The Viewpoint from this Earthcache:
The mountains you see around you were once flat beds of rock that lay buried to the west. Immense pressures inside the Earth cracked the rock layers millions of years ago, forcing them to slide atop one another and to shift many kilometers eastward.
These thrust-fault mountains are now the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Much later, great amounts of glacier ice filled the spaces between the mountains, so deep that some of the summits were buried. For many thousands of years, ice and snow ruled. About 15,000 years ago, the ice began to melt back to where it is today. Newborn rivers washed raw deposits of gravel and silt down those wide glacial valleys. Erosion slowed as vegetation returned, but tributary rivers like the Spray and Cascade dammed the Bow River Valley with sediment. Behind this natural dam, the Bow River has built the rich ecosystems of the Vermilion Lakes wetland.
To log this Earthcache you must answer the following (send answers via email):
1) What is the full GC code of this Earthcache?
2) What type of rocks were squeezed from the west?
3) What bent and cracked the rock layers?
4) What covered the young mountains and eroded them further?
5) What melted to allow the modern landscape to emerge?
6) List 4 mountains you can see from this viewpoint.
7) OPTIONAL: Post a photo of yourself or your GPSr at this amazing viewpoint!
This Earthcache was established with permission from Parks Canada.