Nick stops at some Precambrian Belt Supergroup exposure in the Lemhi Range at Ellis, Idaho. Ripple marks and mud cracks are featured. Filmed on September 5, 2021.
Wife and I need a day trip, think we'll head up, take a look and see the steelhead at the hatchery on the Pahserimeroi, and go pick up that piece of litter that was left to rust in the ripples..... Had to watch all of the series you posted on your trip through to Poky and back. Wife talked about catching goldfish in the stream at Lidey Hot Spring as a girl, and then with her own children. I caught a LOT of fish in the Big Lost River and tributaries as a kid. You passed within 200 feet of our living room on US 93 between COTM and Arco. If we'd known, I'd have waved as you passed through! Thanks for posting, made our day!!!
I have driven this very stretch of road many times, traveling from Hailey to Salmon, usually through Stanley but sometimes via Mackay to Challis. Always on my mind, as I enjoy the endless variety of rocky Idaho vistas, are questions of what, when and how... much of which has been addressed in the last four videos. Thank you so much, Nick, for these Idaho episodes... they are, obviously, very near and dear to my heart. On a weird side note... precisely 20 years ago today, I drove by this exact spot, on my way to Salmon. It's easy to remember what I was doing that day as Al and I had chosen to escape that morning's tragic events, of 9/11, by trying out a little tent trailer we had just purchased. After leaving Salmon, we returned to camp at that open area across from the Ellis Post Office there, which was undeveloped camping right along the Salmon River and mostly used by steelhead fishermen. Hundreds of migrating Canadian geese joined us, that evening, although across the river, as did a couple of deer who decided to mix things up by forging it. I was awakened, in the middle of the night, to a ruckus among the geese. Shining my flashlight into them, I spotted the source of the disturbance... a mountain lion in pursuit of dinner. This episode of Nick From the Field brought to you by... Wild Idaho, ya gotta love it! Thanks again, Nick, for returning to your old Idaho stomping grounds and, especially, for taking us along for the ride!
I have watched nearly every video you have ever made, and what you have shown in this video has to be (to my mind) among the top "most impressive" geological formations ever! Absolutely amazing. The way you filmed that steep hillside standing right at the base, one could easily "see" that ancient sea shoreline, 1.4 billion years ago. Incredible. Thank you!!!
Nothing better than great accessibility to a rock outcrop....and you can mail a postcard too! Haha! Over a billion years old!? My word! Those preserved mud-cracks are sensational. It blows my mind that those mud-cracks were created relatively quickly, but compare that to the amount of time they've been preserved! Insane. Again, great stories retained within a handsome outcrop. Thanks for the field trip.
I’ve always wondered what the back of your car might look like. Love the comments. One of the greatest things about geology is appreciating the dynamic events we can observe. Bigger than anything we can really comprehend. The greatest movie ever made. I finished this video and said”Wow!”
My wife and I drove to this outcrop yesterday after watching this video. She has a Masters in Geology from Idaho State University and has worked with Link and Rogers and all the other professors. Also, Embree (rip) from byui. I had a hard time pulling her away from this place. Totally amazing. We love the work you do. But just a little turned off with your frequent use of terms for deity when you get excited. 😊
Thank you Nick for these great videos of your trip. We have enjoyed every one of them. This one was so amazing!! So glad you had a good time at your reunion. I bet you were the star of the get-together.😊
Love your educational videos. I’m originally from Scotland and live in the PNW. Can’t believe my good fortune to land in such a beautiful and geologically rich region.
Think of this as just one more piece of a four billion year old, multi-trillion piece puzzle. Every time you walk past the table, another piece fits in.
Nick, I hope you grabbed at least 1 hand sample with the ripples on it Wow 1.4 ba I still have Goose bumps. Seeing things like this makes me stop and try to imagine it forming and how it was tilted. What a outstanding video my friend
Some places in the Belt rock you can find impressions of cubic halite crystals as well as raindrop impressions. I love the Belt rocks up the trail from Many Glacier in GNP. I like the vibe of the one-take videos.
Right around the corner from where Nick filmed this is a "watch for falling rock" yellow road sign. Yup, we got hit 2 summers ago by a couple of small 1.4B rocks, one almost went through my wife's windsheild. Dinged our RV too. So now we have to both watch for current ripples and rolling belts. But it is a spectacular drive.
Used to fly geologists for Washington Public Power. Some out of Salmon, mostly out of Challis . We were looking for Uranium deposits. I remember the geologists talking about this area.
