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Rocky City and Ruby Falls Field Trip
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November 20, 2008
The ACCA 7th Grade made its first annual trip to study the geologic formations on Lookout Mountain in Georgia and Tennessee on November 20, 2008. The sunny, clear day provided great viewing of the massive ancient rock formations at Rock City in Lookout Mountain, GA. The “legendary citadel of rocks” with the beautiful outcropping known as “Lover’s Leap” has been featured in many Indian legends and written of in early American accounts of the area.
|  | | Both Union and Confederate soldiers occupied Lookout Mountain, some from each army testifying in journals that one could see seven states from Lover’s Leap. Garnet and Frieda Carter developed the area so that anyone could walk through the stone formations and enjoy the geological wonders, not just the most intrepid hikers. The 7th graders, Taylor Baldwin, D’Livro Beauchamp, Kaleigh Crowgey, Madeline Ryan and Erin Williams, particularly enjoyed the swinging bridge over a chasm, the “Fat Man’s Squeeze” and the Fairy Land caves. We happened to be at Rock City on the day before their light festival opens so we were able to watch the hanging of the great lighted star on the waterfall face of Lover’s Leap. After the sweeping panoramas of Rock City, we entered Lookout Mountain through the Ruby Falls cave in Chattanooga, TN. Over 1120 feet below ground, we walked for about ¾ mile to see the world’s largest underground water fall – the 145 foot tall Ruby Falls. The underground, guided tour follows a major fault line and has extensive stalactites, stalagmites and columns in an incredible variety of forms. |  | With names like bacon, angel wings and beehives, you can imagine the diversity of geologic features. The 7th grade class has been studying geology in both Geography and General Science so this trip was a hands-on experience. The 9th grade and our ACCA 2009 Senior, Trista Taboada, joined the 7th graders for the trip. Accompanying were the Geography teacher Mr. Brett Edwards, General Science Teacher Mrs. Eve Marks, and 7th Grade Homeroom teacher Mrs. Helene Ranwez.
*pictures used with permission of Ruby Falls and Rock City |
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