Visiting any Earth Cache is more than just "Logging A Find". It is
an "Earth Science Lesson", and I hope you will enjoy mine.
The shaping of Michigan's geological landscape began more than
one million years ago, during the great Ice Age. Michigan’s
features were sculpted by four massive continental glaciers
scouring across the Midwest. Michigan experienced the last great
ice sheet, known as the Wisconsin Glacier, about fourteen thousand
years ago. This huge ice mass was a mile thick and almost four
million miles square. Its northernmost head touched Hudson Bay, and
its icy tongue reached toward the banks of the Ohio River. As this
"river of ice" crept over the underlying rocks, its base scraped
millions of tons of earth like a giant bulldozer over the land.
This debris composed of soil, pebbles, cobbles and boulders was
pushed forward, grinding rocks into many various and numerous
glacial composites. Ice Age mammals inhabited Michigan then:
mammoth, mastodon, caribou and giant beaver. Human hunters came
into Michigan to stalk and kill these big game animals for food,
fur and other necessities. The Paleo (ancient) Indians were
believed to be the first humans to visit what is now Michigan.
To claim this EarthCache you must:
(1) Post a picture of
yourself/group holding your gps'r in front of this cache on the
cache page.
(2) Determine the height of this
earthcache. E-mail me thru my profile the height you arrived at.
Please do not post the height on the cache page.
I have provided an easy system for determining the height as
follows:
How to measure a tree: (In this case, it’s a rock).
The vertical height of this rock can be measured to the nearest
foot using a straight stick. Hold the stick at its base vertically
at arm's length; making sure its length above your hand equals the
distance from your hand to your eye. Walk backward away from the
rock, staying approximately level with the rock's base. Stop when
the stick above your hand appears to be the same length as the
rock. You should be sighting over your hand to the base of the rock
and, without moving anything but your eye, sighting over the top of
the stick to the top of the rock. Measure how far you are from the
rock, and that measurement - in feet - is the rock's height.
Ample parking is off Savage Road at 41 57.134/085 51.428
PLEASE DO NOT PARK ON BALD
HILL ROAD AS ENTRY AT THAT POINT IS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY. ALSO WHEN
AT THE ROCK, PRIVATE PROPERTY STARTS 12' TO THE EAST OF THE
ROCK.
Permission for this EarthCache was granted by the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources because no cache container is
required. The placement of cache containers anywhere on this State
land is prohibited.
This cache difficulty/terrain rating was determined using
www.clayjar.com.