highway 14 in kern county and look at all of this behind me. i've been hearin' about this place, readin' about this place, seein' pictures of this place for years now, but this is my first opportunity to actually spend some time here and it is overwhelming. and if you think this is beautiful, look over here. this is otherworldly. it's spectacular. it's magnificent. and ron, you're the superintendent of this place. where are we right now? >> we are at red cliffs natural preserve in red rock canyon state park,

and this red rock canyon state park is 27,000 acres of beautiful cliffs that you see here in the background. >> well, now, when you say "beautiful cliffs," that's the understatement. what are we lookin' at? why is it this color? and i assume this is why red rock canyon got its name. >> that is correct, huell. the area here has a transverse fault called the garlock fault that comes off the sierra nevadas and tehachapi mountains, and this area was covered with a lot of sand and sedimentary rock many, many years ago in the miocene, the pliocene era. well, then, later came a volcanic surge and laid over it, and then with this fault uplifted, and most of these-- all these cliffs, besides this cliff, faced to the south, and as the wind and rain came along, it eroded and made these fabulous curtains as you go down and see these cliffs here in red rock canyon. >> yeah, not only-- oh, look over here, when you talk about curtains, this is just spectacular.

not only the color, which is the first thing that hits you, but the formations themselves. this is--i've never seen anything like this in california and i know that you wanted us here early this morning while the sun was hittin' it just perfectly because it really just pops out at you when you see it. >> that's correct, and this area right here is along highway 14. many people come see it as they come through here. it's the postcard of red rock canyon state park. many commercials and films had been shot here because it's unique. it's always an ongoing story, and many more places to see throughout the park. >> yeah, i know. this is just-- we've just barely even gotten into the park. this is what you can see just drivin' down highway 14. this is a huge park. we're gonna be spendin' the whole day here. we're startin' off in front of what you call the postcard, and a beautiful postcard it is. let's take a look at it right here because this is where we're gonna be spendin' the day,

right here at this beautiful park, red rock canyon state park, which is definitely one of "california's golden parks." ron, we may never get into the park because the red cliffs natural preserve here is just overwhelming, and when you walk up to these formations, it really begins to show you how small we are and how big they are. this is absolutely breathtaking. >> very much, sir. >> so, look at this. i don't know whether the camera can see this or not, but we are standin'-- i feel like i'm in the grand canyon. >> you know, it really humbles us, you know, to--in this area. and that's why it became a state park in 1981 because of the huge significant value and aesthetic that we see here and people are inspired by them. >> now, talk about somethin'

that puts you in your place, standin' here makes you feel very small. give everybody a wave, ron. here we are and look at this above us. it's magnificent. okay, now we have come not over a half a mile from where we were earlier at red cliffs. i've hooked up with jim. you're a docent here, a volunteer, right? >> that's correct, yes. >> and where are we now? because this is spectacular right here. >> this is hagen canyon, the opening to hagen canyon, and rudolph hagen was a german immigrant who came in here around 1900 and he bought up all the old mining claims and he turned this into his own personal park. >> wait a minute. his own personal park. >> he bought the mine claims and then he was here for about 20, 25 years, and his son also lived here with him and he died while he was here and that's why you see so many things named ricardo because his son's name was ricardo.

he also had a post office here. and during world war i, since he was a german immigrant, they took his post office rights away from him. so he just continued on with this as his park, he ran tours, he named everything. one of the most famous ones is that turk's turban right there. >> turk's turban. >> because it looks like a head with a turban around it. and it fell off from up above and came down and just set itself right there in the ground. >> wow. >> and it's been one of the-- on almost all the famous postcards from this area, have a picture of turk's turban on it. >> lots of postcards from this area, but boy, you can't take a bad picture here. >> it's almost impossible. and also in black and white, at certain times of the day, the--it's just incredible, the kind of relief and contrast you get with black and white photograph. >> that looks like a wall up there on the top going across the top. but that couldn't be a wall. >> that's actually basalt. that's lava flows that flowed in here on top

