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Hiking Great Smoky Mountain National Park · PlanetGeo: The Geology Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Planet Geo, the podcast where we talk about our amazing planet, how it works, and why it matters to you.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, you are so dumb.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh you'd think after about a hundred episodes, I would have figured out how to hit record accurately, but I still don't know.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: Nope.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: Man, pathetic.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: Pathetic.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: Christopher Bullheis.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: How you doing?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Good man.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_02: Last week we did the Smoky Mountain National Park.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Beautiful.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: Great episode.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: Really cool geology.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: This week, you're going to walk us through cool places to see the geology, right?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I at least this is this is from my perspective.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I love the place.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've been there a lot.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, I I think that I think I can offer some things to people that maybe haven't been there.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think if you've been there, if you've spent time there, then you're gonna know everything I'm gonna talk about here.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: So we're go we're talking about some of the popular areas, and uh you're gonna give a little how they fit into the geology story would be an accurate description, right?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we've I'm I think this is more about like what are some cool places to go while you're there.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there are certain things that offer like these great views and things like that, but the geology is everywhere.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the we talked about the deformation of the rocks, and you know, that's everywhere.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can see that from the car.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: So we've got a list of uh what is it, seven places that we're talking about here.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll just gonna kind of walk you through these, right, Chris?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we just googled like what are must seees, and I looked at that list and I'm like, holy cow! Yeah, I agree with this list.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at a list that was not done by us, and we're gonna just kind of go through it and because I actually agree with whoever put this list together, I agree with it.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's great.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it then.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna start with the Charlize Bunyan.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Is that how you say it?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Charlie Charlies Bunyan.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Did you say Charlie's Charlize?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: It looks like Charlize, Charlie's Bunyan, which is a funny name.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Charlie's Bunyan.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I uh it's yeah, um, I need a new partner, first of all.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if anybody's out there listening and you want to do a geology podcast, I'm your guy.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: Chris is interviewing.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: I wish.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Charlie called Charlie's Bunyan.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's Charlie's Bunion.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Charlie's Bunyan.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, Charlie's Bunyan.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's uh a funnier name, actually.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: Uh tell me about it, Chris.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a great hike.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, I don't know, distances.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I might mess this part of what we're gonna talk about up, but I think it's like a eight-ish mile out and back, and it's a just it's a great hike.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's very difficult.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of it is quite flat, actually, and it takes you out to the bunion that offers a great panoramic view of the smokies.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a popular trail, so you're gonna definitely run into some people, but what a great place to pack a light lunch and go and sit on this just amazing vista.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's I love it.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Charlie's Bunyan's awesome.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and I I think it describes here that the Anakista formation, maybe I'm pronouncing that right, is the rocks under your feet there.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: And this is part of this Akoi basin that we talked about last week in the episode there.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: So these are some of the older rocks that have been metamorphosed that were formed when Rodinia broke apart and were metamorphosed when Pangea kind of came back together.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Look at you go.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Good call.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Good call.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just you know, dropping knowledge.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to keep my job.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I'm trying to do here.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: All right, Chris.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is it is uh full of metamorphic rocks.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is, yeah, and yep, for sure.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: So uh the chimney tops.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Number two, the chimney tops.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a few years ago, and I forget when this was again, but I think most people will remember it, was the site of where the fires began in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was not a natural fire.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I don't want to get into it at all because I'll get angry, but um, not a natural fire.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so chimney tops is amazing.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think though anymore that you can actually get up to the actual chimney tops anymore.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think they closed that part of it off since the fires.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Still, it's spectacular.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know again the distance of it.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's not a long hike, it's quite steep though.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: The hike to get there is uh yeah, I'd call it a rigorous hike.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Short but sweet and a kind of intense.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Again, just great top of the world kind of views.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: I highly recommend chimney tops.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, awesome.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Number three, the Alum Cave Bluffs.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, Jesse, give us a little bit of what is Alum.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, to be honest, I had to look this up because there's trade names for Alum, and then there's a mineral name for Alum.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not entirely sure what this is actually named for.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'd guess the trade name.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: But Alum is a aluminum sulfate salt, basically, but it's been used it's back into antiquity for tanning purposes, for clarifying dirty water, to help heal small cuts, all sorts of different uses for this stuff.