Deb and I headed off for a short hike (3.5 miles RT, 400' vert) to the Trout Creek Chert Quarry. This quarry is an important archaeological site, so if you visit, please treat the area with respect. Here are a few pictures: I know, hard to read...sorry about that! Chert--especially from the Trout Creek quarry--was traded widely among native peoples as the source material for an array of stone tools including arrowheads. Above, Deb is holding "worked flakes" that were chipped off larger blocks to make tools. Just FYI: chert is a hard, opaque rock composed of silica with an amorphous or microscopically fine-grained texture. At this quarry, it occurs in a fairly large deposit, but in other places, chert most often shows up as nodules of flint or jasper. Here, the chert is a tan-to-red color; in other places, chert can be almost any color from white to black. Here's how to get to the quarry: Drive east up Trout Creek Pass and turn right on CR 307. ...
Enjoy George's latest beauty...! The previous photo, "Seek Higher Ground", was taken during a hike near the East Castle Rock Gulch Rd., off of CR 187, perhaps 3 -4 miles south of Hwy 285.
Good morning, Midland Hikers! In our household, Deb tends to be the "night person" who stays up later and then arises later in the morning. Caitlin works on "China time" so she's up until 2am every work day. I'm a "morning person," cursed with the tendency for my eyes to pop open at 5am; returning to sleep is generally not an option. I'm starting to take an early morning walk across the river from our house, looping Midland trails together in a wandering way. This morning, I thought you might enjoy finding out about the rocks we walk on when we hike across the river. Midland Hill, Sleeping Indian Mountain, most of the 4-mile area, and up along the Vitamin B trail consists of Elephant Rock Granite. Elephant Rock Granite is about 1.4 billion years old. Rock formations are usually named after where they were first described and studied. In this case, Elephant Rock Granite is named for the beautiful rock outcropping just past the tunnels o...
Comments
Post a Comment