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d and the paleogene period began around 64 million years ago the land in this area had been eroded down to a broad flat plain that was criss crossed by rivers and streams however this all changed during the neogene period around 20 million years ago this part of the world experienced a period of uplift and this flat plain suddenly found itself raised up as a plateau which we call the allegheny plateau the rivers and streams that criss crossed the allegheny plateau began eroding down into the plateau over the next several millions of years the allegheny plateau began to resemble less and less of a broad flat plain and began to look more like a hilly dissected plateau map adapted from google maps if you were to look at western new york at this time you would see it was rather hilly with stream valleys in between the hills some of these stream valleys ran nearly north south these north south running valleys ultimately became the finger lakes that you can see today but how glaciation beginning around 2 5 million years ago the earth began a cyclical period of cooling and a large ice sheet formed at the north pole thus began the pleistocene ice age during this ice age the polar ice sheet advanced and retreated in a cyclical fashion nearly two dozen times each time this ice sheet advanced southward it would travel up those north south running valleys in western new york making them wider and deeper remnants of the hanging valley carved by glen creek as it empties out into the main seneca valley the valley no longer hangs above seneca valley the last glacial advance of the pleistocene ice age reached its max extent around 20 000 to 18 000 years ago this glacial advance was termed the wisconsin glacial period and it s the effects of this glacier which set the stage for the actual formation of the watkins glen gorge when this glacier was at its extent the glacial ice had completely filled the seneca valley the glacier did not however cover the tops of the ridges that flanked either side of this valley at least this is what is currently thought by the majority of geologists from what i ve gathered a small stream now called glen creek formed on the western ridge of seneca valley and the water in the creek emptied out either onto the top of the glacier or into a hole in the glacier we will never know for sure as the glacier began retreating from the valley the small stream valley that the glen creek had began carving found itself perched above the main seneca valley which was now becoming ice free when a smaller valley is perched above a main valley that was carved by a glacial the smaller valley is known as a hanging valley for a visual of what a hanging valley check out this diagram and this is how the watkins glen gorge began when it comes to liquid water it s really important to know that gravity is forcing water to travel to the lowest point of land it can possibly get to this is why water flows downhill this feature of liquid water can create spectacular erosional features especially if a stream finds itself having to cover more vertical distance than it previously had to when a stream finds itself in such a situation it begins to incise which is eroding downward in a narrow fashion stream incision has led to formations like the grand canyon in arizona or the new river gorge in west virginia and in western new york stream incision led to the creation of watkins glen gorge glen creek as it begins cutting into the top portion of the genesee group layers starting approximately 12 000 years ago the water in glen creek had to travel from atop a ridge down to a lake now called seneca lake which had formed at the bottom of the valley this is a vertical distance of roughly 1 000 feet as it traveled downhill it began cutting into the bedrock the creek soon hit the genesee group which if you remember was that layer made of soft shales and filled with joints this is when things got interesting glen creek began incising deeply into the shales of the genesee group the joints made it easier for the water to do so as well as we mentioned earlier joints are an area in a rock layer that can be more easily eroded than a solid piece of rock essentially joints allow for water to access and impact a greater surface area of the bedrock than a solid block of rock would allow liquid water in a joint can mechanically and chemically weather and erode the rock and water in the joint can freeze and further crack and break apart the rock as the water expands consequently many of the awesome formations in watkins glen gorge occur where a joint is or used to be if you look at the photo above you can see several joints running up and down the exposed bedrock you ll also notice that a waterfall formed along one of the joints for the past 12 000 years glen creek has been carving its way down through the black shale and siltstones of the genesee group exploiting the hundreds of joints found throughout the bedrock layer a gorge dotted with waterfalls plunge pools and other features has since taken shape this is watkins glen gorge as we currently know it when you start digging into the geological history of any place you soon realize that the place only looks the way it does now due to a specific combination of factors that came together over a long past the gorge at watkins glen owes its existence not to any one factor but a whole host of them the sediments in the catskill delta laid the foundation and set the scene the allegheny orogeny shattered the resulting rocks and filled them with joints that would be of utmost importance later on the uplift and consequent dissection of the allegheny plateau brought the genesee group layers to a perfect location for a gorge to form the glaciers shaped the area as a whole and the retreat of the last glacier put glen creek in the right circumstances for incising and finally glen creek was able to form the watkins glen gorge due to the erosional power of water meshing with all those other factors that had led up to this moment when the creek met the rocks without all these factors and circumstances coming together the way they did watkins glen gorge wouldn t exist now that we ve done a somewhat deep dive into the geological history of watkins glen state park it s time for a pictorial journey through the gorge as it is today check out part 2 of my watkins glen posts at this link a journey through the watkins glen gorge posted by kyle brooks at 3 54 pm 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels nature ohio photography parks allegheny plateau geology new york location watkins glen state park 1009 n franklin st watkins glen ny 14891 usa monday june 11 2018 hiking the beehive in acadia national park called by some as the crown jewel of the north atlantic coast acadia national park in maine is the only national park that can be found in new england it s a relatively small park by national park standards coming in at only 49 000 acres but it protects much of mount desert island the 6th largest island in the lower 48 states back in may a few of the educators from the ecology school myself included drove the 3 5 hours from saco maine to acadia national park for a weekend filled with hiking and exploring while there one of the other educators and i decided to climb the famous beehive the beehive is a granite knob that rises 520 feet above the atlantic ocean on the southeastern corner of mount desert island you can access the summit via the beehive