Vantage Erratic - Iceberg-Rafted Boulder

[@rayschoch5882]

As I get older (I'll be 78 when I get there in August), "It's an easy walk" is a more persuasive argument than it used to be.

[@PrincessTS01]

Stenotus stenophyllus Narrowleaf Goldenweed Mat to 16 in. across with perennial tiny leaves. Stems densely leafy. Leaves linear, less than 1/2 in. long, rough to touch with short glandular hairs. Flower heads held individually, 8-12 small ray flowers surrounding center of hairy disk flowers. Grows in rocky places, sagebrush scrub. Rarity: Uncommon Flowering Time: All Summer Life Cycle: Perennial Height: under 6 inches Habitat: Shrub-Steppe Found In: Steens Native: Yes

[@LillianArch]

Thanks!! I thought it was Goldenweed. It's been decades since I saw it on the scrub ridges heading into The Blue Mountains.

[@goodmorninggilw2836]

I am just finishing the video, and I was trying to find the GPS coordinates for the large stone itself,So as to look it up on Google earth. I just saw your comment about one of the plants which he looked at, but I'm not sure which one it was. I am going to read again and maybe view again. The crazy thing is that I thought your very scientific definition was a poem at first. I thought it was a punk rock commentary on The biological featured experience. I enjoy the biology in addition. I am frankly addicted to digging everything that is true and interesting. This geology is a new endeavor for me, having had one basic geology class in College.

[@donnacsuti4980]

Thanks is it a composite family like goldenrod?

[@officially-ROB]

These are so wonderful to watch Nick! I can't get enough of you're videos. Thank you for all you do for us! I should add I'm in distant lands. I'm in the UK near London so I'm as far away as you can probably get. I'm absolutely fascinated with the PNW USA it's such an astonishing landscape. You're videos make the world a smaller place like I'm almost there. I'm saving up to one day visit the ice age flood features. Long may you continue Nick.

[@evtravels]

The PNW is the Disneyland of Geology!

[@kevins8434]

Just for the record: I'm here for all of your ramblings ❤

[@jimrf1137]

One should never stop learning. Thanks for every lesson.

[@davidschmale3359]

I remember, nearly 50 years ago now, climbing up Flat Top Mountain in West Richland with my Brother and two or three other guys. On top was a giant angular granite boulder as big as a house sticking out of the sand. I was still a year shy of receiving my geology degree from Central, but as I climbed up onto the erratic, I asked my hiking partners, In my best Bob Bentley imitation, how they thought this giant granite boulder got here. I pointed out that we were in a sea of Basalt, as far as the eye could see, in every direction, but here we were standing on granite. Did it fly out of a volcano? one of my friends asked. Nope, I said. My brother said, "maybe the Indians brought it up here?" I said, "now why would they do that?" "So, how did it get up here," someone else asked. "It floated in" was my reply. "Naw, bullshit, no way" they said, "on a raft" I said...

[@billy-go9kx]

Been there, but in the 50's and 60's. My Great grandparents lived at the bottom of the hill.

[@Next_Adv]

So nick that is all public land out there, and that plant is native it’s Lomatium utriculatum also known as spring gold.

[@greggthunderburg7294]

According to the government, it's their land.

[@janohare916]

Thanks, so glad it is a native plant.

[@petripelho4595]

Writing this from Finland so I do not consider myself an expert on Washington state flora, but for my eye the plant looks like something from the Brassica family.

[@walterward8164]

A friend of mine once said that those plants can be hundreds of years old. Sedges I believe. If you see a pathway you should stay on it. It has probably been there for hundreds of years to. Compaction is disruptive to the natural environment.

[@kathleensayce6035]

The drifts of small yellow flowers: 4-petaled mustard, probably Lesquerella douglasii, Douglas' bladderpod (Brassicaceae). The pink to purple pea-type flower is Astragalus purshii, woolly-pod locoweed (Fabaceae). The white flower is indeed a phlox, Phlox diffusa, spreading phlox (Polemoniaceae). All are native, and common to shrub-steppe in eastern Washington. Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest, by Mark Turner and Phyllis Gustafson, for a basic field guide.

