Phil Barber

Phil Barber is a writer who lives in Calistoga, about a mile from Old Faithful. His work has appeared in California Wild, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, and numerous other periodicals.

The Fire Down Below

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A shower of magma-heated liquid and steam makes for more than just a pretty Calistoga postcard. It’s a 30-million-year-old lesson in California’s dynamic underground history of sliding plates, volcanic eruptions, and molten rock.