Be sure to check the GAGE HEIGHT so you are able to visit each of the waypoints.
Historically, late-September to early-October are the times the river is low enough for viewing the features.
EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:
1. LOG …. What is the gage height the day you visited?
2. LOG ... Post a picture of you or your signature item at the end of the boat ramp. This picture is your log signature.
3. MESSAGE …. DISCOVERY 1 ... I am different from the others. Explain how I am different.
4. MESSAGE …. DISCOVERY 2 ... Here you will be seeing double. What are we? Describe the difference between the two.
5. MESSAGE …. DISCOVERY 3 ... Describe the texture of the two rocks. Explain how they can be nearly touching, and yet be so different.
6. MESSAGE …. DISCOVERY 4 ... I am a really big pothole. How big am I? What is in me?
7. MESSAGE …. DISCOVERY 5 ... I was sculptured by water into what appears to be a creature. What am I?
8. MESSAGE …. DISCOVERY 6 ... I was sculptured by water into what appears to be an animal shape. What am I? What three ways are these two sculptures different?
OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in creating this earthcache by adding A and B to your log.
A. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.
B. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.
Journeys of Heart and Mind ...
Stories to Touch the Heart and Puzzles to Challenge the Mind / Rainbow Tree Story
THANK YOU LN for travelling and hiking with RT to develop this earthcache.
Geology Meets Series
Art ... Culture ... Education ... History
GAGE HEIGHT
The geological features can be viewed at Conewago Falls of the Susquehanna River when the river’s gage height at Harrisburg is below 3.5 feet (see https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?01570500). Autumn is generally the time water levels are low enough to observe these features. The gage height was 3.1 when this picture was taken.
GEOLOGY
The tough rock is diabase, an igneous rock that intruded into the area as magma about 200 million years ago. These rocks constricted the flow of the Susquehanna River. The erosional power of water is responsible for the sculpting of the rocks. Potholes are formed by fast-flowing, sand-laden water. Swirling water with quartz sand acts as a sand-blasting drill. Potholes vary in size from small to quite large. "The diabase is massive and durable enough to stand against the pressures of fast-flowing water, while persistent, swirling, abrasive sand grinds at the rock.
"The features at Conewago were thought to have formed when the Susquehanna River was full of sediment and water from melting glaciers to the north. Evidence of the extraordinary flow velocities of these meltwaters is the presence of obviously moved large blocks of diabase. Some are truck size, weighing more than 100 tons. Extreme flows may have had their origin in ice-dam breaks of glacial lakes, and the constriction of the valley at Conewago would have enhanced the higher flow rates."
RESOURCES
Potholes at Conewago Falls, Lancaster County
Exotically Sculptured Diabase
Pothole Playground
TRAIL OF GEOLOGY ... 16–041.0 / 16–052.0 / 16–094.0 / 16–099.0
OUTSTANDING GEOLOGIC FEATURES IN PENNSYLVANIA STATE PARKS AND FORESTS
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Recreation/WhereToGo/GeologicFeatures/Pages/default.aspx
OUTSTANDING SCENIC GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF PENNSYLVANIA Part 1 (ZIP)
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Geology/GeologyOfPA/HeritageGeologySites/Pages/default.aspx
OUTSTANDING SCENIC GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF PENNSYLVANIA Part 2 (ZIP)
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Geology/GeologyOfPA/HeritageGeologySites/Pages/default.aspx
PENNSYLVANIA GEOLOGY
https://www.geology.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/dcnr_PA%20Geology.pdf
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Geology/PublicationsAndData/Pages/default.aspx
ES 1 -- Rocks and Minerals of Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 2 -- Common Fossils of Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 3 -- The Geology of Pennsylvania’s Groundwater (PDF)
ES 4 -- The Geological Story of Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 5 -- Geology and the Gettysburg Campaign (PDF)
ES 6 -- Pennsylvania and the Ice Age (PDF)
ES 7 -- Coal in Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 8 -- Oil and Gas in Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 9 -- Landslides in Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 10 -- Earthquake Hazard in Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 11 -- Sinkholes in Pennsylvania (PDF)
ES 12 -- The Nonfuel Mineral Resources of Pennsylvania (PDF)