Ringing Rocks: Welcome and Enjoy your stay

Enjoy your stay.
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It's January first, 2009 and this morning I set out in search of a place to spend idle away my lazy day off from work. I dressed warm and drove a few miles away to Ringing Rocks Park with my camera and a free afternoon. After a short drive on country roads I pulled into the parking area, a tight area which most resembled a small paved patch of woods.

As I stepped out of the car the first thing that struck me was the cold quiet that surrounded me. Though there were quite a few cars in the lot, I heard nothing but the crunch of gravel under my feet and the ocasional rustle of dried, dead twigs skittering across the parking lot in the light breeze. Though the sun hung high in the sky and was very bright, it provided very little warmth. The bristling cold and slight breezes numbed my fingers to the bone and chilled my face; excellent weather for the formation of ice, as we will see below.

I felt satisfied that I had idled the day away quite nicely and in a beautiful place.

Boulder field- the rocks feel hollow and clang when struck.
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I followed an aptly marked and well worn trail as it forked to the left, which brought me to a boulder field which looked excatly how it sounds- but please bear with me as I attempt to make it seem just a bit more engrossing. As I approached the field to snap a few photos, the still winter's day was disrupted by a loud, bell-like clanking originating from my right; fellow daytrippers were hammering the rocks together to produce the sound. As I hopped and stumbled through boulder field, I was tempted to try it for myself- sure enough, the rocks, when struck, ring out and sound almost hollow producing a mellow and pretty tone (at least as far as rocks are concerned). Not being an expert in geology, I have no ready answer as to what produces this effect- I just take the pictures and surround them with enough clever words to make it read-able. For more information, check your local library, or Geologist.

Many rocks had smooth, while wearings where park visitors past have played the rocks for themselves.
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After exiting boulder field, I went in search of the falls which whispered in the wind from a distance away. I began walking towards the sound through the trees leaping over rocks, climbing down legdes and snapping pictures here and there, nodding non-chalantly to the other groups of people who were walking the trails.

As I approached the falls I was struck by some of th best scenery RInging Rocks had to offer. Rushing water cascaded down a rock face, and ice mingled with beautiful green moss on the rocky ledges leading down. After snapping ppictures and rubbing my numb fingers together to prepare them for the hike back up, I head back to my car. The sun was lower in the sky and I removed my scarf and hat, warm from the trudge uphill. The day was quiet and beautiful- the occasional clang of rocks drifted over the breeze and I felt  calm on the ride back home, satisfied that I had idled the day away quite nicely and in a beautiful place.