of some of this other stuff many million years ago. and you have the basalt, that flowed in on top, and that's why it's black and a different color. and you can see how it has sloughed off down the hills right into the sandstones. >> boy, this is like a timeline here. >> it is. >> you're standin' here, looking at this, isn't it? >> it's like a geology textbook and-- >> yeah, i would imagine a lot of geology students come out here, don't they? >> they come out, usually every spring, and they have crews that come out and they get licensed and they go around and they do digs and they find incredible fossils throughout the place. now, years ago, fossils were actually stickin' out the face of these cliffs, but they've long been taken out so now it's much harder to find the fossils, but they have found things like rhinoceros, elephants, camels, horses-- >> here? >> --yes. ten million years ago, there was a rhinoceros here in this area and this wasn't a desert. it was a juniper-pine forest, lots of rain, had rivers flowing into basins and there was lots of water.

>> boy, you know your history. you must give a lot of tours. >> i do this every day. >> i figured you did. now-- >> i've been doing it for 12 years. >> we hooked up specifically 'cause, are we gonna hike right out in here because this, one of the claims to fame of red rock canyon. this is like a back lot on a movie studio. >> oh, yes, it is. about 120 movies have been shot in this area. >> now, see what i'm hikin' back here. i'm overwhelmed by the size, by the spectacular vastness of what we're doin', but right now jim has promised that he's gonna show us a place up here that's very small, that most people would never see and it's gonna provide us quite an experience. i'm not sure where we're going, but jim hadn't let us down yet. so here we go. and here we are,

here it is right here. what are we lookin' at here, jim? >> we're looking at one of the typical rock windows. we have a lot of them through the park here. and they're created by wind, mostly. >> a rock window. >> yeah, there's a society here in the united states that goes around and records all the rock windows. >> can we go in there? >> it's a big deal. yes, you can. >> let's go take a look out the window. boy, this is unexpected. come on over here with me, jim. here we are. we're lookin' out the rock window. and boy, it's a beautiful view lookin' out here too. >> yeah, you can really see all the beautiful terrain around here. >> yeah. >> all the different types of volcanic material. >> i've never looked out a rock window before. this is another first. >> you see, we have about six or eight of 'em here in the park. >> well, i know you're jaded, but this is exciting for me. >> we have one more right there. >> uh-huh. >> so if you keep panning around, you'll see another rock window back there.

>> another red rock, another famous movie story, another famous movie star story, jim. >> right. and this rock behind me here, right in the middle, with the red cap on it, ronald reagan, back in his early days when he was a movie star, got shot in a western film and was killed and fell off the top of that rock and he was chasing his brother who was a cattle rustler, but he didn't know it was his brother. so when he looked down and saw the guy, he hesitated when he saw it was his brother and his brother shot him-- >> oh, my gosh. >> --and he fell off. >> fell off that rock. >> fell off the rocks. >> and to this day, when you give your tours, this is called? >> ronald reagan's rock. >> ronald reagan's rock. >> because everybody recognizes the name and says, "oh, yeah, president reagan." >> there're angles in this park. >> yes, there are. a lot of angles. when this park was originally-- when this territory was originally formed many, many millions years ago, it was a lake bed, and in the bottom of that lakebed,

layer after layer after layer of sandstone over the millions of years, and then a volcanic and tectonic action cracked the lakebed and tilted it up so that what you're seeing all the way through here is these tilted rocks. >> and there's a specific angle to these rocks. >> about 17, 17 1/2 degrees throughout the park. >> why 17 degrees? >> nobody knows for sure. it just happens to be the angle that everything broke off at and slid back. >> so that's a 17-degree angle and there are 17-degree angles all through the park. >> throughout the park. >> there are red rocks in this park, but look over here, that's not red. oh, look. that's modern history. >> coming right out of edward's air force base. >> the old and the new. >> yeah, that's it. >> now, let's look over here, at this. this isn't red. this is pink. >> okay, that's pink and that's from a pyroclastic volcanic explosion that happened many million years ago.

