DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

On the recommendation of the proprietors of the Inn at Schoolhouse Creek, I hiked through Jug Handle State Reserve today. To be frank, I’m not a hugely successful hiker; I typically end up recalling little but the view of my feet trodding on a dirt path, and an occasional vista, especially when the dirt path is at Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park.

But the story of Jug Handle is intriguing and has stayed with me. The land in the Reserve has been sculpted by an unusual interplay between glacial action and weathering; the result is an “Ecological Staircase” that climbs through five distinct microclimates. At least, they’re distinct to geologists, who write the fabulous prose on this website:
http://www.mcn.org/1/mendoparks/jug.htm

That site describes the park much better than I ever could.