Catherine Creek Glacial Erratic, Washington
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Rose Red
N 45° 42.943 W 121° 21.864
10T E 627294 N 5063763
At Catherine Creek a difficult and treacherous climb through the window leads to the gap behind, where a granitic boulder (an erratic) is wedged in the crevasse on the north end of the gap.
Waymark Code: WME6TF
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 04/10/2012
Views: 9
A paved walkway south of Highway 14 makes for a great wildflower stroll in the spring. The path winds through a couple of depressions likely formed the the Missoula Ice Age Floods plucking basalt out of weaker parts of the underlying basalt flows.
A longer hike north of Hwy 14 along Catherine Creek leads to an area where an immense basalt wall has separated from the bedrock behind, and a window has developed in the wall through weathering and collapse of the less competent portions of the wall.
A difficult and treacherous climb through the window leads to the gap behind, where a granitic boulder (an erratic) is wedged in the crevasse on the north end of the gap. It is likely a granitic rock from Canada that was caught up in the Ice Age Cordilleran Glacier and was lodged in one of the ice dams blocking the Clark Fork River/Glacial Lake Missoula. When the ice dam broke it was floated here by one of the floods in a block of ice. (compiled from Lloyd DeKay & Terry Hurd's IAFI 2012 Field Trip) Catherine Creek Erratic photos by Lloyd DeKay, Ice Age Floods Institute - Columbia Gorge Chapter.
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