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Family Field Trip - Hickory Run Boulder Field

 

My older kiddo collects rocks. We have rocks on our book case. We have rocks in a large pail. He has rocks in his room. Because of his love of rocks and our family's general love of adventure, we decided to visit the naturally occurring boulder field in the Hickory Run State Park during a recent school break. The Boulder Field is a National Natural Landmark under the National Park Service. 

 


The field is of composed of two types of boulders of various sizes. Each of us was struck my different elements at the site. I was, of course, closely observing the trees. My younger kiddo liked the red sandstones. The conglomerate boulders reminded me and my husband of Roxbury puddingstone. My older kid bounded almost effortlessly across the entire field and back. The total size of this geologic wonder is "400 feet by 1,800 feet and at least 12 feet deep."

 

We would like the Boulder Field to be improved in one way: provide at least one trail off the rocks. I was exhausted doing a round trip on the boulders. The larger rocks were stable, but the smaller ones required a lot of quick foot work to stay upright.

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