Sassafrass Mountain is the tallest peak in South Carolina
towering at 3560 feet (1085 M) above sea level.
The viewing area at Sassafrass is open year round but the drive up
should not be done in treacherous winter conditions due to the
steep grades that you will encounter.
Atop Sassafrass there are several hiking trails leading you to
the surrounding mountains in the Blue Ridge Escarpment.
The slopes along the Blue Ridge escarpment average 24
degrees.
This is quite rugged for a landform along a passive
margin.
Great escarpments occur along numerous passive margins and are
somewhat of a mystery.
In many ways, they appear as young landforms expected from
tectonically active regions, yet generally occur where active
mountain building has long since ceased.
Some of these escarpments are thought to have been built by normal
passive margin processes; such as flexure associated with sediment
loading on the coastal plain and continental shelf, isostasy
associated with local erosion and parallel escarpment retreat, or
rift-flank uplift.
Others have suggested active faulting as a cause.
Where the Blue Ridge Escarpment of the Appalachians fits in is not
certain, however, because its basic "kinematics" (what happened
where, when, etc.) of erosional evolution have not been
evaluated.
Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge are ancient granitic
and metamorphosed volcanic formations, some exceeding one billion
years in age.
By comparison, humans have been associated with this land only
about 9,000 years.
There are metamorphic rocks (gneiss) with folded bands of light-and
dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and
swirls in a marble cake.
To gain credit for this Earthcache you must do the
following:
1- Upload a photo of yourself at the posted coordinates with
your GPS in hand.
2- At the top of Sassafrass there is a trailhead sign that reads
(Chimneytop Gap and Table Rock S.P.).
Tell me the numbers in miles that are listed on this sign.
For example: Chimneytop Gap 4.6 Miles.
3- At the coordinates, you will be standing on a large flat
stone...Tell me what this stone is made of according to the region
Sassafrass Mountain lies in.
4- While at the flat stone...Tell me the color and texture of this
native stone.
Please do not post your answers in your online
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