Cheohee Road Falls Earth Cache EarthCache
Cheohee Road Falls Earth Cache
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Not just another waterfalls, a unique experience.
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Ok, so another waterfall Earth Cache, we have done many of these, why is this so different?
As you drive down Cheohee Road you may be tempted to drive past this unimpressive waterfall. You may want to stop your car, snap a picture and then continue on your way.
“Cheohee Road Falls is low flow and, unless you’re there after a rain, may be considered unimpressive. At first glance, you may even think the falls to be dry, but this is a mistake. Take time to get out of the car and get close. The longer you look, the more water you’ll see moving down this cross between a waterslide and a tiered waterfall.”( http://www.examiner.com/article/cheohee-road-falls)
You will notice the difference in this waterfall once you step out of your car and watch it for a while. Now turn your ear to the waterfall and hear the difference; there is no loud monotone sound coming from this waterfall. “As every waterfall has something special about it, you wonder what this trickle down the mountain has in store. Then you begin to notice – the sound. From the very top to the very bottom this little cascade has drips and splashes that create a musical quality. And it is the low flow that provides this stereophonic effect. Because of the low flow, you can pick out sounds coming from the top, the middle and the bottom. You’ll want to pull up a chair and stay.” ( http://www.examiner.com/article/cheohee-road-falls)
The different sounds of water you hear are coming from the different parts of the waterfall; but why? The face of the waterfall is “Black Granite” (the same material used in many newer homes as the counter tops in the kitchen). Granite is used in this situation because it is a hard rock. You may be thinking the same thing I am, as a kid, we had rock fights and all rocks are hard; compared to your skin, rocks are hard, but each and every rock type has a different hardness. Hard rocks, soft rocks, different water flows and different sounds, what do they have to do with each other?
We now come to the difference in this water fall and the lesson it has to teach us.
Different amounts of water are flowing from, through, & across different rock types at the face of and behind the water falls. Now look closely at the water coming down the falls, do you notice at the middle of the falls there seems to be a lot more water coming from the falls than there was at the top? Now look about ¾ the way down the water fall, the water is disappearing here and then it reappeared at the bottom in the splash pool and flows through the drainage pipe. Where did the water go?
“Determining the hardness of an unknown rock or mineral is often very useful in the identification process. Hardness is a measure of a mineral's resistance to abrasion and is measured against a standard scale - Mohs Scale of Hardness. Mohs scale was named after Frederick Mohs (1773-1839), a German mineralogist. It consists of 10 fairly common minerals (except for the diamond) of known hardness which are numerically ordered from the softest (1) to the hardest (10).
They are: 1. Talc (H=1)***2. Gypsum (H=2)***3. Calcite (H=3)***4. Fluorite (H=4)***5. Apatite (H=5)***6. Orthoclase (H=6)***7. Quartz (H=7)***8. Topaz (H=8)***9. Corundum (H=9)***10. Diamond (H=10)” The information above and how to perform the Mohs Scale of Hardness test can be found at: http://www.rocksandminerals.com/hardness/mohs.htm
“On the Mohs scale, graphite (a principal constituent of pencil "lead") has a hardness of 1.5
a fingernail 2.2–2.5
a copper penny 3.2–3.5
a pocketknife 5.1
window glass plate 5.5
and a steel file 6.5
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness)
The top of the waterfall and the face are made of Granite Rock, which is a very hard rock that water will flow over the top of, but not through. This water is known as “run-off” water; water that has not gone into the earth (rocks, soil, etc.) and takes the “easiest route” to go down due to gravity.
Some more water will “soak into” (permeate & penetrate) the earth. Behind the granite rock face at the top of the falls is “limestone”. Limestone is a carbonate stone and is formed through chemical precipitation. It is porous and soft, it allows water to flow through it behind the waterfall. This water flows through the limestone until it is stopped and pushed out into the waterfall due to a harder rock being under it.
The bottom part of the falls allow very little water through it because it is made from harder rocks like “Sandstone” and “Shale”; these are types of sediment rock. Sandstone is usually made from course sediment like “Quartz” particles and it has a rough texture. Shale is from fine sediment like clay and is smoother. These stones are best seen from the inside of a cave; like at the “Stump House Tunnel” just down the road from this waterfall.
Now that we understand why the water is flowing the way it is, let’s see how this affects the waterfall in what we see and hear.
This beautiful sound of water combined with the sounds of nature make a very gentle and calming sound. Add in the sounds from the animals, birds & insects in this area you will hear your very own symphony that you were the only one (else others are with you) to ever hear.
Most Earth Caches are visual, meaning you use your eyes to discover them. They are as you see them and little can be disputed about what you see. Cheohee Road Falls is different; although the reason the water flows the way it does and the rock's hardness is undisputable, this waterfall wants you to pay attention to the sounds it makes. Sound is a sense that allows you to use your imagination, with your eyes closed, every person will have a completely different interpretation of the falls. Plan to spend time at this waterfall to hear nature’s music and your own personal song.
Further down the road is a pull off camping area. The camp-site is near the stream coming from the waterfall you just viewed. After the first waterfall, the stream then flowed through the woods and down to another waterfall. The second waterfall is about a quarter mile hike behind the campsite. The stream then goes on to Lake Cherokee, Winding Stairs Trail and a number of other waterfalls.
If you would like to include a picture with your log, please do! It is not required to complete this earth cache. The questions below (do not answer them in your log, send them to me via e-mail) are both subjective (based upon your personal interpretation of what you see and hear) and objective (one answer based on fact from the waterfall, this will be the same answer by everyone).
Some of your answers may be different from others, but they will prove you took the time to really participate and learn from this rarely noticed waterfall.
Now for the questions:
In the explanation of the waterfall I named 5 different rock types; using the knowledge you have read and observed, list the 5 rocks in order of hardness on the Mohs Scale of Hardness.
Optional: using the different stones that are lying around, perform the Mohs Test to prove your conclusions.
Thinking of all of the different musical instruments that exist now and in the past; what 3 musical instruments do you think you can hear? Using the 3 instruments you just named, what part of the waterfall do you think is producing that sound and why?
(Example: I heard a bass drum coming from the base of the falls due to the large drops of water falling into the drainage tube; giving an echoing sound)
Using the known item hardness list above, where would a Coke or Pepsi can fit? Why?
Do you think this waterfall will produce the same sounds today as it will in years to come? Explain why you answered the way you did and how the rock hardness effect this.
It looks like water disappears close to the bottom of the waterfall only to reappear at the "splash pool bottom". Using your new found knowledge, explain why you think this happened.
Give a name to your song that you heard while observing the waterfall and post this in your log posting.
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Happy Caching
GeoJoe-prosrocket
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