trail whose trailhead is found just near the sand beach parking lot this trail is challenging and offers beautiful views but it also comes with a much higher risk factor than your average trail to give you an idea of just what you re climbing up when you hike this trail take a look at the photo above the knob pictured is the beehive if you look at the zoomed in portion remember you can always click on a photo to enlarge it you ll notice a red circle in that circle is a person and that person is on the beehive trail original figure made by martin d adamiker cc by sa 3 0 link or gfdl link via wikimedia commons figure modified addition of arrows and text by kyle brooks before we get to what the actual hike is like i want to spend some time talking about the geology of mount desert island and especially the beehive itself as with many places in the northern portions of the united states mount desert island was heavily shaped and modified by various glacial periods during the last ice age the last glacial period the wisconsin glacial episode began around 70 000 years ago and finished up around 12 000 years ago at its greatest extent this giant sheet of ice completely covered maine including mount desert island in this part of the world the glacier moved from the northwest toward the southeast as it moved over mount desert island it eroded the mountains that were present on the island into long yet narrow formations that were separated by u shaped valleys left a smooth granite face resulting from glacial abrasion right a jagged steep granite face resulting from glacial plucking as the glacier eroded the mountains on the island it did so in two different ways all dependent on which direction the side of the mountain was facing take for example the beehive parts of the beehive experienced glacial abrasion while other parts experienced glacial plucking glacial abrasion and plucking are both examples of how a glacier can erode bedrock but these two types of erosion are a result of different factors and forces subsequently they end up leaving behind different geological features after the glacier retreats the northwest side of the beehive was eroded by glacial abrasion in this case the glacier smashed directly into the northwest side of the knob this force of pressure coupled with the rocks embedded in the bottom of the glacier smoothed and polished the bedrock like sandpaper on a piece of rough wood this left behind a large face of smooth rounded granite the southeastern side of the beehive however experienced erosion via glacial plucking as the glacier polished the northwest side of the knob it moved over the knob and slid down the southeastern side as the ice slid down this side frictional forces caused some of the ice at the very bottom to melt this liquid water then entered into cracks and joints that were already present in the bedrock were the water consequently refroze since water expands when it freezes this resulted in large boulders cracking and breaking free of the knob these boulders were then plucked up by the bottom of the glacier where they were transported and dropped into the ocean or elsewhere the resulting rock face was not highly smooth and polished but was instead a steep cliff side with a jagged face it s on this plucked side of the beehive that the trail ascends the trail up to the summit starts out easy enough the trailhead is at the bottom of a gully lined with granite boulders of various sizes many of which were dropped there after being plucked off the knob by the glacier this part is straightforward one just has to watch their footing as they walk from rock to rock and keep an eye out for the blue blazes marking the trail the boulder field eventually ends at the base of the plucked side of the knob this is where the scrambling begins scrambling is the type of hiking that is in between walking and technical rock climbing basically it s walking up or down a rocky area that requires you to use your hands relatively often but it still doesn t require technical gear like rope and carabiners this is also the first part of the trail in which you encounter the metal rungs which you will soon come to rely on as with many of the steep rocky trails in the national park system metal rungs were added at some point along the trail for hikers to more safely navigate in the case above metal rungs were added so hikers could safely cross a gap in the rock face rather quickly you are rewarded with grand views of the southeastern side of acadia national park features like the sand beach come into view although sandy beaches are not rare in the world by any means the sand beach in acadia national park is significant maine is not known for sandy beaches in fact of the 3 478 miles of shoreline found in maine there s only about 40 miles of sand based shorelines 1 15 of the total the sand beach in acadia national park represents about 290 yards of that 40 or so miles and the only sand based beach you ll find on mount desert island while the trail gets higher and higher and the views get better and better the trail also becomes increasingly more climbing based the trail also becomes smaller and gaps become more prevalent at one point a short wooden bridge is required to cross a gap your blogger embracing his inner mountain goat some sections of the trail are very narrow like the one pictured above sure footing grippy shoes and patience are a must about halfway up the trail you reach an oh boy section at least it was for me there is a relatively long and steep section of the trail that requires lots of climbing up metal rung after metal rung and to make things more interesting decades of use by hikers have worn smooth the parts of the granite along the trail making them slippery this last half of the trail is extremely reminiscent of the angels landing trail in utah s zion national park i hiked up angels landing in the summer of 2016 and that trail is another example of scrambling up a steep rock face with the use of metal rungs and chains check out my hiking angels landing post to see just what i m talking about leah ascends part of the more steep sections of the beehive trail is the trail dangerous and hard to do yes and no all hiking comes with risks although the beehive trail does have more risks involved than your average stroll through a city metro park deaths and serious injuries are rare but they do happen the trail itself isn t that strenuous for an average hiker that is at least somewhat in shape and has full control over their extremities hiking up the trail and returning via the bowl trail it is not recommended that you descend the way you came up is only 2 miles and there s only about a 450 foot elevation gain in total that s not much at all in the hiking world the biggest challenge hikers face is the fear factor afraid of heights well this trail might not be for you i ve heard stories about hikers getting halfway up the trail only to become frozen in fear the only way out is up though if you don t mind heights and cliff sides and you re willing to do a bit of non technical climbing and scrambling then you ll love this trail it s absolutely beautiful and it s been one of my favorite hikes that i ve done east of the mississippi river even though the summit is only at 520 feet above sea level the beehive sits on the edge of the atlantic ocean so the views are fantastic you can see miles and miles of the ocean mount desert island and the m...
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