Yesterday was another trifecta - hiking boots, tilley hat and ranger hike. We went on the Painted Canyon Hike. It was a hike focusing on the geology of the area from the big bang forward. However, I will not be passing that lesson along, as science and teaching are not my strong suits.
Some things I found interesting were:
1) There are coal veins in various formations and they burn and help form the harder layers. They said that one coal vein burned for 26 years. The burning is usually started by lighting or a prairie fire that works up to vein.
2) The biggest difference of why the Badlands and TRNP look so different, TRNP being much greener is because Badlands had been an ocean and TRNP had been a swamp.
3) The south section of the park was created by the Little Missouri River, where the north section of the park was formed by a glacier carving it out. (68 mile distance between the two sections of the park)
4) The Ranger said that geology is still very active through river, wind and time. Said the rivers flow to the ocean and start depositng, so rocks form and the cycle continues.
We also saw some petrified wood today. There were quartz crystals in some and that means it took longer to form/petrify. I tried to take a picture, but the shine of the quartz didn’t show.
Dave’s funny quip for this hike was: I like ranger hikes because they tell you when to turn around. Those who know me well, know I will walk much longer than most, so Dave is always responsible for saying we need to turn around. So the Ranger takes that pressure off him.
We then headed to the North Unit of the park. This is a less traveled portion of the park, as it is 68 miles away from the main part of the park. However, the terrain is different. The formations are higher, there are less animals and it is mostly just a scenic drive. We enjoyed the differences and glad we took the time to go out there.
Above is a picture of a slump. Basically what happens is at it is carved out from a formation like below, it falls and as it comes down, changes direction, hence the lines go a different way. They say you can line up the layers and know how far it fell and turned.
The other aspect the north section had a good example of the “Cannonball Mystery”. These are formations that are very different that are just kind of stuck in the formation until they eventually erode out. These formed within the sediment layers and erosion is exposing these buried treasures.
To give an idea of size
It was very hot, about 100, so by this time of the day we were pretty much toast. Here aer a few more pics. When we got back to the camper inside was 103. So glad the AC could be put on and move them temp down fairly quickly.
Today is a travel day to a Harvest Host and then tomorrow is a travel day as well, so will post again in a few days.
Safe travels
ReplyDelete