Okay, maybe its from Canada or Montana and maybe it happened 15,000 years ago or more but I just had to see this BIG ROCK for myself!
Coordinates for this giant erratic: N 46.21872 W 119.28511
This Big Rock Rode and Ice Raft From Hundreds of Miles Away to Land Here in Our Backyard! (click pic to enlarge)
Click here for directions, maps and more details on this hike.
I saw this hike in Bruce Bjornstad’s most excellent book: On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods: A Geological Field Guide to the Mid-Columbia Basin. (click to see my review).
I set out to find this giant erratic (what’s an erratic?) and took a roundabout path to get there (click here for directions and hike details and more on erratics). It was a great hike though.
It was a beautiful, sunny day and the temperatures were crisp. The steam plume rose high from the Columbia Generating Station.
Columbia Generating Station Nuclear Power Plant Plume with the Fast Flux Test Facility Dome on the Right (click pic to enlarge)
As I wandered through the sagebrush, I was starting to wonder about the coordinates given in the book and where I was going based on my GPS. Before I knew it, I was at the fence to the closed-off section of the Arid Lands Ecology Preserve! I pulled out Bruce’s fieldguide and decided to navigate based on the map and mileage. The circuitous route did allow me to see more erratics along the way.
Large Granodiorite Erratic with Rattlesnake Mountain in the Background
When I’m hiking, I always love to see wildlife. I saw some dark spots in the distance, I figured they were more erratics! Then, they started moving, they were deer. Before I could get the zoom lens on my camera, they were scampering out of range. They kept an eye on me the whole hike and I finally got close enough for a half-way decent picture.
Deer Spotted on My Hike
Well, my map navigating paid off! I found the giant banded argillite erratic boulder that really is the size of a VW Bug! I got a few pictures and then backtracked to get a good GPS tracing for Hiketricities.com hikers to follow. I also got some nice views of Bergmounds, another geologic feature of our area. There were birds singing all day too and this little singer even let me get pretty close for a good picture.
Can anyone tell me the name of this bird? I’m no bird watcher so help from anyone is appreciated! It was a great day for a hike, I’m looking forward to more spring adventures!
Thanks for the great pics, Paul. My lady and I are looking forward to checking it out ourselves. (maybe when it gets a little warmer)
Take care, and maybe we will see you on one of Bruce’s tours next summer.
Thank you so much for your feedback. Would you do me a favor and copy and paste the web address (url) of page you enjoyed and share it to social media? This will help even more people enjoy the beauty that surrounds us and get outside, be more active and take control of their lifestyle! Thanks, Paul