and material blew out just like mount st. helens and-- >> so it's a huge, huge explosion. >> massive explosion and all this material flowed in here and then it settled down and solidified, and it's pink because it was a very foamy material, a very foamy air-filled material. >> wow. >> so that's why it's a different color from the black basalt that was a slow flow that came in later. >> and the red rock which is sandstone. >> sandstone that was at the bottom of the lakes. >> see, i'm learning my geology-- >> isn't it amazing? >> --pretty quickly. yeah, but i guess most people ask these same questions, don't they? >> absolutely, the same questions. they look at all of this and say "why, why, why?" and that's my job, is to explain to 'em how this happened and why it is the way it is. >> now, this really just happened. this was not planned, was it, jim? >> no, it was not. >> you were reachin' down to pick up this piece of basalt to show us what basalt looked and felt like, and this basalt was put here approximately how many years ago? >> oh, many million-- 10, maybe as much as 13, 14 million years ago.

>> give or take, a few million years. >> right. >> all right. so we got the basalt. that's 13 million years old, then, cameron, our cameraman, was walking around and with his cameraman eyes spotted what? >> that's a piece of pottery, and that pottery could be as much as a hundred years old and probably came through with settlers that came through here back around 1900 or earlier, and the hallmark is still visible on the back of it. and, you know, the right people can look at this and identify it and tell you were it was made and approximately when. >> so we got everything here. there's a lot going on, there's a lot to see, and there's a huge timeline here at red rock canyon state park. >> yes, and what's nice is it's all exposed. it's all been uplifted and exposed so you can see literally anywhere from seven to 13 millions years of geologic history here, and it's just here for everybody to look at. >> and this little piece of-- >> piece of modern man shows up. >> a pottery kind of came to the surface and exposed itself too.

>> right. >> so it's all here. boy, when you start lookin', and this is a perfect place to demonstrate it, we're standin' behind what look like flat tables here. this is sandstone, but it's white sandstone. >> that's correct and it's white because it's got some ash from volcanic ash that came into this area and it turned it slightly white. >> now, isn't that sandstone too? >> that's also sandstone and that's got iron ore in it which turns it the rusty color and you can see the rust coming right down, washing right out of it. >> well, yeah, and also, see, it looks like it was formed by water, by waves. >> yeah. it was formed in lakebeds and in stream beds, so it sort of takes-- it shows the path the water took and then, of course, it got compressed over the years and still shows some of the original shapes of the flow of this material. >> where did this color come from? from iron ore which what? washed from-- >> from up in the sierras--

there's lot of iron ore up in there, and that material washed down in the lakebeds and it would-- when it was coming from that direction, you'll get the red-colored stones and you can always tell by looking at these cliffs which particular areas flowed in from the sierras. >> yeah. can we walk over here? i know we're not supposed to touch, but boy, it's just so beautiful. it just kind of glistens in the sunlight. this is a beautiful-- this is like a piece of art. >> yes, it is. that's why it's so beautiful and why people love it here. it's the beauty and grandeur of red rock canyon state park. >> we're walking down an old wagon road. and before we talk about the road, if you thought it couldn't get any better than what we've seen already, look at this. every turn you make, jim, it's another homerun. >> yes, it is. it just keeps going and going and going. >> all right. now, let's talk about this road because it's a road

right through here and you said it went up through that point up there. what was this road all about? >> well, back around the turn of the century and maybe a little bit before, there was people who traveled through here in wagon trains and there was one of these roads that came up through and over the top there. >> wait a minute. a wagon train could come through this country? >> yes, it could. they took wagon trains through some awesome country around here. >> wow. >> and, remember, bein' pulled by horses and oxen, they could go through some pretty terrible terrain. >> boy, they must have. as terrible and as hot as it was, they must have been at least excited when they saw somethin' like this. >> oh, yeah. i'm sure that just beauty and grandeur of all this kept them pretty happy and they didn't worry too much about the heat. >> all right. let's walk down the road because today, this old road is part of the hiking trail. this is where people come to hike back here in the back country. it just goes all the way back through that gap up there.

