Fault line - tour guide Doug Tomson - San Andreas Fault Tours - Interview

Sunset, Sept, 2003 by Peter Fish

"Over there is the North American Plate," says Doctor Doug. "Right now, we're on the Pacific Plate."

More specifically, right now we're riding in an air-conditioned van across the portion of the Pacific Plate that supports the desert resort town of Palm Springs, California. "Our plate is moving this way," Doctor Doug continues. "That plate is moving that way." Managing to stand upright while holding a laser pointer and map as the van bounces onto a side road, Doctor Doug is leading us on a commercial tour of California's most infamous natural feature, the San Andreas Fault.

"I'll be honest," says Doctor Doug, who in a black T-shirt looks like Jeff Bridges. "When I got the idea of a fault tour, I thought someone must already have done one. But I found out nobody had."

Inhabitants of more placid landscapes--say, Delaware--might take it as strange that anybody would pay to tour a geological structure both visually subtle and potentially life threatening. These people don't understand how the San Andreas looms in the back of the California mind. We may not know much about geology, but we know earthquakes. We compare notes about Loma Prieta or Northridge the way Civil War vets must have spoken about Chickamauga. We're always aware the fault is out there, a 750-mile-long stretch of trouble.

In choosing to move to Palm Springs from Los Angeles, Doctor Doug--his real name is Doug Tomson, and he's not a geologist but a practicing psychotherapist who thinks the fault is cool--chose a part of California where the fault's workings are particularly obvious. With its tennis courts and tourmaline pools, Palm Springs seems relaxed. But thanks to the San Andreas, the underlying geology is not.

"Look up," he says to the group of us in the van. "That's Mt. San Jacinto. It's 10,804 feet high. Fastest growing mountain in the world. Thanks to the fault."

From Mt. San Jacinto, we cruise off across the desert. We spy, from a distance, the branch of the fault that runs north toward Landers, site of the 1992 quake that shook Doctor Doug out of bed, and then the main branch that runs northwest along virtually the full length of California. After a detour to admire the wind turbines in San Gorgonio Pass, we get out of the van to see and touch the fault--or, to be more precise, see and touch the rock types that are surface manifestations of faulting action beneath. "Most people think they're going to see a big crevice," says Doctor Doug. "No. This is it. This is the fault line."

After passing a large home said to be owned by Barbra Streisand--Doctor Doug used to be a real estate broker and maintains an interest in celebrity housing--we come to Thousand Palms Oasis, a preserve that holds California's largest grove of native fan palms. The palms grow because water trapped beneath the desert rises to the surface here. And what permits the water to percolate upward?

"The fault," we chorus. We have passed.

After the tour I talk with Doctor Doug, hoping that he might offer insights to people who worry about earthquakes yet still live in California. "I find that people come on the tours misinformed, frightened," he says. "The tour alleviates that. People think of the earth as static. But in geological terms, everything is changing constantly. We're constantly evolving."

Anyway, Doctor Doug is at peace on his own spot along the fault line. "Earthquakes don't hurt people," he explains. "Falling buildings hurt people. I love Palm Springs. No tall buildings. This is the safest place in the world you can be."

Doctor Doug's 3 1/2-hour San Andreas Fault Tours run year-round; $65 includes snacks and water.www.sanandreastour.com or (760) 322-6029.