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: But it it basically kind of is an aluminum hydrated sulfate salt kind of mineral that occurs in this region, and it usually occurs with things like saltpeter, potassium nitrate, lots of things that used to be mined a lot.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's called Alum Cave.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Most people don't say the bluff part of it, but it is actually more of a bluff than it is a cave.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, two very different things.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Seriously, uh, a lot of people get there and they're like, where's the cave?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well you're you're looking at it, man.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that's it right there.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I encounter Alam Cave on my favorite hike in the park, which is the uh one of the next things coming up.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, these next things, Jesse, where it goes number three was Alam Cave, number four is Arch Rock, number five is the eye of the needle.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Those are all a part of my favorite hike in the park, and that is going up to the top of Mount Lacant.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all on the same hike, all these things can be seen and done there.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so anyway, let's talk about Mount Lacant.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: This to me, for me, hands down, number one hike in the park.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the way this is L-E-C-O-N-T-E Lacant.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I always take there there are a couple of different ways that you can get to the top of Mount Lacant.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: I always go via Arch Rock and Alum Cave.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's the route I take.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's like an 11-ish to maybe 12-mile hike.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It is the real deal, you know, because it's kind of long and there are steep parts, there are flat parts, but it offers to me the best views anywhere in the smokies is on the way up, and when you get to the top, because if there's a little side trail you can take to take you out on this like kind of point at the top of Mount Lacan, it's amazing.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: When you get to the top, you'll see a little what looks like a village during the summertime.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: They have these little cottages where people you can rent them out.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done it because that's just not my style, but I think you have to get on this right away.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's hard to get one of these places reserved, you know.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a restaurant up there, it's only open seasonally.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's a caretaker, full-time caretaker that's there during the winter.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been up to the top of Mount Lacan, uh, probably more times in the wintertime than than anything else, like middle of February.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you do this during the wintertime, you do need to be prepared.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: Cramp-ons or at the very least, like micro spikes on the bottom of your boots because the ice and snow is a real thing for sure.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But it is absolutely spectacular.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I oh, I'll tell you this.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, a little story.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, can I do this?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I tell a little story.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So after COVID hit, Jenny and I decided in May, because we've never been there in May before, and we were hoping to see on Mount Lacant, there are these, and all over actually in the Smoky Mount National Park, are these rhododendrons.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: We've never been able to see them in bloom, and we were hoping that if we go in this part of May, that you know maybe we'll see them.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't, unfortunately.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so we went to the Smokies and we were there for five days and we did Mount Lacant four days in a row.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was like we did Charlie's Bunyan, and then we're like, well, let's let's do Mount Lacant.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, we the first day that we did this, like I said, this was when kind of when COVID was in the infancy, you know, it was in May, and I think COVID hit, right?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Everything shut down in March, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So they had the trail closed off, but we talked to a ranger, and the ranger said, you know, you can go, you can do the hike, but nobody's coming to get you.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, like you're you're at your own risk.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, yeah, we're totally fine with that.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, we um continue on and we get passed by this group of like young 20-something, young 20s, college kids, okay.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And they pass us, you know, they're moving quickly, and uh they all stop on this rock outcrop by Arch Rock and they ask us to take a picture and we do that and we kind of continue on.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: They leapfrogged us again, and they just kept doing this.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And Jenny and I were getting sick of it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I said, Jenny, um, are you ready to you ready to lay the hammer down?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put some distance between us and them.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Let's go.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we laid the hammer down.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: We started hiking at a very brisk pace, and it was hilarious.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of the kids then they were not having that.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Oh no, this is not happening.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so they try to keep up.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, Jen, are you ready to take it down another level?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, let's let's go.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so we took it down.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, this one kid actually passed us, he was almost running.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we get to this point, it wasn't we hadn't gotten to any hard parts of the hike yet, you know.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it was easy for him to do that.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so we passed him later on, and he looks exhausted, and we just kept on going.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then there was one kid that stuck with us, you know, he was like really, really struggling, but he was trying very hard to stay with Jenny and I.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, we get to the top, right?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we had a each had a glass of wine up there, and we're just sitting there, and about 20 minutes later, that kid comes straggling up, right?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he comes over and he fist bumps us, and then he goes off by himself, waiting for his friends to come up.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that kid that had passed us, that was running, you know, to get past us when we blew by him, he comes up maybe 45 minutes later and he didn't see Jenny and I.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes over to his friend, he's like, Hey, man, when that old dude went by us, I was like, No way, man, that ain't happening.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Holy crap, what the hell?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I stood up and I turned around and I said, If I'm that old man, you and I got a problem, right?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, he oh, it was hilarious.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, that was that was uh that was fun.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I was that a story about how much of a badass hiker you and Jenny are?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Or what was the point of that story?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was just hilarious.