Save this one offline. There is no cell service at the posted coords.
This is a great spot to stop and take a look around. The plaque at the posted coordinates will give you a new appreciation for your surroundings. While heading north, you have just entered the southern part of the geological area called Goshen Hole. In fact, this location sits on Goshen Hole Rim. So you are on the very edge of a very expansive hole! Your approximate location is shown on the map below. Also, take a look at the details below that explain why the terrain here suddenly changes.
Requirements for logging this cache
To log this cache, please submit your answers to the following questions. Some answers can be found at the posted coords.
- How were the bluffs here formed?
- What types of stone do the bluffs consist of?
- What about this environment has contributed to the increased population of sharptailed grouse?
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Geological origin of Goshen Hole
The geologic origin of Goshen Hole is obscure because there is no perennial east flowing stream that extends to the western escarpment (i.e. a steep slope or long cliff that results from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations). Two versions for the development of the lowland are the main models for this erosion: 1) headward erosion by spring sapping and seepage erosion, and 2) eastward flood surge from the Laramie Basin. Geomorphic processes in both models involve the headward migration of the escarpment (west).
Image description: Western Goshen Hole Escarpment rim in the Slater Flats area (brown line). Evidence supporting the spring sapping model for Goshen Hole origin model is listed, bottom right.
The first model involves normal geologic processes of groundwater flow through the softer siltstone of the White River Formation and emerges at the surface near the base of the escarpment as a seep or spring. The resistant sandstone cap of the Arikaree Formation armors the Goshen Rim. The perennial streams are oriented into the lowland of Goshen Hole. Seasonal freeze-thaw of the water erodes the base of the scarp, generally along joints.
The second model does not dispute spring sapping and seepage erosion but holds that the shape and size of Goshen Hole cannot be the result of those processes alone. Rather it notes that several streams in the Laramie basin, to the west, carve through the mountains and converge in the Denver-Julesburg Basin near Goshen Hole. These canyons were the conduits for catastrophic flood water to erode the lowland. The source for the water is not identified. This erosion model requires a large volume of water to form the lowland. Pleistocene glaciation did not occur in the Laramie Range, and the size of the Snowy Range alpine glaciers are insufficient as a water source. There is no evidence for glacial lakes within the Laramie Basin that could flood the area like Lake Missoula did to create the Washington Scablands.
The creation of Goshen Hole lowland region is as unclear as is the origin of the place name. The origin of the place name Goshen Hole is obscure and there are numerous versions of the source; including: an Indian warrior named Goshe’, a French-Canadian trapper of the same name who frequented the area, after the biblical land of Goshen in Egypt, John C. Fremont’s camp site during his 1842 expedition, a French trader, or a cowboy named Goshen Hale. The first published use of the place name Goshen Hole was on Holt’s 1883 map of Wyoming territory.
