Hidden Gem

Artwork ID # 2306-24504-6

After I climbed an oceanside cliff with a backpack full of camera equipment , a tripod in one hand and grasping granite handholds with the other , I discovered this hidden gem. A mattress=size beach of smooth ocean cobbles touched by the very first rays of morning sun. This small beach was revealed by a retreating tide, and surrounded by high cliffs of granite, quartz and basalt. By noontime this lovely bed of smooth ocean cobbles would be covered by the surge of breaking surf, The colorful cliffs had been formed millions of years before, when Acadia was a caldera within a super volcano. This unique mix of rock types was the result of a granite plume of molten stone which erupted from deep in the earth. It hardened into stone when it reached the surface over 200 million years ago. At that time the entire coast of Maine was lined by a string of volcanoes.

" POCKET BEACH : A small gem... ( a patch of well=sorted ocean cobbles ) tucked into a niche along a coastline . When it occurs between headlands, it is generally hidden from view, and so all the more appealing. "
Barry Lopez , Home Ground , Language for an American Landscape. Trinity University Press, San Antonio, TX 2006.

MaineAtlantic CoastAcadia National ParkoceanwavegranitebasaltDevonian agegeologyCadillac plutonshatter zoneorogenyNorth AmericaAvaloniatectonic platessubductionrockmagmaheatpressureWestern Head

From Wilderness Series Archive - "An ARCHIVE of every WILDERNESS SERIES image"