Rocks Rock

Every rock tells a story.  Sometimes it is obvious what that story is:

Over time, sediment built up and created this huge sedimentary rock.  This is typical of basically all the rocks in the west.  Look at the Grand Canyon for example...that's a perfect picture of sedimentary rock eroded over time and through water and such.

Sometimes the story is a little harder to find, and you have you dig deeper and know some background info about that rock or rock system:

In the Rocky Mountains, specifically the Wasatch range,  the rocks started as sedimentary rocks.  Layers built up over time.  As faults formed and gave out, these layers were bent, twisted, uplifted, and changed.  The layers are not horizontal anymore, and some are twisted around like this one.  It takes more time to explain this than just looking at it and knowing which layer came first.

Sometimes unless you know more about the type of rock, the climate, and erosion processes, you can't really explain some surface phenomena:

I don't actually know the whole story here, but my theory is that this is a kind of soft rock and erodes quickly with water.  Here, there were pockets of water or some other solution, and now there are holes in the rocks.


Sometimes you see the end result, and you can hypothesize about how it got that way:


It looks really cool in the end, and you realize that all the weathering, the breakage, and the erosion carved away to a beautiful piece of rock that stands out among the others.

Sometimes you see the destruction a rock can create, and you can build a story back from that:

This rock came from way up on the mountain behind this house.  There is a boulder field just to the right (south) of this house, where boulders have collected over time.  Nobody builds a house there, because that would be stupid.  This rock let loose and took a different path than the norm, and bounced down the mountain, off the backyard, and through this entire house, landing here in the front corner of the garage.  The destruction was impressive, and shows that you can't really predict where a rock is going to go or what it is capable of.

Sometimes you just want to enjoy the rocks without really trying to figure out what the story is in any depth:

This was taken in Mosaic Canyon, in Death Valley.  This is marble, eroded and smoothed and carved by a river that used to flow through this canyon.


But rocks aren't the only ones to tell a story.  Rivers tell stories:

This is a braided river.  Its head is a glacier.  This is glacial runoff, essentially, filled with silt.  The silt buildup over time, is what created this impressive braiding in the valley.


And on that note, some places are filled with these braided rivers:

Where glaciers dominate the mountains, braided rivers dominate the valleys.  Glaciers are full of stories too, and they leave remnants of their story all over the place.

The little holes at the front of this picture are called Kettle Lakes.  They were left by glaciers.  Everything in these two pictures was carved or created by glaciers.  The valley was created by them, the mountains were carved by them, the rivers are because of them, the kettle holes are remnants of them.  It is amazing how one geological feature can literally change the face of the earth.

Below: Portage Glacier created Portage Lake.  Without that glacier there, the lake would not exist.  Neat, huh?

Sometimes you can see the history of the river right on the landscape, and then you don't have to look much further:

Here, you can see the current path of this river.  You can also see what are called "Oxbow Lakes", which are where the river used to flow, but then it changed its path.

Sometimes the history, though written right on the landscape, is much more complex than just a few oxbow lakes:

Here is a snaking riverbed, and within it is another, current, snaking river.  Obviously, there used to be a bigger river here, and since that has dried up, a smaller river flows in a new riverbed within the original bigger one.

Sometimes you can see how volcanoes affected the landscape and gave it the unique touch it has now:

This is all sandstone in the forefront of the picture.  The blacker "cap" on that one hill is pillow basalt, from a volcano back in the day.

And sometimes, we just like to enjoy the beauty of this earth that God blessed us to live on:

And sometimes, the most impressive things are ones that you have to look for, and aren't as clear as the others around them:

 This is the great Denali.  Mount McKinley.  Possibly the greatest and most impressive mountain in North America.

Find the metaphor.  Of course there is one; this is Karen writing this blog!  Like rocks, glaciers, mountains, rivers, etc, people all have a story to tell.  Some people wear their heart on their sleeve and you can see right away what their story is.  Others keep it all inside and are cautious, even afraid, to tell the story.  You have a story, I have a story.  Regardless, just keep in mind that everyone has a story.  Their experiences have made them the people they are today, with both their beautiful and less beautiful features and qualities.  Keep this in mind as you meet and interact with people, and you will respect everyone just a little more. :)