we have arrived on the surface of another planet. at least, that's what it looks like to me, jim. this has gotta be one of the favorite stops on your hiking tour. >> yes, it is. and the people come back here and we always explain to them that several famous movies, one of mars and one of the moon, was made back here. >> what were those movies? >> the movie was "destination mars" and "rocketship x-m." [music] >> this looks other-worldly. look at this over here. all the way around here, and boy, you can see that 17-degree angle right up there when you know what you're lookin' at and then this is where we just hiked from.

how far from the road are we? seems like about 10, maybe 20 miles. >> no, i don't think so. we're probably about a mile at the most. >> oh, that's it. so this is available for people. lots of people could come and see just what we have seen today. >> and we bring the people back here all the time on our tours, and you can come back here on your own, too. i mean, there's trail markers and, you know, you can come back here-- >> wow. this is so interesting. it's such a surprise to see this. it's a whole 'nother look from everything we have seen so far. and look up here, at the sight of this hill here, this mountain. this is a feast for the eyes. there's no bad shot, there's no bad angle. photographers must go crazy here. >> they do. they--and they come back constantly by themselves so they can get the right sun angles. they'll sit back here half a day to get just the right angle so they can get their contrast just right. >> yeah. >> and they return.

and just like cameron said, "i'm gonna have "to come back here on my own and get some of this stuff--" >> yeah. because the different angles at the different times of the day show a different look. but let's just look right out here. it doesn't get any prettier than that. lots of layers, and you can see all the way back to where we started on this mile-long hike even though it seems like about 10. it was just a mile. we had spotted a camel out here in the desert. camel sighting right here. >> yeah. that's camel rock right there and you can notice that it does have the shape of a camel, including the hump on his back and everything so-- >> now, who discovered-- who named that camel rock? who saw that the first time? >> probably rudolph hagen 'cause he came through here and named almost all of the unique formations back in the 1910, 1915 time when he ran this place. >> now, when people walk by here, they probably, unless you point that out, don't realize it looks like a camel, or do people notice it? >> some people notice it,

but most of them you have to point it out before they really see it and then they go, "oh, yeah. i see. that is a camel." >> thank you, sir, for this tour. this has been absolutely wonderful and in conversation with jim along the trail, i found out that before he became a volunteer docent here at red rock canyon state park, you were in aerospace for 40 years and helped build the space station. >> that's correct. yes, i did. >> well, you're still in space out here. look at this. >> that's why i like it so much. >> well, congratulations. you're doing a great job. when you come out here to visit the park, maybe you'll get jim as one of your tour guides. another one of his talents is playing the harmonica. so as a segue from this segment to the next segment of this adventure. we're just gonna leave you out here in space, playing the harmonica, okay? >> all right. >> go for it. [music]

the adventure continues. red rock revealed in layers. we have now come inside to the visitor center to cool off. we'd met up with another volunteer docent. jim was a volunteer, the fellow who took us on the hike. lou, you're a volunteer as well, and you're here to tell us about the fossils that have been found in red rock canyon over the years. jim was telling us, i think he mentioned elephants and rhinoceros, is that right? >> yeah, that's right. around 10,000 years ago, the actual terrain that we have out here was totally different. the animals that we're finding are more like camel-like giraffes, and we have-- >> wait a minute. giraffes? >> yeah. >> oh my gosh. and wait a minute, over here,