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: But the the the thing is, is why was I the one that got singled out?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't he say when that old lady went past us, you left Jenny totally out there?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what the hell?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: We all know why that is.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, come on.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's not okay.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not okay.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: It would have been so much better if he said, when that old lady blew by me, I was like, Oh, well, that's that's funny.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I so that's amazing.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_02: So let's let's talk about the two things that you talked about there.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Two of the features you mentioned, Archrock and Eye of the Needle.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: These are really cool features that are formed by this differential weathering and erosion that we talked about last week, except on a really small scale.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a mountain peak that's a resistant sandstone in a valley that's a shale.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: This is instead small cracks in rocks getting exploited by freeze-thaw cycles.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: So when water freezes, it expands and it breaks rock, and then when it thaws, it melts, and there's a gap that then water can get into again, freezes, thaws, breaks apart rock.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: And this slow breaking apart is what caused, probably caused this arch rock in the eye of the needle, which you mentioned on the way up to Mount Lacan on these different trails, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: So, really cool geology features.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: You can probably find some high schoolers that you can just kick their ass on the trail too, if you're into that, right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Chris.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, number six here is Sugarland Mountain.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: There is a hike that goes from the Sugarland Visitor Center.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: It follows the river, and it's like a two, maybe two-mile walk.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's relatively flat.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit up and down all along the river.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely gorgeous.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And here's my favorite thing to do then is to park at the visitor center, get on the trail, walk along the river.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: You walk right into town, and then you have Smoky Mountain Brewery is right near on that part of the town, and so you go there and have a beer and then walk back.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just absolutely it's so pretty, easy, not a ton of people on it at all, and it's just beautiful.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love doing that.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: So, this description um from this list that we're finding talks about a 12-mile sugarland mountain trail that is one of the great hiking adventures in the park.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Have you done that?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: I have not actually done that.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, we can add it to the list to do.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: But in the last one, Cade's Cove, which we almost talked about in the episode last week, but we didn't quite get to, which shows, I think, one of the really cool geology features or one of the big important ones, right?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Cades Cove is a famous spot in the park.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the most frequented bearer areas, you know, for black bears and so on.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a very, very popular part of the park.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: You can drive right to it, and so it's it's quite busy usually.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: But geologically, though, it's pretty cool.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great example of what's called a thrust fault in Cades Cove that shoves older rocks up on top of younger rocks, which is backwards from what you usually get in geology.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's usually oldest on bottom and youngest on top.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here, it's the opposite because of this thrust fault, and it what it did is it took limestone that is younger than the surrounding mountains.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it kind of takes old deep rocks and pushes them up on top of younger rocks, higher up rocks.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you're kind of creating, we call it a thrust fault, which is is not really super important for right now why we call it a thrust fault, but it's this process of thrusting something up on top of another one.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So let me say this again.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: When you're at Cades Cove, you see the limestone that is younger than the higher mountains that are around Cades Cove, and those mountains were thrust up over top of that limestone.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, makes complete sense.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you can picture when you're standing there, you can look at the limestone, which you know is young and the mountains around it, which you know are old, and you can picture what it looks like when two continents collide a long time ago.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: Really cool.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I think so.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the best places to actually like see that part of the geology.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Cool, man.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was a good tour.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Nice work.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I love it.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think these mountains are amazing.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think it might be the most visited national park in the United States.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, pretty sure that's right.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: And the geology is extremely cool there, and much like a lot of the Appalachians.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna get to a few of the other national parks, hopefully pretty soon on Planet Geo, as we work our way through some of the other famous locations in the Appalachians.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is gonna be a part of a little series that we're doing here.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: And the start, we started with the Smokies, and we're gonna talk about Red River Gorge and Kentucky, which is related to this mountain building event that we talked about here.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then also we're gonna mention a little bit of geology on Shenandoah National Park.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: Very cool.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: So all right, that's a wrap.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Follow us on social medias, reach out with any questions you have.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: We love hearing those and we like learning about them and answering them.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So and and don't refer to me as an old man if you see me on the trail.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: If you see Chris on the trail, yeah, just you know, put him in the dust, put him in the rear beer mirror, and uh you can you know talk shit to him when you see him at the top.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: A little piece of my soul dies every time somebody calls me an old man.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's not true.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: All right, man.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's a wrap.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Uh send us an email, follow us, hit that follow, subscribe, leave us a review, helps the algorithm.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: And share this with somebody that you think would like it.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Take care.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.