Skiing Cedar Breaks

I’ve accomplished my winter 2012 weekend ski assault on the mountain and have returned home unscathed.
On second thought, perhaps “assault” is a bit of a stretch.
IMG_7144I was in Tennessee recently, catching up with some old friends and revisiting some familiar sights. I have a 25–year history there, having lived in Knoxville for nearly 10 years and then middle Tennessee for 15 years.

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Shelby Street pedestrian bridge spans the Cumberland River near downtown Nashville

If I stopped at every road cut I came across I’d never get anything else done.
This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Geological lollygagging in southern Utah can easily become a full–time obsession. More than many other places on the planet the geology here is utterly in your face, unencumbered by pesky vegetation, exposed for the entire world to see if that world would just take a few moments to look a bit more closely.

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Tonaquint Drive road cut exposes an unconformable contact between Moenkopi and Shinarump deposits

I officially got the official word yesterday – I’ll be returning to Yellowstone National Park this summer.
Woo Hoo!

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 Yellowstone Plateau with Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River – view from Mt. Washburn

Thin sections of rock only 0.03 millimeter or 0.00118110236 of an inchthick on a glass slide offer us incomparable insight into the geological history of our Earth.

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Shearing textures in a garnet schist gneiss – crossed polarized view

There are a lot of intriguing ideas and concepts in geology. Some are easier to wrap our minds around than others. One of the most phenomenal has got to be the idea that a 3 inch x 1 inch glass slide with a sliver of rock attached that has been sawed, sliced, glued and polished to a thickness of 0.03 millimeter can provide clues to the history of an entire mountain range.

Katherine Hanson

Hey there, I'm Katherine Hanson, the curator of watchingforrocks.com, a site dedicated to uncovering the hidden gems of the USA. With a passion for exploration and a love for discovering the beauty in every corner of this vast country, I'm on a mission to share the best cities, national parks, historic landmarks, and entertainment hotspots that the USA has to offer. From towering mountains to bustling cities, there's so much to see and experience. Join me as I embark on adventures and uncover the wonders that make America truly remarkable.
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