here is the-- >> this is the actual-- the bone of a gomphothere where its tusk is shown right in here. >> a gomphothere means elephant, doesn't it? >> it's a type of an elephant, and here it is right there. >> oh, there it is, over there. >> it's got a short trunk, not normally what we see in the african elephants but we did have that type of animal out here. >> wow. >> and here is one of its bones right in here. >> wow. so, all of this was found-- was it found on the park itself? >> yes. it's found in the local area. what they do-- a lot of times what happens is when caltrans starts doing highway work out here and they have to go ahead and move some materials, and all of a sudden they find bones out there. >> they'll give you a call late at night and say, "get out here." all right. let's look over here because this is a very interesting display. it just goes on and on. we have got cats and dogs. were these big cats and dogs? >> they're about the size-- they can range anywhere from the size of a cougar to a small cat, house cat. >> wow. so the place was-- these were undomesticated,

obviously. >> definitely, definitely. >> this was how many years ago? >> over 10,000 years ago. >> wow. camel ankles down here. camel footprints. horse teeth up here. sabertooth--oh, look at that. from the cougar. boy, these were big animals, weren't they? >> oh, yes. definitely, they were. carnivorous-type animals that we've had here. >> now, we're ending up right here by this nice little painting over here because this-- a picture is worth a thousand words, isn't it, lou? >> right. exactly. 10,000 years ago, this is what where we're standing at right now used to look like. >> green, not red. >> green. lush grasses growin' there, a lot of rain, a lot of water. and that was able to support this type of life. but as they started drying up, the animals started disappearing and dying off because they were not changing with the environment, but other animals came in in its place and started taking over. that's why we have these fossils.

>> so, these fossils were stuck in all of these layers-- >> yes. >> --that we're seein' today when we hiked around red rock canyon. >> exactly. exactly. >> wow. it's an amazing story that is told right here. you're summing up something that happened-- how many years ago these animals were here? >> we are looking at these animals found here were from about 10,000 years but we can go almost back to the periods where the pleistocene almost about a millions years ago. >> really? >> yes. >> so the fossil history, the animal history of this part of california goes way back. >> way back. >> and thank goodness, it's been preserved. >> yes, definitely. >> and thank goodness, caltrans is still finding this stuff when it's widening highways. >> exactly. that's where most of the finds come from, accidentally. >> okay. we have left the visitor's center. and what makes this whole adventure so interesting is that everywhere we have been so far today, all the things we have seen, all the adventures we've had,

have taken place in about 10 acres out of 27,000 acres in red rock canyon state park. you can hike this park, you can go on horseback through the park, and ron, you can do what we're doin' right now and drive through the park. what's that all about? >> that's correct. we have over 30 miles of primitive roads that are available for vehicles that are high clearance, two-wheel drive, some four-wheel drive that are needed in this area. and you can drive on these roads, but just don't ask you that you don't drive off-road, that you can get to many destination points in the back country by these primitive road systems that we have maps for at the visitor's center. >> so people can come to the visitor center, get a map, and kind of start out on their own kind of self-guided tour. and i'm not sure i would know for sure

with any great certainty where i was headin' but it really doesn't make any difference, does it? because almost anywhere you go on these roads, you're gonna have a true, honest-to-goodness california back road experience. >> that is correct, yes. >> and we're bumpin' along. >> yes. >> which is part of the adventure. we didn't say it was gonna be smooth. we said it was gonna be an adventure. >> and these are primitive roads, so they kind of go with the territory. >> boy, what a wonderful day we have had and how many surprises did we discover here. thank you so much, ron. we have seen the fossil history, we have heard about the movie history, we have heard about the human history, the mining history, we have hiked, we have driven, we have walked, we have discovered. boy, there is a lot to see and do here and i'm a little bit embarrassed that for all these years,