[@faithijn8338]

Great Nick! I am an old timer! Been on that olde hwy many times before the interstate hwy went through. Love the tour! Awesome Nick I had to delay to watch to the end but fascinating erratic. From the first moment I heard of the ice age floods I was hooked! I grew up in Spokane & drove the whole state Palouse, Snake River, Dry Falls, COLUMBIA River Gorge, Ginko all of it is GOD’s Hand Print on our beautiful country!

[@evtravels]

We live in the Disneyland of Geology!

[@insAneTunA]

I do not think that geology and god's or any other magical creature walk hand in hand.

[@mrtony1985]

These videos are so gneiss. Even at times when you get a little erratic I will never take you for granite.

[@Rachel.4644]

🤪😅

[@Poppageno]

Gneiss!

[@davidschmale3359]

my sediments exactly

[@tuboe777]

😍😂😂

[@donnacsuti4980]

Enjoyed your puns reminds me of some good friends

[@charliewatts6895]

Being an easterner and sitting in a region where 20,000 years ago there would have been more than a mile of ice above where I sit now, I thought I knew everything about erratics. Of course, I thought the ice sheet dropped those erratics in Washington state. Turns out I know schist about that. Great video sir!

[@lonnymo]

The old city Vantage about where the water meets the road where the road ends at the river. The old gas station buildings and some others used to be there just above the water line but are now removed. The old vantage bridge was taken apart and moved to a place where it now crosses the Snake River at the confluence of the Snake and Palouse rivers, SR 261, at Lyons Ferry. It is also interesting to note that on the east side of the river, the road comes back out of the water and makes its way back up out of the water up through the Frenchman's Coulee. Good stuff. Thanks Nick!

[@symbungee]

Ooohhh I loved this. I'm not a geologist but I walk along and think similar things when picking up rocks or walking through cuttings. Nice and green, I enjoyed the wildflowers you showed.

[@donaldwilson2548]

Nick, thanks so much for all the great video's. On my many trips to Central and Eastern Washington last spring and summer I usually stopped at the Chevron station at Vantage and treated myself to a couple ice cream sandwiches. Next time I'm over that way (couple weeks from now), I'll detour myself to find that location. Absolutely love the area, as well as the Rock and Tomahawk Ranch. Bob and Bernice are nice folks. And glad to see the rock shop reopened at the foot of Hwy 97, alot of nice E. Blue. Well, once again, fantastic video's. Regards, Don Wilson, Tacoma.

[@gordonormiston3233]

So very different from Scotland. It may be green for your part of our world but I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything as dry and brown . What a wonderful difference from all I’m used to here. Thanks Nick for taking us along with you.

[@LillianArch]

There's a huge one as you come up the last hill out of the Willow Creek valley, Morrow County Oregon. It's on the hill to the Right side as you drive North. Nick, thank you for these short videos

[@moonstoneway2694]

Thank you for taking us along.

[@Townie001]

It looks as though a wheelchair might be manageable on this old road. Thanks once again for taking us along Nick!

[@KathyWilliamsDevries]

So glad to see sun, watching from a soggy Brisbane!

[@jkocol]

Nice presentation of an accessible point to imagine the floods. I will have to plan a visit when I am heading that way.

[@stopbreathereset958]

onX has a few different versions of their app, tailored to the user. One thing they have in common is they will show you private/public land, and if it's public record, who owns it. It's like AllTrails, but with hunters and off roaders in mind. I like onX for planning purposes. I get ideas for trails I want to travel on. To plan, track, and use as a GPS for travel, I prefer GAIA. Justin B. McBride has some good tutorial videos here on KZbin on how to use both. Google maps does work just fine, but GAIA really shines in the back country. If I can't decide where to go on any particular weekend, I look to another source. It's a place on KZbin that I've sent a bunch of people to. You may have heard of it. This guy named Nick goes for a walk and rambles about rocks. It's a great source of inspiration! From there, I'll plan. Keep rambling. It's one of the reasons we follow you.

[@rj66600]

I live on the east coast. But after watching your videos I wanna come to Washington just to see the things I’ve learned from you.

[@linsfruit5240]

Thanks for the post Nick 👏 I may get there one day from Barcelona,Spain 😂 Thanks for keeping us informed 🥳

[@toniajackson102]

Thank you so much - what a wonderful lesson as you take us along with you. Our earth is a fantastic story teller . . .

