Stone row

Here is a stone row in Delaware State Forest. I've been looking at it for a long time, but unable to photograph it well, because of the snow.

I'm also having a very hard time describing it.

It starts by running perpendicular to a creek branch of the East Branch Cold Spring Creek.

This photo has no rock piles, but gives an overall view of the topography here. The creek branch running left in the photo is the one that the stone row starts at, a bit further up from this view. The runoff to the right is intersected by the stone row.



Walking up the left branch from the photo above, you come to the stone row.



This is following the stone row, perpendicular to the creek branch. The photo here somewhat shows the stone row running to the left, as you look in the background.



Still running perpendicular to the creek branch, the row has a break in it at something like a rock pile. You can see the runoff just behind the rock pile.



I'm having a hard time deciding if the row was modified by someone who needed to get something through there, like a wagon or farm implement - or not. The photo below is my 4 foot walking stick in the break, with the rock pile to the left. I want to say someone piled stones to the left to make the break to the right. But, knowing the area, it doesn't make sense. It's rocky and/or wet here and this stone row does not make any enclosure, so why would someone need to get through it right here?



When I was visiting this area back in February, I thought the break was there for the runoff to flow through, but I've changed my mind about that because there is more runoff coming out from under the stone row, as you can see here.



Then, following the stone row around past the break, it turns and heads in a different direction. I like this photo because it shows the essence of the row, running up and turning a bit, while at the same time keeping the runoff to it's left. Interesting enough, there are 3 rock piles to the right, which I'll get to later, but just in writing this, it has me thinking about a possible reason for the row being a separation between the runoff and the rock piles - pure conjecture.



There is another break in the row at the upper end, now running roughly parallel to the creek branch. But this break has no evidence of rocks being piled to the left or the right.



Then, getting toward the upper end of the stone row, there are these interesting rocks. I think I photograph them every time I come out here. There is just something very aesthetically pleasing about them. The last photo of these 3 is a February picture I took of these rocks and I was intrigued with the mountain view in the background.





Where the stone row ends, it has a kind of curvy look to it.



This last picture is looking over the stone row, toward the first of 3 rock piles near the stone row. Actually, it's two rock piles and the third, 'rocks on a boulder'. I'll save those for a separate post.



Yes, that is still snow in the mountain from this past weekend. I thought it was really funny how the snow line seemed to end just over the stone row.

Incidentally, I used the compass to get an idea of the direction of the stone row, and it starts out generally running 135 and ends up running 55. I believe this makes it an obtuse angle.

Then, one last thing, I thought I should put some sort of site map out here to give an idea of the location of everything I've been looking at in this area. It is a work in progress, and I have made errors and omissions here and there, so I am not going to swear to the complete accuracy of everything written down here. Also, there are more stone structures on 3 sides (northeast, northwest and southwest) that I haven't been able to fit on this site map, but I've been trying to make up some smaller site maps to add on to this one.

Just upstream from Creekside

Just upstream from Creekside (the prior post), is a stone wall. At the corner of the stone wall, there is a thick, or double walled section...



In the foreground on this photo, there is a very large, very old tree trunk, right at the start of the double walled section. Looking around, I could not find the tree that it came from. I had to double take to make sure it was not stone there, but, in fact, a tree. It seemed to fit nicely with the wall in its somewhat deteriorated state.



This shot shows the corner of the wall, with the double walled section visible just to the right, behind the corner:



...and near the thick section, just upstream, is this:



(half meter stick in photo)



A peculiar thing about that large conglomerate with quartz in it is that it had a very smooth texture to it in one spot, but was rough elsewhere. Maybe it had something to do with the frozen moss, but it still seemed odd that there was no moss and the rock was very smooth in one spot. If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you might be able to see the smooth area. The palm of my hand fit nicely, right at that smooth spot:



I only rested my palm on the stone, and it felt like a thousand palms had touched it before mine.

Here is a panorama of the wall:

Creekside

This is along a creek branch that eventually flows into the Susquehanna River.

I'm having trouble this morning...

trying to understand how people can believe they see virgin Mary in a pretzel

- click here for the link

- or Illinois in a cereal flake - click here for the link -

yet, they can't see the ceremonial landscape all around us? What's wrong with this country????

What is that rock?

Here's a view from the side facing the creek:




And here's a view from the other side, looking down toward the creek.



I was trying to capture that small, roundish rock in the foreground, which, I think, is feldspar. But that is a guess on my part. I'm not a geologist. Anyway, the large, upright stone is very different looking from one side to the other!

Further downstream, but up along a row of small stacked stone structures along the boundary of State and private land, there was this rock among the row. If you thought the first rock looks like a turtle head, then maybe this is his carapace:

NYRI

In case you haven't heard, local residents of upstate NY are fighting plans for a private company, NYRI, to run a power line through upstate NY. For information on the plans, the NYRI website is here.

To get the map of where they are proposing to run the power line, click on "Proposed Transmission Route" and then "Route Ortho Maps". The maps are large, so follow the directions on the website, depending on the size of your computer.

"Section B" of the map shows that this power line is going to follow the Delaware River from Deposit, NY to Cochecton, NY. If you decide to look at some of the individual Ortho Maps of the proposed transmission route, you'll notice it's almost impossible to find a map that doesn't have the power line running over a creek tributary.

For information on two of the groups fighting the power line, click here and here.

Details from a prior post

I posted a while back on what may or may not be effigy stones. One, in particular, I thought (at the time) was a coincidence, the eagle stone. Click here for the original post. I went back out in the fall to look at the eagle stone again, and my thought is now, it is probably not a coincidence.

Here is the stone again, with my 4 foot walking stick (1 foot increments) near the stone.



This side view shows how the detail of the eye and above the beak are not just a trick of shadows, but actual detail on the rock itself. There is also additional stacking, not just the rock on rock.



But, most interesting, is the deliberate position of the small triangular rock beneath the larger, flat rock.



Then, an odd rock in front of the entire structure. It was under the leaves.



This picture tries to capture it all. The odd rock in front, triangular supporting stone, flat rock, eagle effigy, and evidence of other stacked stones in the background. It is a bit farther off the logging road than I originally recalled.