W 121.88, N 37.03 Earthquake Epicenter - Aptos, CA
Posted by: DougK
N 37° 01.869 W 121° 53.227
10S E 598981 N 4098906
This sign is located at the approximate epicenter of 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Waymark Code: WMF7FH
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2012
Views: 4
This sign is located on the Aptos Creek Trail in Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. It approximates the epicenter of the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989. With a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale, The quake was the largest in the San Francisco bay area since April, 1906. This major earthquake caused 63 deaths, 3,757 injuries, and an estimated $6 billion in property damage.
Major damages included:
- reinforced-concrete viaducts collapsed on Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880) in Oakland
- a section of the San Francisco Bay Bridge collapsed
- several houses collapsed or burned in San Francisco's Marina District
- structure damage by liquefaction to buildings, bridges, highways, pipelines, port facilities, airport runways, and levees
Getting to this sign requires a hike through the beautiful redwood forest. In the summer, the Aptos Creek Fire Road is open, allowing access to the Porter Family Picnic Area for parking. From here it is about an hour walk to the site on the Aptos Creek Trail. In the winter time, wet weather may cause the fire road to be closed. Parking is then available at the Emmet Reed Picnic Area near the entrance station. From here it requires an additional hour hike.
The fire road is normally closed to cars starting at the Porter Family Picnic Area. From this point, a half hour walk will take you to the Aptos Creek Trail off the fire road. Another half hour walk on a single track trail with a couple of bridgeless stream crossings will take you to the point of the given coordinates.
The location of the sign is on a cliff above Aptos Creek. Across the creek, another cliff rises hundreds of feet higher. Because of the steep ravine where this sign is located, GPS readings are difficult to obtain. My GPS receiver ran for 10 minutes using waypoint averaging to get the given coordinates! Five satellites were visible and accuracy was still not that great.
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GPS Screen Shot
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Type of structure: Sign
Difference between the post coordinates and your GPSr reading: My GPSr reading converts to:
N 37.031150, W 121.887117
Reason for the coordinates: Epicenter of 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake
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