but it's happened with a lot of people, we have driven right by this place, highway 14 is just a hundred yards from here. i haven't stopped until today but, i guarantee you, i'll be back. >> very good. >> you'll be here. >> we want everybody to come back and we'll be here, yes, we will. >> we're just glad you made it out of the canyon back there with your harmonica okay. >> yeah. good. >> he played the harmonica for us. pull that harmonica out and play a little bit more for us as we say goodbye. we have had a wonderful day here at the park, red rock canyon state park, which is definitely one of "california's golden parks." oh, we got a duet going here. [music]

captioning performed by peoplesupport transcription & captioning we ended up what we started with a surprise, and we ended up with a surprise. it's all part of red rock canyon state park, one of california's-- i'll say it again, one of "california's golden parks." red rock canyon state park is well worth a visit. and if you'd like to go on this particular adventure again or share it with family and friends, it's available on video cassette and on dvd. all you have to do is call 1-800-266-5727 and we'll be glad to send it to you right away.

for years, we've been trying to answer the question of "where's the beef?" but for this ranching family in san luis obispo county, they know exactly where it is. in their own backyard. meet the nick family of nick ranch in the pozo valley. farming since 1918, the family is no stranger to livestock, having raised turkeys, pigs, and cow over several

generations. but 7 years ago, family patriarch fred decided to try something different, grass-fed beef. >> we're a small, small family operation, and with this here, we felt that we could actually make a living if we did it right. >> my dad's always been a very forward-thinking, uh, rancher and ahead of the trend. so i was onboard, although i think our neighbors and a lot of friends thought we were probably crazy. >> as the name suggests, grass-fed beef is just that, cattle that grazes upon grass. so as important as raising the cattle is raising the grass. the concept may em simple now, but to these lifelong ranchers, going back to basics and ranching this way took some getting used to. >> it's a learning experience, takes a lot of, lot of time and

a lot of trial and error. >> to me, i call it evolution, and, you know, i--born and raised here, wanted to be a cowboy. now i'm a scientist. you know, we work with the soil instead of the cattle. soil number one, grass, cattle. so it's all--all different from where we thought we were gonna be, um, so that's the learning curve. >> the family came up with different ventures to try and sell their beef, one of them being a ground-beef sausage. instead of the usual ground-pork varieties, fred's daughter juanell came up with the idea to try the beef variety and in fun new flavors like french apple and garlic basil. but the family ultimately has the final say, as they taste-test all of e flavors before making a final group decision on what to market. then juanell's daughter johnnie takes it from there and creates recipes to use the sausages in. being a recent

culinary grad, it's been fun for her to take the family product from the pasture to plate. >> now it*s just working out great, because my family's done the beef business, and now we're marketing our meat to sell, and it's just been great. i get to cook with our own product that i've grown up with, and now i get to show everybody how great it is. >> but johnnie doesn't have to look far for customers. being the first organic grass-fed beef operation in san luis obispo county means garnering a lot of new fans, especially in the culinary world, where they're always looking for new products from farmers and ranchers to spice up their menus. and that includes chef charlie. he discovered the products a few years ago thanks to a tip from a new employee, johnnie. >> people are lookin' up to the chefs right now as where to go with food. you know, having somebody who's into it, knows aboqt it, whcares about it and nts to support someone local is really big, andt feels really good to know that my boss is supporting my family.

>> ok, the reason that we chose to, um, prepare--prepare the items that went onto the pizza and we used the prosciutto bacon in the sauce is it's a very lean piece of meat that they made the sausage with, so it's-- it's lacking the fat factor. and so what we did is we added a little bit of that into the sauce, a little bit of the extra olive oil. >> good food from good soil, and it all truly starts with gocd people willing to work hard so that te can enjoy some good eats along the way. >> it's really important to me. for one, this is where i was born and raised, not only me, but my mom and my uncles. my grandpa was born and raised here. so it's pretty important to keep this going, and this is something that'good for people, so i feel really good about it, and it's just-- it's a happy thing.

inactive activities on a glorious day! huh? let's get out there and play! yeah! sweet. whew!