Hidden Unseen

Parus (Sail) Rock, Rusia

Sail Rock, also known as Parus Rock, is a natural sandstone monolith located on the shore of the Black Sea, in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, about 17 km from the resort city of Gelendzhik. The rock is absolutely flat and narrow, like the sail of a ship, and hence its name. It is about 30 meters tall and 20 meters long but only a meter thick. Contributing to its image lies the fact that this rock is perpendicular to the coastline. From far away, it looks like a boat with a massive sail has come ashore.

Near the base of the monolith is a peculiar hole of unknown origin. Some believe that the rock was used as defence during the Caucasian War and the hole was created to shoot through at the enemy. However, this is doubtful because although Sail Rock is thin, it is still not easy to puncture. This observation is supported by an incident described by the Russian writer, essayist and journalist S.Vasyukov, where he saw a Russian battleship shoot 4 projectiles at the monolith. “Although the traces of the cannonballs were visible, but the cliff was nowhere to be destroyed,” he wrote.

Why a battleship shot at such a spectacular natural wonder is something one will wonder. Thankfully, Sail Rock was declared a natural monument in 1971 and is now protected, at least, from man’s harm, for the sea continues to erode the stack away. Aerial photographs of Sail Rock show submerged rock extending as much as 90 meters away from the monolith indicating the "sail" was much longer at earlier times.

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The Marble Mountain of Taiwan

Taroko Gorge, also known as “Marble Gorge” because of the abundant supply of marble in the area, is an impressive 19-km-long canyon, located north of Hualien on Taiwan's east coast, not far from the Pacific Ocean. This part of Taiwan is rising because of the subduction of Philippines Sea Plate under the Eurasian Plate. Some 100 million years ago, the enormous pressure lifted the area above the surface of the ocean and the heat and pressure turned the limestone rocks into marble. Eventually, the erosive power of Liwu River carved a path through the marble to create Taroko Gorge. The gorge is located just 60 km from the coast, but is home to some of the tallest peaks in Taiwan at over 3,400 meters.

Until the 1950s only a trail ran through the gorge. Today the Central Cross-Island Highway runs across the wall of the gorge. Despite its name, the Central Cross-Island Highway is a narrow and winding mountain road with numerous bends. The Tunnel of Nine Turns, is a popular spot that takes drivers dramatically close to the edge of the gorge. This part is now strictly pedestrians only as vehicular traffic is routed through another tunnel.

The Central Cross-Island Highway is listed as one of the most dangerous roads by the website dangerousroads.org because of the rugged and unstable terrain. Heavy rain from typhoons often dislodge soil and rocks onto the highway making sections of it unpassable. Flooding occurs widely both as a result of the increased discharge of the river and as a result of water cascading onto the road from the adjacent cliffs. The area is prone to seismic activity.

As one drives through the gorge, they will encounter numerous tourist spots including a Zen monastery, and an old settlement of Truku aboriginals now with museums and handicraft shops. The gorge terminates at a tiny village of Tiansiang where there is a beautiful pagoda and a temple.

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The Lava Trees

When hot lava from a volcanic eruption invades a forest, often the lava does not overthrow the larger trees, but flows around them. The moisture in the tree cools the lava in contact with the trunk and a hard exterior shell is formed. As the lava drains away, only the solidified “lava trees” are left standing. The tremendous heat burns away the wood inside and a hollow cast in the shape of the original tree is left behind. In some cases, the tree can remain standing and stays for years as a black charred skeleton, and in rare cases, some trees even survive and continue to grow after the eruption.

The best example of lava trees are found on the island of Hawaii, in southeast of Pāhoa in the Puna District. Here, an entire forest of ohi'a trees were engulfed in molten lava up to 11 feet deep, when the Kilauea volcano erupted in 1790. Trees that were surrounded by the molten lava cooled the lava that coated them, while the heat of the lava caused the tree to burn to ash. Soon after a nearby fissure opened in the ground allowing the molten lava to drain away back into the earth. But the lava surrounding the trees had already cooled and started to harden and remained above ground as monuments to the trees that once stood in the same spot.