I remember my mother's father, when we lived near Kooskia, Idaho.. gave me a bit of Uranium ore in a wrap of tin foil, we got to listen to the Geiger counter clicks... he did trapping and pack trips into the mountains ...
That was beautiful! And, I would also be drawn to get a tactile sense of the features, as you do with those preserved ripple beds. On a satellite map, you can almost follow the coastline of ancient North America.
Such beautiful country! We would give our eyeteeth here in Australia to have rivers like those running through our land. I just wanted to go paddle in the water and set up camp under the trees. Thank you for taking me there Nick. And you fondling the mud ripples…that’s what I like doing with Sydney sandstone…sooooo tactilely pleasurable.
The layers of sediment are unbelievable, and the ripples were a great add to your video. The polygons were fantastic. Surprised you did not take samples back for your classes.
Yup its like that Nick with PreCambrian basement. so exciting. But it is old NA cratons, these ripples were created one afternoon 1.4 b.a. and preserved.
Liking the mud cracks. Wonder to think 1.4 billion years old. Wonderful to see the ripple marks in rock, similar to the ripple marks in a lava tube. Thanks Nick.
Great video Nick! I love both the content and the style of your videos. It is a pleasure to get the opportunity to explore interesting rock formations with a geologist. Your videos fulfill the promise of what the internet can be giving everyone the opportunity to take a good geology class.
That’s the dynamics of creation Nick. You really express it well that the changes are dynamic not static…what a cycle of life…thank you very much …these trips are a real gift and yes be richer for it
Great illustration of how 1.4 billion year old soft sedimentary rock can exist to this day. Layers above get eroded and peeled off, crumbling into the river and the river tumbles the pieces into sand on the way to the sea.
At 15:00, those mud cracks look like they have been compressed horizontally. It's sobering to realize that these rocks are twice as old as the beginning of the Cambrian period. Always enjoy your videos.
I appreciate you shooting it in one continuous take. I just wish I was there with you. My Dad was a geologist, but you are alive and still doing it. Thank you.
Amazing and uplifting, Nick. Thank you for your efforts and time in doing all this. Made my day here in England (lots of Quaternary on old red sandstone but with unique fossils of SPIDERS, oh yes, at the Woolhope Dome). Cheers from Jane
*YO, ZINGER!* That's some nice slate roof youse got there. I'm gonna need youse to drop that jawn on a pallet and ship it to me in Philly. Thanks, Chief, you're a prince!
“Hope they're not reaching for a rifle…” I've had the same hope, and have spent more trail time than I like to admit “…trying not to fall….” Rock can be quite unforgiving. It's an amazing outcrop, and I'm not a geologist.
there are some beautiful Pc quartzite ripple marks over in the far eastern NA showed by geologists from Newfondland as they searched for zircons from the local University outing and posted on the internet.
I’m a geologist in Northern Idaho, and am always a little confused by the “slightly” metamorphosed Belt rocks. This was a great outcrop, love the ripples and mud cracks!
Those mudcracks at 15:10. They look like they’ve been deformed. Shortened from left to right in your view and/or stretched up and down in your view. It would be interesting to get some orientations on those prominent joints (i see three families) and see if we could work out the stress field here.
@18:25 would that be a 'dendritic inclusion' from a mineral? Incredible, I must put this spot on my adventure list, that billion + year old wall of bedrock is so impressive, it's practically breathtaking even from the camera view. This is one of the many little field trip videos I can revisit multiple times, thank you for recording it. Also, "...before plants were invented" is going to be stuck in my head all day!
OMG - I find, reportedly, sedimentary layered rock dating to aprox 170 million years old along the suture. Then Nick has 1.4 billion year old... This may end with me back in school just to satiate my curiosity.
I want to scream, "Stop. Stop.". Also "fondle some ripple marks".
Thank you, Nick.
Love you too Dr Nick!! Wow, mud cracks and ripples from before land plants. Amazing!
That was SO impressive ... getting to see a patch of Earth from 1.4 BILLION years ago .... before plants and worms!!
Wife and I need a day trip, think we'll head up, take a look and see the steelhead at the hatchery on the Pahserimeroi, and go pick up that piece of litter that was left to rust in the ripples.....
Had to watch all of the series you posted on your trip through to Poky and back.
Wife talked about catching goldfish in the stream at Lidey Hot Spring as a girl, and then with her own children. I caught a LOT of fish in the Big Lost River and tributaries as a kid.
