(How hard can it be to take a picture of a rock? And yet I don't think I've done a very good job with this one.)
This rock is a bit of a mystery to me. If it were the only one I'd ever found, I might not puzzle about it, but I find such stones all the time in the forest. How do I account for them?
The puzzle lies in the fact that the stone is resting
on top of the leaf litter on the forest floor. So how did a fairly large stone (not much smaller than my boot) wind up loose and on top of last fall's fallen leaves? If you look closely, you can almost see that there is fresh dirt on this stone, as though it has been recently wrested from its place in the soil.
We found this stone during our trek through the northeast corner -- a place we'd never extensively explored before. Presumably, no human had been in this part of the forest for a long time -- certainly longer than the brief time this stone has been moved, for the dirt on it has not been washed off by the rain.
Nonetheless, I've come across these curious erratics throughout my forest, as well as at Fallen Timbers. It's not as though the stone pictured above is the only one of its kind.
So what is going on with these rocks? How do they get unearthed and then rolled or otherwise moved (there was no corresponding hole nearby) to come to a stop atop the leaves?
This particular stone is, I think, much too large to have been unearthed by a deer or raccoon, and to what end would a critter do such a thing anyway? There are no bears in this part of the Ozarks (that I know of). Nor do cattle roam our woods anymore. The only agent I can imagine is a bipedal, talking mammal, and while that seems the most direct explanation, it's still a bit unsatisfying since I don't think may interlopers actually wander our forest. This area is not near a trail that an interloper might use. Nor does it account for the fact that I come across such mystery stones frequently in my rambles throughout Roundrock.
I'm trying to contrive some sort of weather/seasonal explanation for it (because my restless mind, gravid with such speculations, continues to gnaw at the question). My lastest idea is that somehow these stones are heaved from the ground by the freeze/thaw cycle. Okay, that part is fairly plausible, but how do I account for their peregrinations? Well, in this case, there is plenty of uphill behind the stone, so rolling might have allowed it to move. Except that also in this case, the uphill is not very steep at all -- certainly not enuf to allow a large stone to roll. Could it be the shifting of the magnetic north pole? Is one of you visiting my woods and shifting rocks around? (If so, leave me a note or something.)
It seems that mysteriously moving rocks are not restricted to the Missouri Ozarks.
Note these babies. Greater minds than mine have been puzzled by such seemingly random and seemingly inexplicable phenomenon. But, as you know, such are the things that bring me back to the forest.
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March 10th, 2006 at 3:25 am
Well it’s obvious to me. The movement of your rocks and of the rocks in California happens because an intelligence designed them to move. QED.
March 10th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Pablo I have no clue… I had rocks on the brain today too.
I can just picture your blog readers visiting and moving things around to play tricks on you though!
March 10th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Maybe it’s earthquakes! Y’all do live near the New Madrid fault, don’t you?
A few years ago we had a 4.2 earthquake about 2am. It woke me up: a low vibration rattling the windows in the room. It was awesome, and by that I do NOT mean awesome as in pizza for breakfast. That particular quake, tiny as it was, was centered about 10 miles from us, but was felt all over north Georgia by those who are light sleepers.
Ours wasn’t enough to dislodge rocks, but you guys live on the big time.
Otherwise, how are your crop circles and cattle mutilations there?
March 10th, 2006 at 10:15 am
RR=roaming rocks.
March 10th, 2006 at 10:24 am
That link is quite interesting. Inexplicable events always come with the soundtrack for Twilight Zone. I started hearing it as soon as I began reading this post. You might want to check for crop circles next.
March 10th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Lots of rodents move rocks. Ever take apart a pack rat’s nest? Full of rocks. Ever studied a beaver’s dam? Full of rocks. Scary, but true. Am not sure which comments should concern you more. Busy rodent populations or crop circles? It’s kind of a toss-up, eh? But the twilight zone background music is probably appropriate for most scenarios suggested by your faithful followers. You do carry a “walking” stick when you roam the woods, DON’T YOU?
March 10th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Do you have any wild boar in your area? Just about every state has them, according to a recent article in the New Yorker. They like to toss things around….
March 10th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
I’m going with the notion of a raccoon, despite the large size. There could be tasty grubs under there! Sigrid Jardin’t idea of a boar is a good one, too.
Thanks for including the link; it was interesting and entertaining.
But the BEST thing about this post is that you used two excellent words: gravid and peregrinations. I had to look up the latter.
March 10th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
I’m not sure why you think perigrination falcons are involved, but you could be right…of course, gravidy might have been a factorial two. Personally, frost weavers seems the more likely sinairio.
What?
March 10th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Those pesky peregrine falcons…
March 10th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Maybe Perry (The Falcon) Mason should be called on to elicit the pregnant truth of the matter.
March 10th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Tjilpi – spoken as though you were a doctor or something.
March 11th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
I CAN’T SLEEP! I keep wondering how Pablo’s rocks get moved to sit on top of the leaves. Thanks a lot!
I’m Kidding.. I sleep fine:)
March 13th, 2006 at 10:52 am
“Maybe Perry (The Falcon) Mason should be called on to elicit the pregnant truth of the matter.”
BOO! HISS!!
(I’m kidding. That was great! Thanks to FC for starting the play on words.)
July 3rd, 2006 at 7:19 am
[...] This little cavity was filled with more than a dozen white larvae, and just as fast as they could, the red ants packed the white larvae down black tunnel you can see on your right. By the time I’d brought my camera to bear on the scene, most of the larvae were already spirited off to relative safety. It occurred to me then that this protein-rich booty might explain the mystery rocks I sometimes come across in the forest, random rocks resting upon last season’s fallen leaves — how did they get there? If a strong-armed critter, such as a raccoon or opposum (or even an armadillo) knew from experience, or from having been taught by momma, that overturned rocks can sometimes yield a bounty of ant larvae, said critter might wander the forest floor, giving every rock an attempt at overturning on the chance that a reward awaited. [...]
July 19th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Maybe its not really a rock…