Motley Moose – Archive

This is the second of my two-part diary of the fossils from the Chuckanut Formation (C/F), located near Bellingham in Northwestern Washington State. As noted in part 1, (flora), this formation developed during the  Eocene Epoch, some 50 million years ago (ma). This area was a subtropical fluvial plain on to which sediments were deposited and ultimately hardened into sandstone, shale, and siltstone that captured specimens of both flora and fauna of that time. (No new pseudofossils in this part.)

                         Racehorse Creek land slide and fossil beds

                                        Mount Baker (July 3, 2013)

As the snow melted sufficiently for the snow cats and plows to cut through, one of the most scenic spots in the North cascades, Artist Point was opened recently and afforded us its  dramatic 360 degree view. At an elevation of 5,100 feet, Artist Point is situated between Mt. Baker, the live volcano and its neighbor, Mt. Shuksan, a non-volcanic, faulted behemoth. This area is rich in geologic history and features and as the authors of Hiking Washington’s Geology state:

“Standing in the parking lot at Artists Point, you can see as much geology in the 360 degree sweep as in almost any other location in the world.”

This 360 degree sweep from Artist Point is amateurishly illustrated in this iphone video. Standing in the parking lot at Artist Point, the sweep begins at Mt. Shuksan, moves to just seeing the top of Baker, then to Table Mountain, then to the north toward Canada, and finally back to Shuksan:

I was unable to imbed the video but here is URL on You tube)  http://youtu.be/efE9hH-nlTI  I will try to embed the video in a comment.