You passed within 200 feet of our living room on US 93 between COTM and Arco. If we'd known, I'd have waved as you passed through!
Thanks for posting, made our day!!!
“Before even plants and worms,” great perspective description Nick.
Boy that was great. Little areas like that ought to be preserved as areas of special interest. You tell a wonderful story.
dang a billion years ago is long long time ago. how cool to see
More fun with Nick and his geology; thanks so much Nick
Thank you Professor Zentner
I have driven this very stretch of road many times, traveling from Hailey to Salmon, usually through Stanley but sometimes via Mackay to Challis. Always on my mind, as I enjoy the endless variety of rocky Idaho vistas, are questions of what, when and how... much of which has been addressed in the last four videos. Thank you so much, Nick, for these Idaho episodes... they are, obviously, very near and dear to my heart.
On a weird side note... precisely 20 years ago today, I drove by this exact spot, on my way to Salmon. It's easy to remember what I was doing that day as Al and I had chosen to escape that morning's tragic events, of 9/11, by trying out a little tent trailer we had just purchased. After leaving Salmon, we returned to camp at that open area across from the Ellis Post Office there, which was undeveloped camping right along the Salmon River and mostly used by steelhead fishermen. Hundreds of migrating Canadian geese joined us, that evening, although across the river, as did a couple of deer who decided to mix things up by forging it. I was awakened, in the middle of the night, to a ruckus among the geese. Shining my flashlight into them, I spotted the source of the disturbance... a mountain lion in pursuit of dinner. This episode of Nick From the Field brought to you by... Wild Idaho, ya gotta love it!
Thanks again, Nick, for returning to your old Idaho stomping grounds and, especially, for taking us along for the ride!
I have watched nearly every video you have ever made, and what you have shown in this video has to be (to my mind) among the top "most impressive" geological formations ever! Absolutely amazing. The way you filmed that steep hillside standing right at the base, one could easily "see" that ancient sea shoreline, 1.4 billion years ago. Incredible. Thank you!!!
That actually is amazing. Billion+ year old mud ripples from an ancient world when this was a shoreline. Incredible.
On this sad reflective day, these two videos were very much appreciated. Thanks Nick and drive safely going home.⛏
Nothing better than great accessibility to a rock outcrop....and you can mail a postcard too! Haha! Over a billion years old!? My word! Those preserved mud-cracks are sensational. It blows my mind that those mud-cracks were created relatively quickly, but compare that to the amount of time they've been preserved! Insane. Again, great stories retained within a handsome outcrop. Thanks for the field trip.
I’ve always wondered what the back of your car might look like.
Love the comments. One of the greatest things about geology is appreciating the dynamic events we can observe. Bigger than anything we can really comprehend. The greatest movie ever made. I finished this video and said”Wow!”
I need to go on a roadtrip to Idaho. That's a fantastic place.
This is what I wanted when I was young. 50 years later I get it.
Thank you.
How weird…1.4 BILLION .? Amazing and all in one take ! Lol…the ripple marks are so cool! Mud cracks!…thanks you Ned zinger!!
My wife and I drove to this outcrop yesterday after watching this video. She has a Masters in Geology from Idaho State University and has worked with Link and Rogers and all the other professors. Also, Embree (rip) from byui. I had a hard time pulling her away from this place. Totally amazing. We love the work you do. But just a little turned off with your frequent use of terms for deity when you get excited. 😊
the polygonal mudcracks are stunning!
but as someone who probably walks highway verges fairly frequently, you should know...
always walk on the side that has you *facing* the traffic.
Stunning!
There is a fabulous view of the Challis formation at Challis Hot Springs well worth your time.
Cool! Double roadside geology feature! Thanks, Nick! Idaho has so many Challis goodies! Lives up to their nickname of the gem state!
If you continued up 93 to I90 to get back home, you drove right past my house. And you didn't even wave as you went by. ;)
The drive you have give all of us a chance to STOP and look is a GIFT... Thank you for always answering questions.
Thanks for the field reports from ID. Very enjoyable!
What a gorgeous outcrop at 11 minutes! Thanks for taking us along Nick!
Keep up the great work BTW. My Wife and I tune in daily
Those rocks were so cool. Thank you for showing it to us. Am I the only one who thinks the cracks resembled jigsaw puzzle pieces?
I appreciate you bringing us along. To hold 1.4 b y/o rock. Wow.
