Welcome to Grand Beach...9000 years ago EarthCache
Welcome to Grand Beach...9000 years ago
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The cache coordinates will bring you to the trail head of the Ancient Beach self guiding trail at Grand Beach Provincial Park.(park fees will apply to enter the park)
The trail is about 2 km and expect to take at least an hour to hike it. Please note the trail ascends and has a short steep descend section. Please take note of the signs at the trail head reporting trail conditions and please wear appropriate hiking attire. Bug repellant may be a good idea!!!
There is no reason to leave the already marked trail in order to do this earthcache.
A moraine is a deposit of materials left behind by glacial activity. Where you are standing now is part of the Belair Moraine, a 100 km section of sandy deposits and erratic boulders left behind by glaciers and worked up by the waters of Lake Agassiz 14,000 years ago!!!! Yep if you check it out, the sand you will see on the trail is the same sand that you will find a few kilometers away when you visit Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg. As you discover the trail you will actually be visiting a beach where it would have been 9000 years ago on the shores of Lake Agassiz.
Questions to submit in order to claim a find here:
1). At the cache coordinates, you will see an example of an erratic. You will come across many others as you start your hike. This one is impressive!!! I want you to try to estimate the size of this one......now I don't expect an exact measurement, instead try to estimate it's size by comparing it to any everyday modern object. Email me your answer.
Now remember it is felt that the boulder erratics you will see today, originally came from the Canadian Precambrian shield area hundreds of kilometers to the East. Think of the power of the glacier to move this one!!!! Please do not post photos of this erratic.
Just before you start your hike. Use your GPSr to get an approximate elevation reading at the cache coordinates.
2) At the point of interest coordinates you need to do a couple of things. First have a look towards the West. There in the distance you should be able to see Lake Winnipeg.
Now imagine being underwater as Lake Agassiz was very deep originally as it covered the moraine. Slowly the mighty lake drained and if you were standing here approximate 9000 years ago you would be standing on an island in the middle of Lake Agassiz. Interestingly Lake Agassiz was so large that over time it drained into multiple areas including the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay.
Again use your GPSr to take another elevation reading. Email me the elevation difference between the cache coordinates and this waypoints coordinates
(my hope is to impress on everyone how deep the ancient lake was at this ancient beach......I know our GPSr are approximate so I will give some leeway to this calculation)
At the waypoint coordinates you will also see a sign on a tree. In a way there is a mathematical problem listed on the sign. Please email me the answer to that problem. [Please note.....this sign may be missing now (2014) if so, don't worry about answering the math problem ]
3) post a photo showing your GPSr at any point on the trail you find interesting. Do not post a photo at the point of interest site that shows the sign on the tree.
Have a a safe journey as you carefully descend the second half of the trail!!!!
Additional Hints
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Treasures
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