FLATHEAD RIVER HOODOOS EarthCache

This cache has been archived.

Geocaching HQ Admin: It has now been over 30 days since Geocaching HQ submitted the disabled log below and, unfortunately, the cache owner has not posted an Owner maintenance log and re-enabled this geocache. As a result, we are now archiving this cache page.

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Hidden : 3/17/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:

We have been caching in the Flathead area the last couple of years and really enjoyed visiting this area with all its natural beauty. There are many fine and challenging caches to be found; and this is a tribute to all the cachers in this area from Ronan north to Eureka.

The given coordinates take you to GZ and a good place to Park.

This location is at the end of the Rocky Mountain trench and as such it has been sculpted by glaciers. Since it is basically the end of the glacier's movement there is a lot of glacial till over this relatively flat area. The Flathead River has gouged out a narrow trench creating relatively steep sides ready for erosion.

This Earth Cache should appeal to all cachers as Hoodoos are a strange spectacle created by nature’s forces on the earth’s crust. These Hoodoos are in their earliest stages. If you could live to be a thousand years old ... they would look quite different.

Where do Hoodoos get their name?
The name comes from the word “voodoo” given to these formations by the early Europeans who came to North America. In the Blackfoot and Cree traditions the Hoodoos are believed to be petrified giants who come alive at night to hurl rocks at intruders to the area.


Hoodoos generally occur adjacent to steep slopes and are effectively remnants of the steep slope as it is being eroded back. They are erosional remnants of mainly sedimentary rocks, usually plateau sedimentaries, which have eroded into weird shapes. A hoodoo is a rock formation which is caused by “differential” resistance to erosion. This means that some parts of the rock formation are harder than others and are not easily worn down by erosion while other parts are easily eroded. Wind, rain and the freeze-thaw cycles cause the erosion. Wind throws particles of sand at a hoodoo, knocking particles off that hoodoo. When it rains, the water washes the particles of sand off the surface of hoodoos. Freeze-thaw cycles involve the expansion of water as it freezes, so when water gets into a little crack on the surface then freezes, it expands, causing the crack to get bigger. This allows more erosion to take place. Hoodoos are constantly changing shape; however, it happens so slowly that we usually do not notice it.

To get a smiley for this cache you must email answers to the following questions before logging your find:

1.Estimate the distance from GZ across the river valley to the Hoodoos.
2.Estimate the height of the newly forming small hoodoos across the road (right behind you at GZ).
3.What is the type of tree at GZ?
4.Submit a photo of your GPS at GZ. Optional

As an added note, if you look below GZ you will also see another geophysical formation involving water again. As a bonus you could also email an answer to: What formation could happen in a few hundreds of years? Has an animal name.

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