Many times, the Earth has opened and stone has flowed across this county. Many times, trees have come and set down soil, only to be burned away again. The baked red Earth between the basalt flows in the wall of the Chasm north of the Bonaparte River record those advances and retreats.

Note the Mountain Goat Trail!

Peat moss in an old streamed, perhaps, or a peaty wetland.

How can we date human settlement in this country, when it was completely burned away so many times and covered with stone? We can only, really, date the way trees, animals, valleys and humans grew up together here after the ice, while we wait for the stone to flow again.

Have fun waiting!