[@ervinslens]

Nice virtual tour. This video gives me a precious experience as if I were traveling there! Beautifully explained everything.

[@susanliebermann5721]

FYI...if you are interested in erratics, there is a spot you must see: Boulder Creek Rd in northern Ferry county, WA. The mountain tops at the summit of this road (east of Curlew, WA) is strewn for miles with huge boulders and thousands of smaller ones. This area was burned to a crisp in the 2015 wildfire, which consequently exposed these erratics. Now that the snow is melting away, and before the shrubs leaf out, is a great time to visit this boulder field. Park at the Deer Creek Sno-Park parking area. Easy walking. Or don't walk at all...the erratics are easily accessible.

[@Fred_Lougee]

Some notes. Love the videos, Nick. Finding a bit of the ash from 1980 is priceless. You don't have to tell me about it. I remember it. I was living in Easton at the time, freshman in high school. We only got a very slight dusting from the big May 18th blast but we still had no school for the week following because most of the teachers lived in Ellensburg and just could not get out. I remember seeing WSP and Kittitas Co. Sherrif Dept. patrol cars with huge air filter attachments on the front. My favorite erratics in Seattle are in Ravenna Park and Wedgwood. The first is in the middle of Ravenna Creek, almost underneath the 20th Ave Bridge. It's about 7 ft in diameter, and there's a wooden boardwalk right next to it. The second is atop the ridge to the east, about a mile away, and you can't get any closer than about ten feet from it because it's in someone's front yard. They were going to bash it up and haul it away when the area was developed after the war (no development prior to that because the proximity to NAS Seattle at Sand Point made the place an undesirable location for residential zoning) but smarts won put and they decided to leave it be. Another thing...read a few years back that some bright boy had the idea that the bluestone outer ring at Stonehenge was an erratic. You might recall that the big inner stones were quarried only a few miles away but the smaller outer ring stone are from Wales. It's an interesting supposition, sure, but no real evidence for and much against. About the only thing to suggest it, so far as I can see, is the idea of Neolithic Britons having difficulty transporting the stones all that distance. BUT, if the stones did come from a single erratic transported by glacier from Wales to the Salisbury Plain and then cut up into fairly regular blocks then where is the dross, the rest of the stone left over from the cutting? People would not have bothered to sweep up all the remaining fragments and chuck them in the Channel. They would have used any pieces large enough in other constructions, even if it were only in stone fences, and left the smaller fragments in situ. There should be some trace of them somewhere. Further, we know exactly where the stone was quarried. The remains of the quarry are still there, albeit much degraded and overgrown. Also, we know when this quarry was in use, and it well predates the construction of Stonehenge. The locals most likely quarried the stone for standing stones, used by villagers throughout Northern Europe to determine the solstices and equinoxes in order to be able to plant their grain crops at the most auspicious time. Some time later the builders of Stonehenge stole these standing stones and transported them to their current location.

[@myrachurchman5013]

Since I can no longer get out for hikes so these little adventures are much appreciated Nick

[@jayolson578]

Your channel is amazing and I always learn a lot from it.

[@whitby910]

I got to see this one later than I planned, not only a great video and talk but wonderful comments too! Thank you

[@Anne5440_]

When I went to CWU in the late 60s we would take drives on that road. I was dating a botany student at the time. In that area there is a rare barrel cactus growing. It should be blooming fairly soon. There also are lots of the common prickly pear that grows in WA in the hills of Kittitas County. Thanks for giving this old woman a lovely video of a favorite area.

[@tadpolefarms631]

Thank you for carrying me along in your backpack!

[@sean_b_drummer]

Looks like a nice Mountain Bike ride.

[@rabidbigdog]

Are they permitted? That would be great.

[@sean_b_drummer]

@@rabidbigdog I don't know, but I can't imagine why not. 🤷‍♂️

[@johnlasher7426]

I for one, am on your rambling wavelength. My mind is nearly thinking the words you speak. It's all our pleasure, Nick. John.Lasher

[@Fresh-sy3lw]

I've rode dirtbikes out there for years just on the other side of the river from this video, pretty much all the way from saddle mountain all the way up to the gorge. always wondered how the land was formed and I've learned a lot watching your videos recently. The hiking isn't hard out there like you said but always be prepared for wind to come in out of nowhere strong enough to blow you over lol

[@cindyleehaddock3551]

Cool! Some folks will have a chance to check it out before the pop-up! Thanks for the tips about needing a pass, and what to remember to bring! Love these geohikes!

[@noeljohanson1979]

Richard, An iceberg rafted erratic as big as a house??? AMAZING!!!!

[@stevenwarner7348]

Alright now. Nick ~ from the Epsom Traffic Circle here in New Hampshire ~ My son ~ 23 yrs old ~ is moving to the East side of Seattle ~ not really Seattle I guess ~. Big deal sales job with a tech firm ~ Yada Yada... He's sporting two pair of skis on his Honda civic and is "all about" ~ Crystal Mt. Ski area. ~ Driving 3000 miles ~ Oh Well ~. This hike has many features that are really valuable just in terms of recreation. I will try to get him to see this BEFORE he leaves. I enjoy the geology very much. We all hope for miracles. Thank you so much for this!

[@lindsaymalone9371]

Love the parting shot! So cool to see the St. Helen's ash too! The pink flowers next to the Phlox look like they are Woolly-pod Locoweed, a member of pea family. Was wondering if that was your rig on the road when I drove down to the water to look for pillow basalts and birds.

[@hestheMaster]

Another rambling video by Nick. Got to love it!

[@gemmaharvey794]

Hello Nick I've came over from miu miu koo shout out she did for you what a beautiful place it looks great video 😊💖

[@k-mcgee6715]

For some reason I'm hooked on your videos and I'm from New England

[@goodmorninggilw2836]

I love all your content, and I want to put in my two cents. I actually like a little bit of that hike mix. So long as the terrain is interesting… Which it often is for me from Southern California. I watch ultramarathon videos a lot, and so I relate it to that. I get outdoors myself, but when I'm couch surfing, I would rather watch someone exploring an area outdoors that I have never been to, then watch some silly sitcom on television. I can eat my meal and drink a beer, enjoy myself, and actually learn some stuff❤️😎 thank you dude

[@annpribyl762]

This was awesome. I never knew about erratic's, now I'm looking at them on google. Cool. Thxs.

[@DansBackcountry]

Holy crap, I was there when you were! lol I was down by the river camping.

[@djseiner]

Another awesome video experience. Thanks!

[@Fatspurios]

Thanks. In a mad world some grounding. Be well and stay safe. Southern chalk downlands UK.

[@dawnzed2891]

Boy you need to take a jaunt up to Omak Rock Erratic.. it's also a balancing rock.. Even better! Thanks for another great hike!

[@martymathews8163]

U ROCK, lol no really - love your lessons on earths wonders.

[@noeljohanson1979]

Those Icebergs must have been massive to carry these huge Granite Erratics!!!

[@lindakautzman7388]

Thank you for sharing the trip to the erratic..love seeing erratics

[@garysmith1381]

Nick, Another idea is to put up directions to the Ingalls Ophiolite though it is on a busy highway.

[@frankmoreau8847]

In Bellingham there are remains of an erratic that was blasted apart to make the freeway in the 1960s. It was called Donovan Rock because it ended up being right in the middle of Donovan St, which split and went around it. If memory serves, it is from BC and deposited by an ice age. I believe they called it Jackass Mountain conglomerate.

[@michaeldowns5270]

Just a short trip to biology... Nick, in all your travels on the eastside, have you ever run across a desert tortoise? Off of Statter RD. in Ephrata, my friends and I found one in the sagebrush in the mid to late 50s. I remember that old highway and the concrete roadway. Kathump, kathump, kathump as the tires bounced over the seams. Sorry, you brought back some memories. Thanks for that!

[@innovationsurvival]

Thank you. My wife is and I will likely hike out there to see this erratic. We tried to get out two years ago but California fire smoke ended that. Then COVID and gas prices now. Guess we'll just drive up, stay in a hotel, and leave the trailer at home. Thanks again...

[@robertbeach7498]

Nick On The Short Path. Thank you Nick. Great stuff

[@oscarmedina1303]

It was an easy walk. Great video. Thank you!

[@stevewhalen6973]

Age 70 , still quite fit 5'10", 146lbs and sure it would be an easy challenge . Very beautiful terrain . Just wish I didn't have to drive from Arizona to see this, but maybe someday soon I'll explore Washington and Idaho on a hiking trip excursion.

[@maxinee1267]

What a great into into my Monday, I just love seeing a new video from you, this is very doable for even me. I love hearing your voice, Your the cool guy called Nick on the rocks and as far as I am concerned you rock. It was nice to see you were recognized. by those nice ladies from Seattle. You were the perfect gentleman. I felt they were respectful too. It was a nice interaction. I love the shots of the bunches of different flowers. will have to look up what grows up there. Thank you for taking us along with you. Sometimes its nice to be all alone in a place but for me its about sharing now. I would like someone to be with me probably because of my age. Let those negative thoughts about you rambling just roll right off your back, You doing you is a good thing, most of us are not that critical. besides that we love you.

[@dyannejohnson6184]

Nick, thank you for your programs

[@oddlytrue8910]

Hi Nick, Thanks for posting this video! My girlfriend and I went and hiked up to the boulder a couple of weekends back. We would not have done it if you had not posted this video!

[@sniperturtle1]

The angle of the land would have changed with tectonic movements. Right? Wouldn't that affect the current placement of the these "erratics"? Particularly with them being covered in ice?

[@brianbobbitt7526]

Your yellow flower is the Agrimonia gryposepala. Common in N. America from Montana to Texas

[@theeddorian]

Are you thinking that the erratics were washed there by water, or were they rafted in fragments of ice of the glaciers to the east? Ah, asked too soon. There are erratics from the same floods well up the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

[@uncleelias]

For better plant identification, please show the leaves as well. The yellow flower appears to be in the Brassicaceae Family. There are native and invasive species in North America. Most don't appear to be low brush as the fields of flowers you showed. Hopefully the missus can help.

[@carriesue9643]

The idea that a flood from the ice age is such a topic... So very glad to learn more.

[@herenowjal]

THANKS for this very interesting educational stroll ... Perfecrt conditions in a perfect video ...

[@AndiFromOly]

Great hike thanks for ride along!

[@goodmorninggilw2836]

I love your 10 minute bed. That is the kind of technique that the ultra marathoners that I have watched use. These folks are running for like three days, and especially my favorite guy, tends to check in every few hours over that very long stretch. I need moderate hike I dig your 10 minute idea

[@AvanaVana]

I have seen some other posts here about the flowers, but they don’t seem accurate. I looked through “Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest” and it seems to me they are most likely in the mustard family, either tansy mustard (Descurainia pinnata), field mustard (Brassica rapa), or black mustard (Brassica nigra). These are spring wildflowers native to this area, with four-fold symmetry.

[@floydt2029]

This is quite interesting video Nick , thanks so much for sharing this info!

[@sjbolton72]

Pedantic stuff first, aren’t all plants invasive, everything was rock first then the plants came? Just a matter of temporal cutoff so its up to you to think of the yellow whichever way pleases you. Despite the relatively bland landscape i found your walk interesting. It really helps to see these diverse locations to get in my mind the things you discuss in your talks. I wonder though about the complete lack of trees or evidence of there ever being trees in that area. Do you know if its pretty much always been treeless since last iceage? Or is it manmade grazing land thats kept trees at bay. The rounding of the granite speaks to water tumbling but is there any way to determine if that would be from much earlier so they were rounded before being floated in ice or if there were tumbled in their journey to their locations or even after being deposited by ice. Or and here’s a dumb question.. can erratics be deposited by volcanism, is blown there from eruptions events. I’d assume mapping would show a wedge distribution, but again the water tumbling then my have been earlier then volcanically deposited. That large boulder had a shattered look which I think you’d see from water tumbling across a landscape or kinetically thrown. My damn brain wont shut up , sorry mate. Yet again thank you for this view of the world I’ll never experience it does make me think.

[@carolynallisee2463]

It would be very easy walk past those boulders without a second glance, unless you knew what you were looking at. The granite itself is quite eye-catching ( I've got a granite cobble block as a door stop), but against a light coloured soil dusted with pale volcanic ash, they don't stand out a lot. We have erratics here in the UK, too, but they were embedded in the glaciers before they were dropped. The ones I know of are up on Norber Moor: great dark brown roughly egg shaped boulders, made all the more distinctive by the fact each pickup truck sized boulder is resting on a natural plinth of pale coloured limestone...

[@fibberscloset498]

I think I know that the ice-age floods carried rock that was tumbled along from the north, but weren't some of these erratics also carried within ice bergs that were moved out of Montana with the water? Ooops. I should have watched to the end.

[@backuosndnd]

Thanks for the video

[@milt6208]

Thank Nick for the vids. Funny how I know more about Washington geology than Arizona geology where I live now. But I'm learning More about Arizona and I don't see it the way I used to. I look at it now and wonder how it got there. Many many thanks.

[@davidross5169]

Wisconsin has a lot of eratics around Waupaca co.as big as cars.I used to set beside a big one where I hunted deer,the edge of the fields had piles of large rocks,pushed there by bulldozers.many years ago .

[@Rangeman100]

@36:15 there appears to be distinct 'Lichen Line' that gives evidence for the amount of soil surface loss on the site. For untold years, the soil surface covered the rock up to the point where the lichen is continuous. The alternative to the cause of the lichen line being soil erosion would be frost heave - probably unlikely if the rock has as much bulk as the video suggests.

[@goodmorninggilw2836]

OK, I hope I'm not annoying but it 18 minutes, you lay out good information. I like it. You are thinking of the process for any interested novice, or beginner. And you seem to be particularly informative for the last half of life crowd as it were. Perhaps over 45 or 50? That is so cool. I am 53 and sort of capable. I appreciate the challenges that some of my peers and particularly older folks face. I'm probably bugging the shit out of you, but I think you have a seed of groovy Ness that Inspires you to teach so I am throwing my hippie at you

[@pat8988]

Very interesting walk, but you didn’t tell us how deep the water was at that point…

[@Tervicz]

Important question: is it ok to urinate in a place like that or should one bring a bottle or something during a walk?

[@4myimpala]

Amazing!

[@azummallen]

I loved it, thank you thank you thank you

[@georgekibby3522]

My step daughter retires from Fairchield AFB this summer and loves to hike. i will give her directions and have her go there and look back on the Columbia River to VISUALIZE just how DEEP that water was when it was floated there. Last time I was there to visit I knocked on your door. I PROMISE I will NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!

[@tuboe777]

That’s a pretty yellow flower but what about the small pink one that was near yours.

[@kenschuettenhelm2963]

lOVE YOUR SERIES. KEN FROM ALOINE CA.

[@ssgtmole8610]

34:56 The shapes on the surface of the erratic on the west side remind me of an elephant molar. 🐘

[@jimrf1137]

South puget sound. Silverdale area. Lots of granite erratics. And big ones. Was just wondering if that was the end of the ice sheet.

[@lumbaracres3587]

What is the source of these granite erratics? Would be fun to see those co-ordinates.

[@daddyschickadees4109]

How and where do you have your E-blue certified ... Thank you for your time

[@jamespmurray2785]

Nice to hear from you.

[@bonblue4993]

Hi Nick! If you are taking the old road from Eburg and you are coming down the hill into Vantage, is there a turnoff to the left just before you make a left turn to go to the rock shop and the museum? Thanks!

[@donnacsuti4980]

Looks like each tiny flower in the cluster has 4 petals so it should be in the mustard family

[@damourpierre8686]

Is it possible to upload photos to this stream? I would like to show the erratics near my home in Laval Quebec, Canada. I think you would like them.

[@Rangeman100]

That little, yellow-flowered plant sure looks like an annual mustard to me. Sisymbrium spp.?

[@tonyr.3435]

I also knew Tom Foster from the early 90's but hadn't spoken to him for many many years, very interesting guy. I never did hear though how or what he passed away from. Kind of sad not knowing.

[@sdmike1141]

Nice ice baby…🤣. Thanks Nick. Nice tribute to your friend Tom!

[@timroar9188]

The large erratic looks different than the smaller ones along the way. Not the bright white the others were. Weathering?

[@phil4341]

The Quincy Lake erratic is an easier walk. I think it's interesting because it's standing up, or was, and if the water would have been a couple of feet higher or the iceberg 100 feet to either side it would have been in the Columbia River.

[@AlanArnsonMusic]

Thank you sir!