If you've been following this blog, you'll have noticed that I've slowed considerably. The pandemic has had a lot to do with that, along with...aging, I guess. But I'm still on the trails.
This last picture is appropriate. It's the National Mining Museum in Leadville, Colorado. It should be on the bucket list of anyone interested in geology. Housed in a retired high school, it displays everything mining and mineralogy.
A close friend wanted to drive to Vale to hike around this picture postcard tarn...
Despite two feet of snow, we finished early and decided to go into Leadville. Glacial topography and mining...a perfect lead-in to next year when I will segue from physics and astronomy to chemistry and geology, mostly geology because the Denver area is a geotourists dream.
I won't be leaving physics and astronomy behind. I'll keep working on the LabBooks, but my trail adventures will carry me from the margins of the Rockies into the mountains.
I'll be focusing on my back yard and I invite you to join me in exploring your own back yard. You might be surprised by what you find there.
And, as always, I wish for you a greater future than any that has gone before.
2 comments:
I like the idea of focusing on one’s own backyard. I keep a rock by my computer that I picked up across the street. I believe it (and other larger ones) were dug up when the house was connected to the sewer line. It’s a black and white tiger-striped rock with sparkles - possibly granite. It makes me wonder about the geologic history of my hill.
You certainly have some fascinating geology around you. One thing I miss about the South is the mineral hunting. Around here, everything is huge so finding a pocket of crystals is very much like looking for a needle in a haystack, but Southern pegmatites practically give you gifts.
There's a very cool difference between the Appalachians and the Rockies. The Rockies are relatively young mountains with deep gorges so they show cross sections over long periods of geologic history. The Appalachians are very old and worn down mountains so, when you walk a trail, you walk on the very heart of the mountains.
With geology, everyone has something special in their back yard.
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