Welcome to the mini falls of Tinker's Creek! (I have no idea if this little geological feature actually has a name, I just made that up.)
To get to this location, you'll need to follow the Buckeye Trail. (See waypoints for trailheads)
I highly recommend wearing tall waterproof boots on your hike down to this cache. Depending on amount of recent rainfall you may actually need to cross small feeder streams that cross the Buckeye Trail. You may also be standing in water at this earthcache location if there's a lot of water flowing.
PLEASE USE CAUTION WHEN SEEKING THIS CACHE. The rocks become quite slippery when wet, and the streams can be quite deep in certain areas. Don't step in water without knowing how deep it is as you can quickly be swept off your feet. KNOW YOUR LIMITS!
This cache is on Cleveland Metroparks Property and complies with CMP "hidden object game" guidelines. Please remain on trails.
This earthcache will bring you to a very cool geological/hydrological feature at the confluence of a feeder stream and the main stream of Tinkers Creek.
Your mission will be to make a few observations of the area, and identify the type of rock you see in the formation.
To help you, I'll give you some information below.
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Here in Ohio, we have three very common types of sedimentary rocks.
Shale: Shale is a very fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock which is made up mostly of clay. Shale is also fissile (which means tending to break along natural laminations, or planes of weakness). Most often, you'll see shale formations in thin layers or beds, and in low-energy environments (such as lakes, lagoons, or stream floodplains).
- Shale is typically gray in color.
- Shale breaks in planes or laminations.
Limestone: Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock. Ohio limestones were deposited in warm, clear, shallow inland seas that covered the state during most of the Paleozoic Era. Limestone often contains many fossils of algae, brachiopods, bryozoans, echinoderms, and corals.
- Limestone is typically white, yellow, beige, and cream, but can also vary in color.
- Limestone tends to break in chunks. (generally with sharp-ish edges)
Sandstone: Sandstone is a sedimentary rock made of grains of sand that have been naturally cemented together. Grains in sandstones are unfused which means some of these grains can be dislodged by rubbing on the rock. Sandstone is generally made up of ancient stream or beach deposits.
- Sandstone can really be any color, but is most commonly tan, brown, yellow, red, light gray, or white.
- Sandstone tends to break in chunks. (generally with soft-ish edges)
Now that you've learned about common rock types on your walk down to the creek, take a look at the mini falls. You'll know you're in the right spot if you see a very large tree with gnarled roots sitting perched on the bank directly above the stream outlet into the larger creek.
Looking at the mini falls, you'll need to answer a few simple questions using the information above, and take a photo, to log this cache.
- What type of rock do you believe this rock formation/waterfall consists of?
- What factors did you use to determine what kind of rock this is? (Use information from above to help you)
- Take a photo of yourself standing at the mini falls with the large gnarled tree and the large creek in the background. (You'll know what tree and what stream I mean).
I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about the rocks here, and I hope you had a great time on your walk along the creek.
Happy caching!