Zaleski Dayhike Erosional Wonders! EarthCache
Zaleski Dayhike Erosional Wonders!
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How many of you have seen the Grand Canyon in person? Pretty cool, huh? Now for a more localized question. How many of you have hiked the Zaleski Day Hike Loop? That’s pretty cool too. And it’s close. Let's see what they have in common.
This hike was selected as one of America's top 100 dayhikes by Backpacker Magazine, May 2009, page 79
First, let’s examine the Grand Canyon. All kinds of things had an impact on the formation of the Grand Canyon, from continental drift to uplift to the course taken by the Colorado River to the seasonal changes caused by Earths’ tilt in conjunction with the parallelism of the axis and Earth’s revolution. Most geologists agree, however, that the geologic processes that caused most of the formations in the Grand Canyon region are the processes of weathering and erosion. So what that means is that rocks and minerals get broken down or knocked over and busted up by mechanical or chemical weathering processes and water comes rushing down the canyon, mostly in the form of the Colorado River. As the water travels through the canyon it picks up and moves the weathered sand, silt, rocks, pebbles, and boulders - even some pieces of rock as big as cars or buses - while scouring the surrounding rock strata in the process, deepening and widening the canyon. Weathering breaks the rocks and minerals down and erosion transports those materials from point A to point B. That’s a simplified version of the process but you get the picture.
Now back to Ohio.
You know that Zaleski Day Hike Loop we talked about? It's near the Hocking Hills area of Ohio. Here is a map of the area. Well, it went through a similar process. Much of the rock in that general area is made up of Blackhand Sandstone, which is formed in a really cool way and it also got a really cool name - read the story here! Anyway, during the Pleistocene Epoch, which was a couple of million years ago, ridiculously large ice sheets came down from Canada to wreak havoc on our landscape. As temperatures warmed up a bit and the glaciers started melting, all of that water from the glaciers came rushing south through Ohio’s landscape, including the Zaleski and Hocking Regions creating many large meltwater gorges similar in construction to the Grand Canyon - only less dramatic in size and scope. Because of the way the Blackhand Sandstone was arranged when it was laid down millions of years ago, the middle section was more susceptible to the erosion caused by the rushing glacial melt-water than the upper or lower strata, which resulted in the formation of rock shelters or recessed caves in that region. The caves, recesses and rock overhangs found in all of southeastern Ohio are simply magnificent. Your task here requires you to go to a less visited area of this region to take a big hike to check out some of these fantastic rock shelters and overhangs. And you can even touch them - just remember to leave no trace.
To log this cache, you’ll start out at the Zaleski Backpack Trail parking area and trailhead (the waypoint is below) and you’ll get some info here for your first question. You’re going to take a fairly long and moderately strenuous loop hike - 11.7 miles to be specific - in order to view the fantastic rock formations, gorges, and rock shelters created by weathering and erosion along the course of the hike. After getting a new trail map, you will start at point x, travel to point y, and then follow the points BCDEFGHIJKY and back to x. The trail is blazed in orange and very well marked - pay attention though, you are in the backcountry. After hiking about 4 miles to a stellar overlook, you will see some of the aforementioned rock formations and a huge gorge created by glacial melt-water. You’ll get information to answer the second question here. Continuing along the loop, you’ll pass many more examples of rock overhangs and shelters and get a few more stunning gorge views as you travel to point K. Once you get to point K, keep an eye out for the white blazed side trail. You are going to take this side trail, blazed in white, back to point Y and the parking area (don’t go towards L or you'll end up going much further). This part of the trail that goes back to point Y is also the portion of the loop with the most stunning and beautiful rock overhangs and shelters that you’ll find on this trail. It is on this white blazed trail that you will be amazed at the rock formations and find the greatest number of caves, recesses and just good old fashioned holes to play around in. I could spend hours just on this side trail, playing in all the rock caves and recesses after the photospot.
Be certain when logging this cache to post the picture in your log and answer the 3 questions by email. I'd really hate to have to delete a log.
Question 1 (39 19.883, 082 20.429) - Ok, this is where you start your examination of the gorges and rock overhangs created from glacial melt-water - as you walk across the bridge on the road to the trail head. What is the elevation of this location in feet above sea level? In the email, the elevation here is the first piece of data I’ll need.
Question 2 (39 18.597, 082 18.760) - At the overlook, check out the gorge. Wow! Now, being very careful so that you don’t go tumbling over the cliff’s edge, check out the rock formations. Again, wow! What is your elevation from this overlook? Subtract the elevation in your answer to question 1 from this elevation. What is the elevation change? I’ll need both the elevation of the overlook and the change in elevation from the starting point for this question.
Question 3 (39 20.251, 082 19.566) - At the specified coordinates, you will need to take a picture of you or your gps with an outstanding rock shelter(s) in the background. What type of rock composes the shelter in your photo -please be specific? What caused the rock shelter to form? To fulfill this question, post the photo in your log and email the answer to the type of rock of the shelter and the cause of the shelter formation.
Additional Hints
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