National Park Mystery Photo 1: Wow – This is One Big Boulder!
A glacial erratic is a boulder that’s been transported by a glacier and deposited in a new location where its lithology doesn’t match the bedrock beneath it. Thousands of glacial erratics are scattered about the surface of glaciated national parks.
Most glacial erratics are so small or isolated that they go unnoticed. Some, however, are very large and very accessible. A few are so conspicuous in the landscape that they have become tourist attractions meriting signage, brochure descriptions, and photo op suggestions. Such is the case with our mystery boulder. See the little sign?
Chances are that a goodly number of Traveler readers have seen this boulder, and that some people reading this article have taken pictures of it. Do you know where this boulder is? Do you know where it came from? The only hint we’ll give you is that it’s situated near a road in an NPS unit.