(nr Wellington UT)
A friend told me about this BLM site. A photographer discovered the place in 1899, and thought it contained petrified tree stumps; hence the name. It sounded like an interesting place, so off I went to find it.
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Geologists have identified them as concretions, which are hardened mud-balls often called cannonballs. Some of them were as big as 8ft in diameter. Over the ages, they turned into rock and were sheered off when the hillside collapsed.
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Part remained in the cliff, and part rolled to the bottom, and are strewn about. After hiking about 1/2 mile, it didn’t take long to see them. It was easy to understand why one would think it was a buried forest.
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The 2mi round-trip trail began atop a cliff, and was well marked. There was some signage to explain about the discovery. I’m glad I got to see them.
Camp: BLM-Buried Forest TH boondock
Scene: Rocks, cliff, trail
Wonderful report. I have never heard about this before. You certainly are showing me some grand adventures. Thank you.
It was new for me, too. There are a lot of little known nifty places. Stay tuned for more.
Thank you for these photos! I am interested in geology, though unlearned, and always notice angles of rocks etc. Of course have never seen anything like these…..Looking up concretions just now, I see that they are mostly round, and to see them sliced off, they DO look like tree trunks.
I have little interest in the facts of geology. I just like how the rocks look; shapes, colors, textures, size, and configurations. They’re some of my favorite things in nature.