REMEMBER YOU MUST STOP AT THE ADDITIONAL WAYPOINT TO GET ONE OF THE ANSWERS, YOU MUST ALSO E-MAIL ME THE ANSWERS BEFORE YOU POST YOUR FOUND LOG UNLESS YOU MAKE ARRANGEMENTS AHEAD OF TIME. YOU CAN POST A NOTE BUT NOT A FOUND IT UNTIL THE ANSWERS ARE SENT. THANK YOU.
The trail is a two mile round trip hike! It has about 175 foot elevation gain with a rolling up and down trail. There is a parking fee at the trail head so please to pay your parking fee of $5. If you have the Alaska State Parks Annual Pass it works here.
There is an optional trail split that I recommend that will take you to the lower trail down along the river and it is well worth the extra time to go down and get a totally different view of the falls. When I went out and checked out the trail it was a little icy already down below so be careful if you go down to the creek view of the falls. The trail will add more distance.
Thunderbird Falls
Thunderbird Creek's headwaters originate high in the Chugach Mountains. It flows through a deep gorge on its way to the confluence with the Eklutna River. Just above the confluence point, with the Eklutna River Thunderbird Creek passes over a waterfall. This falls is know as Thunderbird Falls. There have been some geological studies that show Chromite in the upper valleys of both Thunderbird Creek and the Eklutna river valley as well
A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a sudden break in elevation or nick point.
Some waterfalls form in mountain environments where the erosive water force is high and stream courses may be subject to sudden and catastrophic change. In such cases, the waterfall may not be the end product of many years of water action over a region, but rather the result of relatively sudden geological processes such as landslides, faults or volcanic action.
Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks which may have been formed by a fault line. Over a period of years, the edges of this shelf will gradually break away and the waterfall will steadily retreat upstream, creating a gorge of recession. Often, the rock stratum just below the more resistant shelf will be of a softer type, meaning undercutting, due to splash back, will occur to form a shallow cave-like formation known as a rock shelter or plunge pool under and behind the waterfall. Eventually, the outcropping, more resistant cap rock will collapse under pressure to add blocks of rock to the base of the waterfall. These blocks of rock are then broken down into smaller boulders by attrition as they collide with each other, and they also erode the base of the waterfall by abrasion, creating a deep plunge pool.
Streams become wider and shallow just above waterfalls due to flowing over the rock shelf, and there is usually a deep pool just below the waterfall because of the kinetic energy of the water hitting the bottom.
Waterfalls can occur along the edge of glacial trough, whereby a stream or river flowing into a glacier continues to flow into a valley after the glacier has receded or melted. The large waterfalls in Yosemite Valley are examples of this phenomenon. The rivers are flowing from hanging valleys.
Types of Waterfalls
Block: Water descends from a relatively wide stream or river.
Cascade: Water descends a series of rock steps.
Cataract: A large waterfall.
Fan: Water spreads horizontally as it descends while remaining in contact with bedrock.
Horsetail: Descending water maintains some contact with bedrock.
Plunge: Water descends vertically, losing contact with the bedrock surface.
Punchbowl: Water descends in a constricted form, and then spreads out in a wider pool.
Segmented: Distinctly separate flows of water form as it descends.
Tiered: Water drops in a series of distinct steps or falls.
Multi-Step: A series of waterfalls one after another of roughly the same size each with its own sunken plunge
pool.
Sometimes a waterfall can be a combination of these types, such as a multi-step/plunge waterfall.
To log this earth cache you must Email me the answers to the following questions...
1) Estimate how high the falls are in feet?
2) Estimate how wide the falls are in feet?
3) What type of Waterfall is this waterfall based on the information in the description?
4) You must stop at the addition waypoint provided to get the answers to this question it is not at the falls. Go here to answer this question N61 26.737 W 149 21.925 Fill in the blanks: There are many ways to see this landscape: ________, ________ or even __________. (at the Perspective Overlook Waypoint)
5) Please post a picture of yourself at the falls so I can see it in all the different seasons. (I can't require this but it sure would be nice to see the geocachers that get out here and I am sure there will be one in your family album after visiting this falls!)