A Note of Encouragement:
Welcome to the Klamath National Forest Earth Cache program! Most of the Earth Cache locations are located away from established recreational trails and roads. Visitors are strongly encouraged to check with Ranger District offices for information on current road and trail conditions before visiting sites, and be prepared for cross-country hiking.
Layered clothing, water, and appropriate maps are essentials when traversing the remote, rugged landscape of the Klamath National Forest. Please be aware of wildlife and poison oak while visiting Earth Cache locations in the forest and use caution when traveling on narrow winding forest roads.
Location Information: GPS Coordinates: 41° 14' 28.762" N, 122° 48' 0.422" W
Cement Banks is located in the Salmon/Scott River ranger district.
There is not a trail that takes you directly to Cement Banks, but you can take the East Boulder trail for most of the way. This trail will take you to East Boulder Lake, which is in a glacial cirque. Follow the trail as it crosses over the small rock dam and take the trail to the right around UTM/NAD83 517840 4564402 (R1), which takes you over a saddle. You will want to leave this trail around UTM/NAD83 517113 4564432 (R2), and walk northwest along the ridge until you reach Cement Banks.
Geological Information:
During the Ice Age, massive sheets of ice and glaciers formed throughout the Klamath Mountains carving and sculpting the landscape into what we see today. As the glaciers carved a path, they left behind piles and piles of stuff.
Glaciers are massive bodies of ice that move under their own weight. As a glacier moves, it erodes the landscape while incorporating rocks, soils, and anything in its path. Long after a glacier melts, erosional and depositional features remain. Features like cirques, which look like amphitheaters, and U-shaped valleys are the results of this erosion. Melting occurs as the glacier moves, causing it to deposit the rocks and soils into mounds called moraines.
Moraines form along the sides (lateral), under (ground), and front (end or terminal) of the glacier. The rock and sediment that make up the material of a moraine is till. The rocks that make up these glacial deposits are unsorted, which means the rocks vary in shape (rounded and angular), size (pebbles and boulders), and type (granite, gneiss, schist, etc.).
Cement Banks is most likely a cemented lateral moraine. There is evidence of multiple depositional events, which accounts for the size and thickness of Cement Banks. The rocks that make up cement banks vary in shape, size, and lithology. Glacial melt water facilitated the cementation by reacting with the calcium and silica rich sediments in the moraine.
While on your hike to Cement Banks try to identify some glacial features. If you take the East Boulder trail you will not only have an educational but scenic hike as well. Once you reach the top of Cement Banks you will have some truly amazing views of the surrounding area, and make sure you actually see the bank of Cement Banks.
Logging Requirements and Questions:
- The text “GC41AZW” on the first line
- Number of People in group
- The date or season
- How many different rock types do you see in the Cement Banks? And where did they come from?
- How many depositional events can you see in the outcrop? What evidence do you see for this?
- Why do you think there is little vegetation growing on cement banks?
Resources:
Photos from USGS
Contacts:
Salmon/Scott River Ranger District
11263 N. Highway 3