This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Remember when we visited the Shrooms of the Gods at Garden of the Gods? That's not the only wondrous place formed by the Pounds Sandstone. Reader Heliconia got to visit the area in early spring, and sent us these images from Jackson Falls, just a short distance away:
This is a place where geology hasn't just lead to awesome scenery, but excellent rock climbing - and I can tell you from my slickrock days that a good, solid sandstone is very friendly to feet. Great traction as long as you don't hit any badly-weathered bits, or areas where the sand grains have got loose. (This is why you have me here today. If it had been as slick as its colloquial name, I'd have plunged several hundred feet off the mesa I loved running around on!)
Knowing how much we love our rocks, Heliconia grabbed us some excellent shots of them. Here's a lovely sandstone ledge peeking through the forest:
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And a fun square boulder. Note how the sandstone layers weather, making it look a bit like pages of an old book, fallen from a table, left out in the rain.
And a cliff with many boulders like it falling off. Sandstone often seems to come apart in great chunks. Jointing and such, y'see. We'll probably have an in-depth discussion on that sometime.
This is lovely stuff! Thank you, Heliconia!
I'm always down for some reader-submitted geology. You can find me at Gmail as dhunterauthor.
