Gilboa Forest

Our trip to our current campground, the Rip Van Winkle Campground in Saugerties, NY, in the Hudson River Valley, was uneventful and after arriving and setting up, it was 3:30, time enough to check out the geo-sites in the area; two of NY's three geo-sites.

We made quick stop at a rest area on Route 2 in Massachusetts to adjust the towing mirrors.  The rest stop was named the Johnny Appleseed Rest Stop and there was this statue of Johnny, aka John Chapman.

Born in Leomonster, MA, where this rest stop is located, Johnny Appleseed decided to plant apple orchards along the route of the westward headed pioneers.  Between the parking area and the building is this apple orchard.  There is a plaque stating that these trees, of the Rambo variety, are direct descendants of apple trees he planted in Nova, Ohio, at the home of his sister. 

Expansive view heading down from the Berkshires into New York.

Crossing the Hudson River and entering New York.

Typical New York Thruway, I-90, rest stop.

As we headed out to find the 380-million -year-old sandstone casts of stumps and roots of the first forests on earth, we put in the geo coordinates for Gilboa Forest. Unfortunately, the most direct and shortest way there was on some pretty narrow and winding back country roads - probably the longest, in terms of time, way to get to Gilboa. This route, however, afforded us some magnificent views of the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding, beautiful, Catskill Mountains. 

Panoramic view of the Hudson River Valley.  We could see a hundred miles on this clear day.

 We finally reached Gilboa, a small town where, in 1850, a local man discovered a sandstone cast of a portion of a tree trunk. A few years later, workmen blasting rock in a quarry near the town, found several lumpy, vase-shaped, sandstone casts that measured 4 feet in height. A "cast" is a type of fossil that forms when sediment preserves the shape and some of the details of an organism. The sandstone casts formed as sand filled in cavities created by the decay of stumps and then later hardened to rock. Expert analysis supported the suggestion they were fossil tree trunks, documentation of the oldest-known forests to have existed on Earth.

136 years later, in 1986, discovery of two different fossil finds - one of a trunk and roots and the other a cluster of branches - would help researchers identify the earlier specimens as being a 380-million-year-old species, the "Adam" of all trees. Studies suggested that the fossil trees, named Wattieza, had been bottlebrush shaped, grew as tall as 40 feet to a crown of palm like fronds.

The exhibit in Gilboa was so humble, on the side of the road next to the post office, in this tiny town.

Frederick says that I should label this picture - "Spock and two old fossils." 

There they are, these incredible fossils just sitting by the side of the road with this modest exhibit board. One of the entries on the exhibit board states - "Winifred Goldring (1888-1971) appointed State Paleontologist in 1939, first woman to hold this kind of position. During the 1920's she undertook the problem of scientifically describing and illustrating Gilboa fossil material, 'the most impressive display of the early land flora in the known world.' Goldring convinced the NY City Board of Water Supply to leave the fossils in Gilboa. Without her intervention these too would have been reposited elsewhere in established museums."

Fossil location sign.

This fossil was off to the side with this plaque. "This root system of the Gilboa fern tree was found by Kristen Wyckoff after the flood of 1996. It was dragged out of the banks of the Schoharie Creek by Lester Parker and donated to the town of Gilboa."

Close-up photo of the picture on the exhibit board. This is an artist rendering of what the climate and forest looked like 380-million-years ago.

Other views of the fossils.

I think these are so cool!

What looks like a white sheet is actually a cascade of water over a dam. Gilboa was buried under water by this dam and reservoir that was built to provide water for New York City.

About a quarter of a mile further down the road we spied this little museum.

It is only open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons during the summer months.

Right beside the museum was this display of fossils.

Apparently these fossils were found in 2010 and given to Gilboa.

In a little open shed behind the museum we found this paper tacked to the wall.

These are the two slabs with the branching on them.

This rock was just sitting in the grass next to the shed.  Looks like a tree trunk in the stone.

After Gilboa we drove to the town of Catskill, NY. Again, all we had were the coordinates, but we don't have the ability to enter all of the detailed numbers so we can only get close to the exact location. When we got "close", we read a further description in the book- "Called the Taconic unconformity, this outcrop is accessible outside the community of Catskill, 1 mile northwest of the intersection of US 9W and New York 23, along the northeast side of the off-ramp when traveling west along New York 23 to New York 23B." We got to the intersection and travelled what we thought was 1 mile. Then we just stopped the car to consider a map.  We stopped at what was a wide section of the road, just past an off ramp.  We just happened to look up and there, across the road, was the formation.    

Stopped on the highway. The formation is to the left in the picture above.

"This classic outcrop is constructed of two sites of strata. The older unit, the Ordovician-age Austin Glen Formation, composed of shale and siltstone, is intensely folded and stands almost on end. Overlying it are moderately disturbed Silurian- and Devonian-age carbonate beds of the Rondout and Manlius formations. This disparate juxtaposition of rock marks the character of this geo-site. Where they meet is the Taconic unconformity."

            From the book. 

Spock agreeing that this was a pretty lucky find.