Posted on 01/17/2007 10:42:19 AM PST by cogitator
You may have noticed that ever since discovering Iceland's Skogafoss that I'm a little fascinated with waterfalls in a columnar basalt terrain. Well, I like waterfalls in just about any terrain, but I like the unusual combinations that occur in volcanic terrains. One of the ultimate examples is Tower Falls in Yellowstone, of which images abound. I looked and looked for 4-5 minutes to find a nice one, but there may be better. This one may take a few moments to load:
The towers are eroded tephra. On the opposite side of the canyon from Tower Falls, there is columnar basalt, the Palisades of Yellowstone. In the picture below you can see the tephra layer below the columnar basalt layer.
The new one that I just discovered is Tokatee Falls in Oregon. Pictures do NOT abound of this one; below is the best one I've found that clearly shows the columnar basalt.
Tokatee Falls is in Douglas County, Oregon (Cascade Mountains). I'm not sure if it's on the Umpqua River or a tributary. It's close to Crater Lake if I ever make that Yosemite - Lassen - Shasta - Crater Lake dream trip.
Check out the Klamath County for the Pinnacles at Crater Lake -- more tephra!
** ping! **
If anybody reads this far down, these are definitely archive pictures. Mount Saint Helens hasn't blown itself apart yet, apparently.
Great pics! Wish I were there instead of in the cubicle farm.
My favorite stomping grounds: the Metolius River
Valles Caldera and Mono Lake, too. But Yellowstone's the hottest. I did get to Los Alamos once and driving out of the mountains discovered a few hot springs, so it's still warm.
Those are awesome! Especially the first one. I love waterfalls. Thanks for pinging me to them! :o)
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