GC2V8ZV Wheeling Around - Kootenai Falls Rest Earthcache (Earthcache) in Montana, United States created by sir vayor

This cache has been archived.

Sir Vayor: RIP Sir Vayor. Feel free to continue to log your find, but my dad, Sir Vayor, passed awaqy in May 2021.

GC2V8ZV ▼

A cache by sir vayor Message this owner

Hidden : 4/29/2011

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: other (other)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Related Web Page

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

A “Wheeling Around Geocache”. This caching series has been specifically developed by geocachers from Canada’s Sunshine Coast so that geocachers who are in wheelchairs or who have children in strollers can enjoy the sport. Each geocache has been hidden without any obstacles for wheelchairs and can be reached by anyone at a sitting level.

US Highway 2 can be very busy at times and there are only a few places to safely pull off the Highway between Troy and Libby, Montana. This Earthcache is located at one of them. The pull out is located on the north side of the Highway about 11 km (7 miles) east of Troy and about 18 km (11 miles) west of Libby, Montana and it is accessible from both sides of the highway. Please take the time to stretch your legs, breath in some fresh air, take in the sights, maybe hike to the Falls, have a picnic, or read the various reader boards in the area. In order to qualify this as a find, please go to the reader board at the given location and review it in order to provide the answers to the questions below.

The Kootenai River starts its journey westward in the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, where it is known as the Kootenay River. Most rivers are blue (when they aren’t silty) but the distinctive green colour of the Kootenai is created by glacial flour which is very finely ground rock particles from the glaciers near its beginnings in the Rocky Mountains. The first European to travel the river was David Thompson when under the employ of the North West [Fur Trading] Company in 1808. He named the river McGillivray’s River after William McGillivray but it was later changed to Kootenay/Kootenai after the Ktunaxa Indian Band who lived along its banks. This stretch of the river exposes rocks of the Belt Supergroup consisting of quartzite and thin layers of shale.

The rocks of the Middle Proterozoic Belt Supergroup host ore deposits of silver, lead, and zinc and underlie much of western Montana, northern Idaho, a small portion of eastern Washington, and a part of south eastern British Columbia where it is known as the Purcell Supergroup. In this specific area, these rocks belong to the Missoula Group, the Piegan Group, the Ravalli Group, and the Lower Belt and they are mostly made of fine-grained quartzites, argillite, carbonates, and mafic sills. Dr. Don Watson from the University of Montana is quoted as saying:
“….The Belt was deposited in a huge intracratonic basin that stretched across western Montana , northern Idaho and into eastern Washington and Canada . It was filled by sand, silt, clay, and carbonate sediments that locally reach more than 18 km thick. The sedimentary structures of these rocks are beautifully preserved, since they were deposited 1.5 to 1.4 billion years ago. They reveal a world of pure sedimentary processes unfettered by plants and animals. They.....reveal a world of gigantic sheetflood alluvial aprons and shallow seas or lakes, for which there are no modern counterparts."

Most of the spectacularly glacially sculpted rocks in Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park are Belt Supergroup.

This figure shows where the Belt Supergroup is exposed, as well as the adjacent Purcell Supergroup and the younger Windermere Supergroup, which are only exposed only in British Columbia and partially into Alberta.

The Belt Supergroup accumulated in a rapidly subsiding underfilled sedimentary basin where there was abundant accommodation space for the sediment to accumulate vertically. This basin did not produce the kinds of sedimentary structures that are found in marine shore-face deposits. Thus, this accumulation was largely in a huge lake-type basin, where space was not limited and the sediment could build up to create the extraordinarily thick Belt Supergroup.

Because the rocks are slightly folded, the river flows over the hard sloping quartzite in step like falls. As noted above, the rocks of the Belt Supergroup were deposited almost 1.5 billion years ago and at that time most of western Montana was covered by a large inland sea with flat shores. Sediments in the water deposited thin layers of sand, calcium carbonate, and mud and because of this, the rocks often display ripple marks, spatter marks from rain drops, and mud cracks and these occur in various areas along the Kootenai River. Some of the rocks also contain fossils so keep an eye out for them but remember that it is illegal to take them home with you. Along Highway 2, the Belt Supergroup of rocks extends from the Rocky Mountains westward to the Idaho border and into Washington and they can be grey, purple, brown, red, and yellow.

Some of the layers can be seen here.

It is theorized that a large rift occurred when the earth was being formed and that parts of this Supergroup moved with some ending up in Siberia and some in Australia. Geologists maps rocks as formations and the Belt rocks are so massive that similar formations have been combined into groups and those groups are referred to as one very large unit called a supergroup. This Supergroup, called the Belt Supergroup, was named after Belt, Montana, which is located near Great Falls.

In order to claim this as a find, you must answer the following three questions.

1. In which era were the rocks of the Belt Supergroup deposited?

2. What is the name of the type of fossil noted on this reader board?

3. What caused the folds in the Kootenai Falls area?

Kootenai Falls at its best on 09 June 2011.

Kootenai Falls panoramic view.

Sources: Wikipedia, my own geology text books, and various websites.

While posting a photograph is not a requirement for logging this cache, if you have any good ones of the area, especially the Falls, please feel free to post them on this site.

There is a special prize for the first person to find and log this Earthcache and find and log one of my other Earthcaches as well. You must find this one and one other one of mine before someone else as I only have one prize .

HB-vanislelady takes the prize as she got this earth cache and one of my other ones: GC2BR0M. The_Pollywog accompanied her on their trip but she logged in the two finds first. They were "on a major geocaching adventure ... (and) worked (their) way through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, the Best of the Bad Mega in Alberta and are now heading back home."

Congratulations to RollingOldies for the first to find. Well done!! Congratulations also go to Zipperlee for second to find or was it first to find? She did post the first picture though. The Falls are very impressive in full flood.

I have earned GSA's highest level:

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

ZQG Ernqre Obneq

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

Watch

Geocache Description:

Attributes

Inventory

Bookmark Lists

Wheeling Around - Kootenai Falls Rest Earthcache EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

Watch

Geocache Description:

Attributes

Inventory

Bookmark Lists