At the epicenter

Greg Risling

Jason Kraft was rustled from his sleeping bag early Saturday morning,

awakened by a reverberating sound through the desert floor that grew

closer with every second.

Excited but uncertain that what he was feeling was a massive earthquake,

the 15-year-old Newport Harbor High School student went outside in the

dead of night and stumbled toward a cliff.

Above Kraft’s head was a gigantic boulder teetering at the cliff’s edge.

His eyes were transfixed on the rock, but it didn’t budge.

“It must have weighed a couple of tons,” he recalled. “I was watching to

see if it would plummet to the ground. Luckily, it didn’t.”

Kraft and 17 other Newport Harbor students were camping in a nature

preserve only 25 miles from the epicenter of Saturday morning’s Hector

Mine earthquake. The magnitude 7.1 temblor did little damage because of

its remote location in the Mojave Desert.

The students, who were accompanied by chaperons, were in the area

learning more about the desert terrain when the earthquake shook them

from their sleep.

Lilly Lopez, 17, broke into tears when she realized there was a quake

rumbling beneath her. Terrified of earthquakes, Lopez let out a

bloodcurdling scream that awoke several other campers.

“I was so scared at first,” she said. “But then I realized how safe we

really were. I’d much rather be out there in the desert rather than in a

building.”

Biology teacher Scott Smith, who led the expedition, said he was

concerned about falling debris that echoed through the canyon after the

quake. They couldn’t see the rocks falling from above, but the noise was

nerve-racking.

“It sounded like a stampede or a freight train barreling through the

area,” he said. “It was pure earth moving along. It was an odd feeling

because there was nowhere to go. You just sit there, feel it and ride it

out.”

The students who traveled to the desert for the three-day trip are

members of the school’s Environmental Studies Club. Smith leads the club

on three trips during the school year, including trips to Yosemite and

Big Sur.

Smith had an active schedule planned for the students before the quake

struck. They went rock climbing in Joshua Tree and examined the wildlife

around the Granite Mountains, located 60 miles south of Baker.

But a trip to Mitchell Caverns to study rock formations was canceled

because it was closed.

Instead, the group were able to examine some of the quake’s damage,

including a train that was derailed and some severe cracks on freeway

overpasses.

“We figured we should take advantage of the situation,” Smith said. “This

doesn’t happen that often. Plus, the quake made this a very memorable

trip.”

Both Lopez and Kraft said they have experienced earthquakes before, but

never the magnitude of Saturday’s temblor. They still had mixed emotions

two days after the event.

“It was thrilling, but freaky and scary at the same time,” Lopez said.

“To think we were so close to the epicenter is amazing. It’s something I

will never forget.”