Dug out of fields, bumped by canoes, and scrambled over by hikers, rocks are an unavoidable part of the Adirondack Park. Whether smooth river stones, towering erratics, or unexpected boulders, rocks make their mark on the unique landscape of the park. While many settlers of the past toiled to clear rocks from fields and roads, residents of the park today embrace the rocks around them, often giving names to ones they deem to hold special significance as a landmarks or pieces of history.
Most of my experience with the Adirondack habit of naming rocks comes from my time at my family cottage. A small cabin built by my great-grandfather in the 1930s, it sits on the Hudson River in the tiny hamlet of Riparius, about 9 miles downriver from North Creek. There the Hudson is relatively quick moving and shallow, with its deepest point during the summer coming up to a man's waist, and dotted everywhere with rocks. The most important rocks, the biggest and best for swimming to, have names that have survived generations of cottage goers. Visitors to the cottage are warned not to swim past Blue Rock, where the current gets strong. Bath Rock, with its smooth incline and dark color, is a wonderful place to lounge and soak up the sun. Others include Red Rock, Diving Rock, and one entire cluster named Rocky Island. Even more rocks are scattered alongside the river, often several feet or even yards away from the water line, pushed there by expanding ice during the winter. One particularly large boulder sat in front of our cottage for years, and a shallow bowl-like depression on its top held the water for the baptisms of many family members, myself included. One spring we arrived to find the baptism rock several yards downriver on the property of the cottage next door, pushed from us by that winter's ice. Another large boulder near the cottage has been spared from the forces of the frozen river. A local landmark, Chair Rock, with its seat-like ledge, sits beside the road, and has been the location for many a family photo-opp.
 |
| View of the Hudson from my cottage...the large boulder on the left is the baptism rock, now sitting in front of a neighboring cottage. |
Rocks elsewhere in the park have more widely known and accepted names. A popular erratic on a hiking trail at the summer camp I work at is fondly named Whale Rock. It looks like the head of a whale that is rising from the water, and has had hundreds of happy campers climb all over it in the past decades. Sunday Rock, a large erratic that was a well known landmark for Indians and early settlers, once marked a boundary "separating the woods from the world," and now has its own picnic area off of Route 56. The Balanced Boulders on Pitchoff Mountain, near Lake Placid, are a popular tourist destination. Countless other erratics around the park are used for everything from picnic spots to practice zones for beginning rock climbers. These glacial leftovers which once confused even the best geologists are now some of the best loved features of the park. Rock on!
 |
| The Balanced Boulders, Pitchoff Mt. |
Sources:
http://visitadirondacks.com/attractions/heritage/sunday-rock
http://www.lakeplacid.com/do/hiking/balanced-boulders
http://www.lakeplacid.com/f/styles/1440x700/public/hiking/balanced-boulders_20.jpg?itok=_XGBoZg0
Loved your post! Rocks are awesome, but often overlooked. They are so common, in the soil all around us, that we forget that they are frequently the oldest visible evidence of the earth's past. I visited some rocks abroad, they are called kopjes and are scattered around the Serengeti. At around 500 million years old, kopjes emerged when volcanic activity about a million years ago created a rich and fertile soil. The surface rock and soil wore away from the formation of grass and rain exposing the granite layer of the kopjes. I really enjoyed learning about some of the rocks in the Adirondacks and would really like to go explore them in the park. They are so beautiful and so freaking old!
ReplyDelete