12 August 2018 Blind Ash Bay

We went back to Ash River and hiked the Blind Ash Bay trail (3 miles). The previous day VIP Chris had explained the geology of the region. Underlying the whole area is a solid bed of 2 Billion year old (that’s not a typo, it is billions of years old) granite that has been scraped down by numerous ice age glaciers. The last ice age was roughly 10,000 years ago. It left the region scrapped clean with very little soil. So the soil we have today in the park has been the accumulation of 10,000 years of plant growth, die, decay cycles. It’s only about 3-4 inches thick before you hit granite. So all these tens of thousands of trees are living with only 4 inches of soil. So the roots hit solid granite, spread out and intertwine, digging down into the granite where they can find a crack. The Blind Ash Bay trail illustrates it with lots of intertwined roots and rocks making it a hazardous trail. Thank the lord for our hiking staffs. They saved several trips from turning into face plants and prevented a couple of turned ankles. In the deep forest, it was hot and humid. Although we could hear the wind in the treetops, there was nair a breeze on the trail. Leslie began to over heat but we pushed on until we broke out on the shore of Blind Ash Bay. The breeze coming off the bay was cool and refreshing. The views were beautiful and worth the hike. The hike back was easier but just as hot and miserable. Later that evening we made our first camp fire to enjoy the heat on a cool evening.

In this photo you can see how these trees pulled up the limited soil around their roots and exposed the granite underneath.