Welcome to the Summit County Metro Parks. Permission has graciously granted by our fine park system for this Earth Cache. As a reminder, remember the dawn to dusk rule, unless otherwise posted. If you find a piece of paper or trash on the ground please pick up and dispose if it properly (CITO). There is a trash container at the parking lot. Lets keep it clean for everyone.
This trail is rated as a 2 = Moderate
THE LEDGES
Recently my wife and I hiked the trails in this section of the park. While doing so it did not take long to discover that some unusual geological event had occurred here, but what? After a few more visits to the parkland, armed with a camera and a clipboard, a picture of what has happened here was starting to take shape in my mind. To verify what I had suspected much more time was spent researching at the local library and the internet.
I know that much has been written about the glaciers. Usually you read about the deposits that were left as the glaciers receded. This area is rather unique. In the Northeast region of Ohio we live in a Geographic Region referred to as the "Glaciated Allegheny Plateaus". In this area layers of sedimentary rock, hardened from materials left by ancient seas and streams, and created the parks bedrock. As the glacier slowly moved over the area it scraped soil off the top of the bedrock. Because of this the much harder bedrock was left in place. Where it cracked, water and ice produced a hydraulic effect and made the cracks even wider. That same water and ice also washed away the soil and rock partials giving us the ledges that we see today. This bedrock is between 410 and 286 million years old and dates from the Paleozoic Era. That's even before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
So. what happened here? In summary, we see that these rocks were here millions of years before the glaciers. They were not just deposited here during the glacial periods. A "finger" of the glacier carved away the earth in this area and exposed the sedimentary rock beneath. Over a period of time the freezing and thawing cracked apart the large chunks of this stone and washed away the stone particles and soil thus exposing the ledges that we see today.
Questions to answer.
In order to claim a find on this Earth Cache, you must email me the answers to the questions below within 5 days of logging a find, or per Geocaching.com rules your log will be deleted.
1. At Waypoint #2 - Are the rocks smooth round boulders or are the large layered blocks of stone?
2. At Waypoint #3 - What is the name of the geological feature at the sign?
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Congratulations to chfshome for the First To Find!
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