Chalk Hills | Leahy Junction, WA | September 2019
Geologists appear restrained, but their writings on the Chalk Hills have a “hot diggity!” feel about them. The Hills’ blazing white pyramids and stepped ridges are the eroded sediments of a glacial lake from 10,000 years ago. They’ve been exposed in the last millennia by wind, snow runoff and, more recently, strolling cows. Several scientists note the area has a “badlands” look — soft under-strata stripped of its covering and now in full view. It’s sort of the geologic equivalent of losing your swim trunks from a dive in the pool.
[The Chalk Hills can be viewed most easily just west of Leahy Junction, where state routes 17 and 174 intersect.]
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