Trip Report #1: Shenandoah National Park, Aug. 28th, 2025

Shenandoah National Park has a ton of geology, with many cliffs of exposed rock. This particular area contains a large section of greenstone.

When I was a child, I went through a very brief phase where I was interested in rocks. I to this day have two egg cartons filled with some interesting, though I'm sure common, specimens. Now that I'm much older, and a devoted creationist, I find that some of that interest has returned. Being an outdoor photographer, rocks and geologic features are pretty commonplace parts of images I take. Living near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, it's pretty inevitable that I'm going to photograph rocks. Therefore, given all of that, I would love to be able to understand them more, and the processes that formed them.

As a Christian I believe the Bible. It gives a very credible story to the causes and creative forces behind all that we see today in nature. And contrary to secular science, the evidence doesn't say millions and billions of years. Rocks and fossils themselves don't talk, but our biases do. Yes, I know carbon dating is a thing, I just don't think that the assumptions we make going into it are all that reliable. I'm not an expert, but from what I do know, I just don't see any reason to put THAT much stock in it. I also admit that as a Bible believer I have a bias. But I believe firmly that it's a bias that not only fits within logic and reason, but gives rise to the very ideas of logic and reason. It's never been disproven. And while experience is not a great indicator, my own experience tells me that it's true.

All that to say: rocks came from somewhere. Taking the amount of years out of the picture, we still have a timeline, and from the very little I have researched, the rocks in the above image are older rocks. So, for a Creationist we might say they are from pre-flood, to early in the flood. Ok, kind of cool to think about.

But truth is, I know so very little about all of this, and I hope that in the years to come to learn a great deal more if the Lord wills. My hope is that in some small way I can help restore a Biblical view to how we look at these things. I mean, as a photographer I desire to document these things. As a Christian, I desire to do so in a way that points to God who made it. The creationist view does that.

So what about the trip itself? Well it was a pretty straightforward visit to the park. The trail itself is not overly difficult, but rather sketchy in terms of footing. A very rocky path indeed.

On the way up, it was nice to see flowers still blooming, and bees doing their work .

At the top I came across a weird fungus on this tree.

I'm not a mycologist, so I have no idea what that is. Any thoughts?

But the views are great. This particular section has multiple cliffs to hike to, overlooking the valley to the west.

It's also a popular climbing spot.

Lichen grows heavily on these cliff faces. To the keen eye, you may notice a spotted lantern fly up on the top. They're an invasive species. You also might notice someone left a carabiner in the rock, a clue to the areas popularity for climbing.

Lastly to discuss the main photograph at the top of the post itself. I had shied away from photographing that pool in this direction because it's been shot so many times, but at the same time it is such a distinct characteristic of this spot, I decided to finally try a composition. The two main things I was looking at was making sure that upper right rock protrusion was completely in the frame, and that the reflection of the rock in the water wasn't 'touching' the left edge of the pool. Hopefully that description makes sense.

But ultimately, this isn't a final image for me. I'm somewhat happy with the composition, but it needs better light and sky. Hopefully I'll get a chance this year to go back and try again.

In the meantime, maybe I can pick up a little more on geology, cuz it kind of rocks. Ok, that's a really horrible pun.