5 km の距離と 183 m の高度差のハイキング。 It was a 3.1 mile hike with 600 feet of elevation change.

距離的には短いんですが、雨が続いたため、滑りやすい10cmぐらいの泥地を歩くハイキングとなりました。 The distance was short, but it became a challenging hike because we needed to walk through thick, slippery, muddy clay as deep as 5 inches. The wet clay stuck to our boots when we picked up our feet. The many days of rain we have had this winter caused the muddy sections.

私たちの目的は化石化した木を発見する事でした。 One of the purposes of the hike was to find petrified wood.

木が化石化するということは、木の中にミネラルが浸透し、それが1億年以上経って石になるということです。だから、小さな木片のように見えるものでも、拾ってみるとずっしり重い。 The petrification of a piece of wood means that minerals went in the wood and replaced the wood over 100 million years, so the wood became rock. Therefore, even a small wood chip is quit heavy when you pick it up.

一億年の経過が、その重みになって感じられるようでした。 When I felt the weight of the piece of wood/rock, I had the sensation of holding 100 million years of history right there.

この地帯はかつては海の中であったため、石膏がたくさん地表を覆っていて、光っているました。　The area was under the sea once upon a time. So many gypsum pieces were there on the surface, sparkling in the sunlight.

また、大陸移動が繰り返し起こっていたため、地形は複雑です。 The ground formation of this area is quite complicated because the plates have moved many times.

そんな中を登ったり降りたりしながらの、楽しいハイキングでした。 We walked up and down in this unique place, and thoroughly enjoyed it.