Chimney Bluffs

We live about an hour from an amazing piece of shoreline. As glaciers moved across the land, they carved the land and made large deposits of soil, rock, and other debris as they retreated. Some of the coolest (in my opinion) formations resulting from glacial movement are drumlins. These streamlined "hills" of glacial till are easily identifiable and can be seen all over northern, central NY. Today we went to visit Chimney Bluffs. Tall "chimneys" of till reach up from the land. They were formed by wind erosion of the glacial till. The drumlin is slowly eroding and literally falling onto the beach, but it is still spectacular to see. All the rocks on the beach are from the drumlin, so the beach is loaded with all different kinds of rocks. The kids got a good workout, several geology lessons, and some hiking lessons. We all got sore legs or feet and wonderful sights to take in.
We walked along a path that runs dangerously close to the edge of the cliff that drops from the top of the drumlin to the beach. I was very thankful that Jeff was with us. There is something very comforting about having him there in potentially dangerous situations. The path along the top was through a heavily wooded area with dense underbrush, as you will see in the pictures. In most places the path is only one person wide and it is simply a dirt path worn by many feet traversing it. In a few places, the path had to be moved a little to the south to avoid being too close to the edge. Due to the wind erosion, and the till being so soft, the cliff is severely undercut in many places and huge trees are simply holding onto the top by their roots and thick vegetation. Many trees have lost their fight against gravity and fallen down the cliffs and are now laying on the beach with their tops laying in the lake. It is a bizarre scene from above, that makes complete sense from below.
The beauty of the place is beyond words, so I think I'll just post a bunch of pictures without commentary. These are only a small sampling of the over 60 pictures I took today. I would have taken many more, but Jeff and the kids kept commenting (complaining) about my frequent stops to get a picture.









































































































































































































































Some of these need a little commentary.
If you enlarge this picture, I think you will understand why I took it. The grass looks as though it is "sparkling."













Jeff dubbed this tree "wicked tree." It kind of reminded me of something out of a fairy tale...something you'd find as you near the evil witch's house!

























Jeff "caught" a lobster at the beach. He declined to be photographed with it, but told me I was welcome to take a picture of it if I needed to. Need is such a strong word! LOL!












This photo just struck me as funny. Look at the tree "growing" in the middle of the beach! It fell from the bank above, and there it sits, in the middle of the beach, being beautiful and green. Whoever said God doesn't have a sense of humor, needs to look around. I see His humor in many things!













Well, I am exhausted! I've been up for 18 hours and gotten far more accomplished than a sane person should...hmmm. The fresh air has wiped me out so I hope all is spelled correctly and makes sense for I am far too tired to proof this entry this evening! Goodnight!