Thank you, Nick! Love you, man.
Great video fantastic observations thank you for the explanations. Mud cracks and Ripp[es all preserved great spot.
Thank you teacher
Thank you Nick for these great videos of your trip. We have enjoyed every one of them. This one was so amazing!! So glad you had a good time at your reunion. I bet you were the star of the get-together.😊
"Fondle ripple marks" I love this quote
This is such a great example of the message you have given us Thank You!
Thanks Nick....SOoooo enjoyable and informative.
I'm standing on these rocks as I type this comment. I was driving up 93 and thought, "hey, I've seen those rocks in a UA-cam video before!"
Love your educational videos. I’m originally from Scotland and live in the PNW. Can’t believe my good fortune to land in such a beautiful and geologically rich region.
Think of this as just one more piece of a four billion year old, multi-trillion piece puzzle. Every time you walk past the table, another piece fits in.
Nick, I hope you grabbed at least 1 hand sample with the ripples on it Wow 1.4 ba I still have Goose bumps. Seeing things like this makes me stop and try to imagine it forming and how it was tilted. What a outstanding video my friend
Some places in the Belt rock you can find impressions of cubic halite crystals as well as raindrop impressions. I love the Belt rocks up the trail from Many Glacier in GNP. I like the vibe of the one-take videos.
Found raindrop rocks North in WNP while fishing on the Waterton.
There sure is a LOT of amazing geology in Idaho!
Right around the corner from where Nick filmed this is a "watch for falling rock" yellow road sign. Yup, we got hit 2 summers ago by a couple of small 1.4B rocks, one almost went through my wife's windsheild. Dinged our RV too. So now we have to both watch for current ripples and rolling belts. But it is a spectacular drive.
You are doing great! I like it when you are doing it this way, it’s almost like being there in person.
Used to fly geologists for
Washington Public Power.
Some out of Salmon, mostly out of Challis .
We were looking for Uranium deposits.
I remember the geologists talking about this area.
I remember my mother's father, when we lived near Kooskia, Idaho.. gave me a bit of Uranium ore in a wrap of tin foil, we got to listen to the Geiger counter clicks... he did trapping and pack trips into the mountains ...
That range is gorgeous
That was beautiful! And, I would also be drawn to get a tactile sense of the features, as you do with those preserved ripple beds. On a satellite map, you can almost follow the coastline of ancient North America.
Thanks for the walk and thanks to the rocks for the stories they tell.
Such beautiful country! We would give our eyeteeth here in Australia to have rivers like those running through our land. I just wanted to go paddle in the water and set up camp under the trees. Thank you for taking me there Nick. And you fondling the mud ripples…that’s what I like doing with Sydney sandstone…sooooo tactilely pleasurable.
Thanks for taking us armchair geologist with you.
This video is amazing. Thank you for my introduction to 1.4 billion year old rock.
"Oh, look! It's that crazy geologist, Nick Zentner, out there fondling ripple marks! In public!!"
The layers of sediment are unbelievable, and the ripples were a great add to your video. The polygons were fantastic. Surprised you did not take samples back for your classes.
Love it man, I work two jobs, and geology has always been fascinating to me so I appreciate you videos in the field.
Ripple marks almost look like the surface of an aa flow, not so much the mud cracks! Thank you Nick!
Holy moly a daily double.
I LOVE YOU TOO MAN!
This is otherworldly to stand in front of such an old rock...loved the remarks from Professor on that. And the signs, ripples were beautiful.
Thanks for sharing 1.4 billion yr. old sand ripples.
Yup its like that Nick with PreCambrian basement. so exciting. But it is old NA cratons, these ripples were created one afternoon 1.4 b.a. and preserved.
Awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to film and explain this marvel to us. Peace and Good Fortune and Good Health to you and your family.
Liking the mud cracks. Wonder to think 1.4 billion years old. Wonderful to see the ripple marks in rock, similar to the ripple marks in a lava tube. Thanks Nick.
Great video Nick!
I love both the content and the style of your videos.
It is a pleasure to get the opportunity to explore interesting rock formations with a geologist. Your videos fulfill the promise of what the internet can be giving everyone the opportunity to take a good geology class.
Enjoyed the ride today.
Another great video of you pointing out all these amazing things that us troglodytes would just regard as a big rock. I appreciate the education.
