|
Quartz conglomerate, to the first timer, looks like concrete. Someone (like a city person) ..... like MYSELF many years ago, may think when seeing it ..."Who the heck would have used ALL this concrete to make this area?"
Just as a
"PS-" This area is on private property, but the owner
allows public use. For this reason, PLEASE pick up litter (even
if it's not yours) and take it back out with you ! Enjoy! ........ NOTE: Martiny Rocks are on private property. Ask permission before hiking to the rocks. Also do not use adjacent private property to reach Martiny Rocks!
This group was John and Pam Stoneman, Artie, Jamie, Sue, Lisa(?) and Nancy .... Oh, and Sadie the blond lab.
There was snow on the ground that ranged from just a dusting on the roads to waist deep among the rocks! Needless to say the hike UPHILL to the rocks was grueling! On a summers day it takes about 45 minutes to hike up to the rocks from where you park on Geiger Hollow Road (a small parking lot). Although it's just about a quarter mile "as the crow flies" on a map ... it works out to be about a mile or so when you take the trail (a little less steep than a bees line from the car).
We got to the rocks after about an hour or so, and immediately had lunch! There was a fire pit in the sun on the south facing edge of the rocks. There was somewhat of an overhang that we ate under where there was no snow on the ground. It wasn't until we were among the rocks on the north-east side that we encountered waist deep snow! Sometimes we were lucky enough to walk on top of the crust ... but when we DID break through, it was DEEP!
At Martiny Rocks, there are 13 numbered cave openings... but we only found about 9 of them. Some are "tunnel caves" or "through trips" with a number on each end. Some of the caves had a solid ice floor ... and some had ice sickle "stalactites and stalagmites". And some caves had ice flows on the walls, some pretty thick. This is a very beautiful area in the winter. In all my years coming up to these rocks this was my first winter trip .... On the last day of winter incidentally!
We were all beat after the 9 or 10 caves we did (even the dog!) and the hike back down to the car was much faster than the hike up ..... thanks to gravity and wet slippery snow! It warmed up to about 45 in the mid afternoon with mostly sunny skies ...
Here are some pic's:
|
