About the Falls:
Welcome to Upper Shamokin Falls! One of the best hikes in Wintergreen! This is my second time visiting Wintergreen not in the Winter. We came here during the Summer last year and hiked this trail and were impressed by the falls. They aren't the most breathtaking, but they do pretty well for some forest falls. They are not rushing, and do not fall straight down, but they can be dangerous and are quite slippery. It is a fun, short hike, not too strenuous, with a gratifying reward at the end. It is a great photo op and we got our Christmas Card photo taken here. You can climb up the falls a bit and rock scramble around. The falls even pool at the end a bit forming a shallow pool of water one can wade through. This year, when visiting in the Spring, we thought we would take this hike again to enjoy the falls. Although there was a little more deadfall at this time of year, the falls did not disappoint. So bring a camera, hiking shoes, an adventurous spirit, and maybe even a picnic basket and enjoy the falls!
Trail info:
There are two ways to get to the falls, when you come across the first fork in the path, you can choose either way and it will get you there. The right is a bit longer and will first take you to the Upper Falls, but the left is probably steeper and it will take you first to the Lower Falls. In the end it is a loop so whatever path you choose to get there, keep hiking, that will take you back along the other one and consequently to the other falls. The trail signs are accurate, if you follow them you will be fine.
Cache info:
This EarthCache will bring you to both the Upper Shamokin Falls and the Lower Shamokin Falls. The Upper Shamokin Falls is what you see as the first stage, the Lower Falls are marked as the second stage. It does not matter what order you visit them in, questions will be asked for both stages. Yes, I named this cache after the Upper Shamopkin Falls, even though it visits both falls. I could have named it Shamokin Falls but that didn't have as nice a ring to it, and the Upper Shamokin Falls are much better than their sibling.
GeoLesson:
Waterfall Type:
- Cataract: The classic waterfall. A large beast of a waterfall that is gushing millions of gallons an hour. (Niagra Falls, Victoria Falls, Iguazo Falls, etc.)
- Moulin: Waterfalls in a glacier.
- Ephemeral: This type of waterfall is like a phantom waterfall. It only appears after a heavy rain.
- Plunge: (Niagra Falls). The water leaves contact with the rock and flows freely. It is the best waterfall for secret caverns behind it and serves as the concealment for the entrance to a top secret base, a cave with hidden treasure, or the entrance to the bat cave.
- Horsetail: This is similar to the Plunge. This type maintains some contact with the rock as it falls, but then releases and freefalls partway through.
- Multi-step: As the name suggests, it sortof looks like steps. It is a series of many little waterfalls sticking to the rock face or free flling, which all gush into a small pool wich then flow down a rock face to another pool and so on. Many garden fountains are based off of this concept, including mine.
- Tiered: This is similar to the Multi-step, but instead of individual waterfalls, it is all the same waterfall, just falling off of the rock face that looks like tiers or steps. They don't form puddles and do not leave contact with the rock.
- Cascade: This is like the Tiered, although the water is falling off of individual rocks instead of a tiered rock face. The rocks are a too small to count as tiered.
- Block: Basically just a waterfall that is wide.
- Tidefall: Waterfall that falls into the ocean.
- Segmented: Many separate waterfalls, may be separated by trees or rocks, but they are individual water flows that together form a waterfall.
- Punchbowl: This is a waterfall that ends in a large pool. It is like the Multi-step, except withot continuing and ending in the first pool of water. These are the types you see in the movies when the characters are bathing or playing in the pool at the base of a waterfall.
- Fan: The waterfall widens as it is falling, but remains in contact with the rock (all water widens when it is free falling in the air). This means that the rockface the water is falling on is widening.
- Chute: A very thin waterfall. A waterfall that goes through a narrow channel, these are close to and sometimes confused with rapids. Design that many waterslides are based off.
- Scree/Talus: Informal Cascade waterfall. Falling over individual rocks that are loose and on a hill.
- Slide: The water stays conected to the rock face the whole way down, and their is no tiering. It is just on a slope. The hard part about these is how much of a slope is still Slide before it becomes a Chute.
Of course. Many waterfalls are a combination of all of these. Since Geocaching.com no longer accepts the logging task of answering the question on waterfall types I will tell you which type these two are. They are both tiered, semi punchbowl waterfalls. Some could argue they are also Slides, but I see some steps, it is not a perfectly smooth ramp.
Rocks:
Igneous: This was once molten magma that cooled. Different igneous rocks are formed based on what temperature they cooled at and what elements and minerals were mixed with the magma. These rocks
Sedimentary: These rocks are from sediment. Small particles of sand or dirt are compacted and eventually form a rock. these rocks have distict layers from all the different sediments that make them.
Metamorphic: These rocks started off as igneous or sedimentary but were heated up underneath the earths crust, usually under volcanoes or mauntains. This super heating changes the rock, stretching, twisting, and adding new minerals to it.
The rocks of the falls area Metamorphic. These falls have an interesting compostion and are unusual in this area. I have listed some vocabulary terms and then the four major classifications of metamorphic rocks below. Read them and then answer the questions to find out the interesting rock type that make up the falls.
Vocabulary:
- Protolith: A rock that has been unmetamorphosized. The orginal rock that, once metamorphosized, produces a different type of rock. Ex. Mudstone (Shale) is the protolith, and once metamorphosized it becomes slate.
- Detrital: Particles of rock that have been eroded or weathered.
- Greenstone: 1) Green hued rocks and minerals 2) Metamorphosed igneous rocks 3) The stones were used by early peoples to make weapons and carve with.
Major Classifications of Metamorphic Rocks:
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Metamorphosed Sedimentary Rocks:
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Metamorphosed Igneous Rocks/Greenstone:
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Metamorphosed Sedimentary or Igneous Rocks:
Questions:
- Observe and feel the rocks of the falls. Describe their texture and color.
- Are they speckled, pourous, layered, or none?
- How hard are they?
- How grainy are they?
- Whach classification of Metamorphic rocks are the falls and why?
- BONUS: How are the Upper Falls different from the Lower Falls in Waterfall Type and in Rock Type? Or are they pretty much the same?
Visit both stages and answer the questions two times (except fot the Bonus), once for Upper Shamokin Falls, and another time for the Lower Shamokin Falls.
Send the answers to these questions to me via message.
Sources: