But what really struck me was the variation in geology. We were walking beside a creek, and suddenly, instead of everything being the sandstone and yellow clay, the creek was pure New York shale. See the little waterfall going over the layers of gray shale?
Of course, we've been seeing both sandstone and limestone cliffs and caves. That didn't seem so odd to me. They are both of a similar geologic age and are often seen together. And yesterday we saw lots of conglomerate. Mostly quartz pebblws caught in a sandstone matrix. Where that has eroded, the white quartz pebbles cover the trail. This was a solid patch that was still cemented in the matrix.
The shelf caves Bill is walking toward above are limestone- gray, more fine textured. But the cave below is a sandstone shelf cave. Water runs over this sometimes and is called Clifton Falls. No water today!
But the shale just seemed totally out of place to me. Especially since we were walking in yellow clay and the gray shale was right beside us. Bill is kind of a geology buff. He likes an app called Rock D. Here is what we walked through today looks like.
This is VERY cool! the yellow is alluvial and has washed down the streams and is youngest. The olive green is Mississipian with shale the deepest- why we only saw it in the lowest (oldest) valley, then mixed sandstone and limestone. The light green is higher ( newer) and is Pennsylvanian.
The first and last thirds of the day were actual road walk. I don't dislike this as much as some people. I like seeing the homes- which varied from poor Appalachia to some nice farms with pretty views. Here's a hilly part of the roadwalk.
The day's biggest challenge was the 94% humidity we started in. I could hardly breathe. But then the humidity dropped a bit (and the temperature went up). We are glad we had a fast hike and finished just at noon.
Miles walked in 2026: 392.6
Sheltowee Trail miles: 68.4
Sheltowee Trace, Kentucky. Co Rd 1274 to Corner Ridge TH. 8.9 miles
 | See Sheltowee Trace- Day 5- Rocks |
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