That’s the dynamics of creation Nick. You really express it well that the changes are dynamic not static…what a cycle of life…thank you very much …these trips are a real gift and yes be richer for it
You should get yourself a bumper sticker that says " Geologist , I Brake for Outcrops " .
Great illustration of how 1.4 billion year old soft sedimentary rock can exist to this day. Layers above get eroded and peeled off, crumbling into the river and the river tumbles the pieces into sand on the way to the sea.
At 15:00, those mud cracks look like they have been compressed horizontally. It's sobering to realize that these rocks are twice as old as the beginning of the Cambrian period. Always enjoy your videos.
I appreciate you shooting it in one continuous take. I just wish I was there with you. My Dad was a geologist, but you are alive and still doing it. Thank you.
#1 tool for field geology, sturdy footwear.
@Sam Seiber
Thank you! One does not clamber like a geologist, and dress like a hippie.
Very nice video..beware those big slabs from coming down
Amazing and uplifting, Nick. Thank you for your efforts and time in doing all this. Made my day here in England (lots of Quaternary on old red sandstone but with unique fossils of SPIDERS, oh yes, at the Woolhope Dome). Cheers from Jane
A million years old, 1400 times over.
"Muffler boy"is every where.😁
*YO, ZINGER!* That's some nice slate roof youse got there. I'm gonna need youse to drop that jawn on a pallet and ship it to me in Philly. Thanks, Chief, you're a prince!
Repeat after me: BOOTS. Hammers, Roadside Geology guides, maybe even sunscreen and a freakin’ hat, but BOOTS. Jeezo-shmeezo, Teach.
Lol, I'm going to have to use that... jeezo-schmeezo! Lovely expletive. Thank you!
Thanks again for sharing 😊
You, Sir, are one singularly funny rock-hounding marvel.
“Hope they're not reaching for a rifle…” I've had the same hope, and have spent more trail time than I like to admit “…trying not to fall….” Rock can be quite unforgiving. It's an amazing outcrop, and I'm not a geologist.
He's really tall so even without a rocky slope, it's a long way to fall. LOL
"what the hell??!! Are you serious???" Also my reaction when I see new features.
there are some beautiful Pc quartzite ripple marks over in the far eastern NA showed by geologists from Newfondland as they searched for zircons from the local University outing and posted on the internet.
Wow....nice video sir....❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I think I get the sense that there are multiple events of layering of the sediments in the way that the rock is fracturing.
I've marveled at that rippled face many times and got run out of the Salmon while fly fishing by a protective mamma Otter and her four kits.
Dad always deer hunted in tennis shoes. Hunting rocks in flip flops ? Thanks for the walk. Match this formation to one’s on Mars.
Watching again. 1.4 Billion years ago. Big gap in my minds timeline to workout. I picture a vastness of emptiness.
I’m a geologist in Northern Idaho, and am always a little confused by the “slightly” metamorphosed Belt rocks. This was a great outcrop, love the ripples and mud cracks!
Those mudcracks at 15:10. They look like they’ve been deformed. Shortened from left to right in your view and/or stretched up and down in your view. It would be interesting to get some orientations on those prominent joints (i see three families) and see if we could work out the stress field here.
@18:25 would that be a 'dendritic inclusion' from a mineral? Incredible, I must put this spot on my adventure list, that billion + year old wall of bedrock is so impressive, it's practically breathtaking even from the camera view. This is one of the many little field trip videos I can revisit multiple times, thank you for recording it. Also, "...before plants were invented" is going to be stuck in my head all day!
@Shrike Thank you!
Wow I almost want to drive from Portland to Ellis and scramble up that rock face
Now after watching this I'll have to take a run up to Mayer, AZ from Phoenix Looks to be the same rock. Things that make you go hmmm...
I thanks you
Thanks 🥰
OMG - I find, reportedly, sedimentary layered rock dating to aprox 170 million years old along the suture. Then Nick has 1.4 billion year old... This may end with me back in school just to satiate my curiosity.
When Idaho does muffler boy we know it!
There's a phrase I've never heard before: fondle some ripple marks ... 🧐🤔🤔🧐😳😆😜😏
Nice......the world must have been pretty quiet 1.4 billion years ago. No muffler boy, at least.
Your fresh enthusiasm is such fun! LOL! Dang...this is awesome!!! Absolutely the experiences I enjoy. Thank you! 😍🤟🏼
Epic! 👍
Very interesting Nick! Were the horizontal lines across the face of the rippled belt deposits caused by alpine glaciers?