This week’s photo challenge asks for a photo that embodies TRANSFORMATION. These limestone caverns started their journey as the skeletal remains of marine life.
The caverns lie near the eastern edge of California in the Providence Mountains, in the Mojave Desert. Three hours from my home, the drive passes through ancient lava fields and desert scrub.
The zone above 4,000′ of the Providence Mountains forms a sky island.
“Sky islands are isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. One of the key elements of a sky island is separation by physical distance from the other mountain ranges, resulting in a habitat island, such as a forest surrounded by desert.” (Wikipedia) As our cave park ranger explained, these sky islands produce isolated species, much as the Galapagos Islands did.
From ancient marine life, to limestone sedimentary rock, to water erosion, to stalactite & stalagmite cave formations, the transformation is dramatic.
MK pix 
Gorgeous photos of this amazing landscape, M! It must be amazing to see it in person, so vast and wild.
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Thanks Eliza! The desert is certainly vast, and the scenery changes dramatically from hour to hour. It’s quite beautiful. The park ranger said that after a rain one can see different colors of lava – pinks & greens & blue. I never imagined such a thing, and I’d love to see it.
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Interesting how all that crazy landscape got there. Great photos of some lovely scenics.
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Yes, volcanoes and marine sediment and mountains and desert. Mix and shake well (there’s also a fault line running below the mountain). Voilà!
Thanks Gunta!
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thanks for bringing me there, MK!
for all the times i passed by
i never stopped to explore
that wonder 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed the return trip, David! If you do decide to tour the caverns, you’ll need a reservation. Check their website for details. For me, the desert scenery was just as beautiful.
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Beautiful, MK! I love the desert landscape…I am a reluctant traveller but these photographs make me want to visit the California deserts again.
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I know you’re a true desert connoisseur, so I’m very pleased that you like these images. I was surprised by the beauty of the Providence mountains. That area has a definite personality.
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