Hunt for the Gorn!

As a child, I grew up idolizing Star Trek TOS. I had many favorite episodes but I was always fond of the episode 'Arena' in which Capt. Kirk battles the Capt of the Gorn ship on a desolate alien planet.

As it so happens, this alien planet is Vasquez Rocks just north of Los Angeles.

Here is a pictorial sci fi strip chronicling our effort to find THE GORN!

FIRST, we beamed to Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Par , a 932-acre park located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is in Agua Dulce between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley north of Los Angeles and seen easily by motorists driving the Antelope Valley Freeway (CA 14).

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The rock formations were formed by rapid erosion during uplift about 25 million years ago and later exposed by activity along the San Andreas Fault.[1] In 1873 and 1874 Tiburcio Vásquez, one of California's most notorious bandits, used these rocks to elude capture by law enforcement. His name has since been associated with this geologic feature.

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The prominent rock formation has been nicknamed "Kirk's Rock" due to being featured in several Star Trek episodes, each time representing a different planet.[6] The use of the rock as a place to struggle with an enemy was echoed in the film Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey twice, once replaying the Gorn Star Trek episode on the TV, and again when title characters are murdered by their doubles at the same location.

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In the Big Bang Theory episode "The Bakersfield Expedition," which aired in 2013, the four male protagonists appear to stop here, thanks to green screen, on their road trip to ComicCon in Bakersfield, CA. Since they have Star Trek: The Next Generation-themed costumes for the costume contest at ComicCon, they decide to have a brief photoshoot at the Star Trek filming site. Their stop goes horribly wrong when someone steals their car as they are taking pictures. In the episode "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency", the characters attempt to observe a meteor shower from "34.48° N, 118.31°W", the map coordinates of the Vasquez Rocks formation, to make it appear as if they were there.

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