Mount Morgan Earth Cache!
The Geology of Mount Morgan - Igneous-Plutonic
A 5-hour scenic loop hike with gorgeous views of Squam Lake and the
surrounding areas. Mt. Percival is the better lunch spot of the two
peaks, with vast granite ledges and beautiful views.
The ladders and cave portion of the Mount Morgan trail is not for
the faint of heart. The last of the three ladders is awkwardly
positioned, requiring a hair-raising and wide sidestep to the right
and a difficult, seemingly impossible step up a sheer face without
the benefit of a handhold! Following the ladders is a boulder cave,
which is somewhat difficult to navigate with a large pack. It is
possible to bypass the ladders and cave via a trail that leads to
the right of the ladders; this is recommended in wet weather.
The rest of the trail is steep in parts, but otherwise quite
manageable.
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive,
felsic, igneous rock. Granite has a medium to coarse texture,
occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the
groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. Granites can be pink
to dark gray or even black, depending on their chemistry and
mineralogy. Outcrops of granite tend to form tors, and rounded
massifs. Granite is formed by the slow cooling and crystallization
of magma at some depth in the earth's crust, as indicated by its
texture. Texture is course grained, occasionally with formed
crystals of potash feldspares.
Granite is currently known only on Earth where it forms a major
part of continental crust.
Granite is an igneous rock and is formed from magma. Granitic magma
has many potential origins but it must intrude other rocks. Most
granite intrusions are emplaced at depth within the crust, usually
greater than 1.5 kilometres and up to 50 km depth within thick
continental crust.
To get credit for this EC, post a photo of you and your GPSr
with granite in background like above example and answer the
following questions.
1. Which direction did the granite flow? (You are standing on a
large flow.)
2. How many meters to reach the trail summit?
3. Explain the route you took to get here. There are two
options.
4. Look to the summit of Mount Morgan from the given coordinates
and explain what letter you see in the granite and how it may have
gotten there.
5. What is the color of granite located here?
If your picture is not ready then wait
until you have a photo. Logs with no photo of the actual cacher
logging the find or failure to answer questions will result in a
log deletion. Email me if you had any difficulties or problems, as
I understand that things can happen we don't expect.
Thanks.
I love it when a cache comes together, Strike
Anywhere.
Bring lots of water and be prepared for a strenuous
uphill climb from the Morgan Trailhead Parking Lot.