It was a beautiful day about, albeit a bit windy, so today I took a short hike up "Castle Rock," in it's namesake city, Castle Rock, Colorado.
Castle Rock is a rhyolite formation at the top of a hill, formed by a volcanic eruption tens of millions of years ago. At the base of the rock, you can see the erosion that's taken place over this time, which lead to the Rock's exposure.
Upon inspection, the rhyolite is quite fine grained in texture. It has a pinkish hue to it in most places, with the occasional grey portion most noticeably on the North side of the Rock. There are numerous places where you can see the small voids created by rapid cooling of the rock when being created. I had never looked this closely at the Rock before, but with the small amount of knowledge I've gained over the past week or so, I can appreciate the formation on a whole new level.
All in all, it was a great quick day hike (Only 1.4 miles round trip), and you get a great view of the town below (and Pikes Peak in the background!).
I would certainly recommend it to anyone in the area!
No comments:
Post a Comment