Mushroom Rock EarthCache*ARCHIVED 3-5-2024* EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

The Scout Master: Over the past month plus, I have spoken with employees of the Little River Canyon National Preserve, and finally Chief Ranger Valerie S. of the Little River Canyon Ranger District (Ranger of Little River Canyon National Preserve & Russell Cave National Monument, who has informed me that ALL geocaches of ALL types, including EarthCaches such as this one I established (with permission) on 11/26/2013 now require a $50.00 Application Fee just to apply for a permit to have a geocache, and includes all previous and future geocaches.
As I feel $50.00 is completely too much to pay for the opportunity to place a geocache, I have decided to ARCHIVE my long-running EarthCache.
If any other geocacher would like to establish it once again, please feel free to do so as this is a wonderful and beautiful location.
Thanks to all who visited and enjoyed this great area over the past 10 years. TSM

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Hidden : 11/26/2013
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

Mushroom Rock, also know as Needle Rock and Needle Eye Rock, is a natural rock formation found along Highway 176 literally in the middle of the road in the Little River Canyon National Preserve. The rock is shaped like a giant mushroom, but also has a “needle eye” at the bottom which can be seen from two directions.

Little River Canyon is one of the deepest, most extensive, - and most beautiful - canyon and gorge systems east of the Mississippi. The scenic drive along the canyon rim is not to be missed. Visitors can take in amazing views from any of the 8 overlooks high atop the cliff and gorge walls that the river has cut into the sandstone, limestone and shale rocks, and, of course, stop and see Mushroom Rock.

If possible, please: Send Your Answers in an email, instead of a Message.
In Order To Log This Cache, You Must Answer/Do AT LEAST TWO of the Following:
(NOTE - Please send the answers to me in a separate email on the
Same Day you post your find. Do NOT post them in your log)
You do NOT need to wait for a response from me.

1. Name 1 of the 3 types of rock layers Little River Canyon was carved from. (Can be found in the description on the cache page). _____________________________.
2. Look at the different layers of Mushroom Rock and tell me why you think they weathered at different rates. ____________________________________________________
3. From your observation and information in the description, do you believe Mushroom Rock and its "needle eye" were formed over time by weathering from wind, water or both?. __________
4. What do you estimate the height of the rock to be? _______________
5. Did you see any fossils here or elsewhere in Little River Canyon? ______
6. (Optional but always appreciated) Take a picture which shows any of the formations at the coordinates with you or your group (and your GPS in the view if you wish).

Mushroom Rock was formed by a process known as differential weathering. It is a giant pillar of sedimentary rock, the sandstone cap rock being more resistant to the water erosion that slowly weathered away the bottom, softer layers of limestone and shale.
Tradition has it road crews in the 1950s were ordered to destroy the rock to build the road, but all refused. Finally the state allowed the road to bypass Mushroom Rock. Today, it sits smack dab in the middle of a two lane country road, and is just a small part of a surrounding rock outcrop that stands in some places more than 15 feet above the soil.
Across from Mushroom Rock is a series of rock outcrops. This is a great place for novice climbers or children to get their first taste of rock climbing.

The rock continues to be worn away. It is illegal to put graffiti on the formation. However, every time this happens, the National Park Service sandblasts the surface, further weathering the rock. It is likely that the human influence, not the natural weathering over time, will eventually destroy this formation.

Established on October 21, 1992, Little River Canyon National Preserve protects natural, scenic, recreational, and cultural resources in one of the most extensive canyon and gorge systems in the eastern United States. The park is within the Valley and Ridge province of northeastern Alabama, a part of the Appalachian-Alleghanian orogenic belt.

Little River Canyon in northeastern Alabama is the deepest cut canyon in the southeastern United States, stretching 12 miles and plunging to depths of nearly 600 feet from the sandstone cliffs to The Little River. It flows along the narrow canyon floor and is unique partly because it flows for most of its length atop Lookout Mountain before emptying into Weiss Lake. The river, which carved the canyon, is the longest river in the United States to flow along the top of a mountain. Also, the Little River's water flow changes because of rainfall. It is an Outstanding National Resource Water because it is one of the cleanest rivers in the southeast.

Little River Canyon National Preserve is located on the southern boundary of the Cumberland Plateau, the southern-most extension of the Appalachian Plateaus. This region was created by the same tectonic uplifting, or orogeny, that created the Appalachian Mountains, forming a relief of high elevation, flat-topped plateaus separated by deep steep-sided valleys. The Cumberland Plateau is a region of folded and thrust faulted sedimentary rock, covered with large outcroppings of bedrock such as limestone, shale, sandstone, gravel and coal.

The flat-top of the Cumberland Plateau is sandstone which, while harder than limestone or shale, has nevertheless been carved and sculpted for millions of years by wind and water. Because of a tendency to fracture into squarish blocks, the sandstone has weathered into fantastic boulder formations in some places.
In addition, thick layers of soft, water-soluble limestone undergird the Cumberland Plateau. Because the top is actually slightly concave, surface water accumulates and seeps downward through cracks and crevices, where it dissolves the limestone and creates miles of underground passages or caves, issuing forth at numerous springs around the base of the mountain.

The rock formations and discovered fossils show evidence that the plateaus and mountains were once, during the Paleozoic period, the floor of a shallow sea covered by sand, mud, plants and marine life. The canyon walls are part of the Pottsville Formation (composed of light-gray thin- to thick-bedded sandstone and conglomerate containing dark-gray shale, siltstone and coal). The sandstone forming bluffs on Lookout Mountain's top and the canyon walls along Little River are thousands of feet thick and were laid down over 200 million years ago.
Exposed within Little River Canyon National Preserve are basal Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks of the Pottsville Formation. Pottsville sandstone is relatively resistant to erosion taking the canyon many thousands of years to form.
The lower portions of this unit contain massive, conglomeratic, quartz-rich sandstone, shale, coal, and mudstone beds deposited in prodelta, barrier and back-barrier depositional environments. The upper portions of the Pottsville contain resistant, crossbedded, quartz-rich conglomerates and sandstones deposited within a fluvial-dominated deltaic system creating repetitive sequences of coals, shales, and sands. The canyon cuts into underlying Mississippian carbonates.
Most of the rocks exposed within the park are sandstones, siltstones, and shales that are not prone to dissolution.

Taking the drive along the rim of Little River Canyon will show you some of Mother Nature's most beautiful creations. Slow down and stop awhile and enjoy the view. You never know what you might have missed if you decide to bypass this wonderful area.

I hope you enjoyed your journey through the Little River Canyon National Preserve.
Hopefully it was as fun and educational, and as beautiful for you as it was for us.
Help us protect this awesome geologic feature and keep it free from graffiti.
Currently the only way to remove graffiti is by sandblasting.

I used the following sources as well as various other nps sites:
nps.gov/liri, nature.nps.gov, wikipedia, wikispaces and information from park rangers.
Permission for the placement of this EarthCache has been graciously given by
the National Park Service Little River Canyon National Preserve.

The NPS asks that you visit Mushroom Rock during daylight hours only,
and PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ON OR SCRATCH THE ROCK SURFACE IN ANY WAY.

HAPPY CACHING!!
I have earned GSA's highest level:
FTF HONORS GO TO . . . Dougs94 and Linda!!!

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