Hollister Valley

We are standing on the Hollister Hills, at the eastern edge of the Gabilan Range. Beyond the bare field runs the San Benito River, nearly dry in August. We are looking east across what was once, in Pleistocene times, San Benito Lake (much more about that here). The Calaveras fault runs along the near side of the hill on the right; farther south it is succeeded by the Paicines fault. At the foot of the distant Diablo Range is the Quien Sabe fault. Movements in this region are complex and not fully understood.