GEOLOGY OF OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK: PART Il NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY

Obstruction Peak Road

STOP 12: Old upland surface

Much of the Obstruction Peak Road follows a gentle, rolling upland surface. The contrast with the steep, newly eroded valley wall is espe cially evident where the road leaves the parking lot at Big Meadow and where it switchbacks up past Eagle Point (fig. FT 25). The meadowed upland surface formed before the last glaciation and probably at a time when the Olympics were lower and streams had less gravitational energy to carve the mountains (see Rising Land and the Olympic Scene).

Fig. FT 25. View of Hurricane Ridge and the Obstruction Peak Road from the south. The old upland surface can be seen in the ridge crest, steep valley sides below, newly cut glacial cirques on the right.

On to Stop 13. Deformed rocks

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