Forest of lava trees resulting from eruption of a 1-km-line of vents east of Pu‘u Kahaualea. The bulbous top of each lava tree marks the high stand of the lava flow as it spread through the trees. As the fissure eruption waned, the flow continued to spread laterally; its surface subsided, leaving pillars of lava that had chilled against tree trunks. Spattering is from fissure out of view to the left. Note blob of spatter adhering to the top of the stripped ‘ohi‘a tree (Text from Pacific Island Parks)

Today, the Lava Tree State Park consists of 17.1 acres of native plants, trees and many lava trees. Many of the lava trees are covered in moss, while others have fallen to the ground, exposing their interior hollow structure. Some of the casts are so perfect that you can still see the imprint of the bark in the lava rock itself.

Large lava tree that fell and broke apart at Hawaii Lava Tree State Park.

Inside view of lava tree at Hawaii Lava Tree State Park

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The Barreleye Fish and Its Weird See-Through Head

The Pacific Barreleye fish gets its name from large eyes that are literally shaped like barrels, topped with beautiful green lenses. Also known as the Macropinna microstoma, its head is completely transparent, filled with fluid. This unique creature lives at depths of around 2000 to 2,600 ft. The Pacific Barreleye’s see-through head may seem weird, but it has a very clear purpose – to help it see better in the dark waters that it inhabits.

The Barreleye’s eyes have been found to be incredibly sensitive, snapping up any stream of light available. Unlike most other fish, both the eyes are in the front of the head and point in the same direction, which gives it amazing binocular vision. So the Barreleye is able to spot faint objects that other fish cannot, making it a feared predator. It’s extremely fascinating, how it searches for prey. It starts off by staying still, eyes pointed upward in search of prey. Sometimes the eyes are rotated to face forwards, or the eyes are still and the body is rotated so that the mouth is pointing in the same direction as the eyes. When tiny silhouettes of prey are spotted, the Barreleye moves in exactly the same direction to catch them. Its flat, horizontal fins help it to swim very precisely. This method is so efficient that it is sometimes able to even snatch food away from the stinging tentacles of other deep sea creatures. Its mouth is really tiny so that’s of great help as well, and the transparent shield makes it immune to stings.

The Pacific Barreleye was discovered in 1939, but it hasn’t been spotted alive since 2004 off California’s central coast by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MABRI). Its biological system apparently has flaws; it is said to be rather sensitive to pressure. When fished up, it’s head would shatter somewhere along the way and only mangled specimens would come up in the nets. MABRI was successful in finding the only such fish with its soft dome intact, measuring about 6 inches in length.

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Old Man of the Lake in Oregon

In 1886, when geologist Joseph S. Diller was making the first geological study of Oregon’s Crater Lake, in the US, he noticed a tree stump completely untethered and moving about the lake as dictated by the wind and waves. Six years later, Diller published his findings in which he briefly described seeing the stump. This became the first written record of what eventually came to be known as the Old Man of the Lake. The 30 foot long ancient hemlock is still there, floating and bobbing, absolutely vertically, in the waters for more than 100 years. At the waterline the stump is about 2 feet in diameter and stands approximately 4 feet above the water. Its surface has been bleached white by many years of sun, and while the exposed end of the floating tree is splintered and worn, it is wide and buoyant enough to support a person's weight.

At first Diller thought the tree was rooted to the bottom and might constitute evidence that Crater Lake’s surface had risen over time. Later, Diller established that the tree was mobile by tying bailing wire to the exposed portion and pulling it a short distance. Over the years, the lake became a minor tourist attraction and the Old Man became a celebrity.

Why the Old Man floats so serenely, and has not become completely waterlogged and sank, or rotted, remains something of a mystery. The generally accepted theory is that the tree fell into the lake, presumably carried there by a landslide, taking along sufficient rocks trapped among its roots, to weigh it down and set it bobbing. Over time, the roots decayed and the rocks tumbled into the depths, but by then the trunk had become waterlogged, and the weight of that water kept it vertical. Whereas the four feet above the water dried out in the sun, and gave the Old Man just sufficient buoyancy to remain afloat. The cold water prevented the wood from rotting.

An outstanding feature of the Old Man is that it travels extensively throughout the lake. In 1938, park naturalist John Doerr spent three months tracking its travel patterns, and found that within that period, the tree moved 62 miles, and on one one particularly windy day, it traveled 3.8 miles.

Soon a legend rose that the Old Man controlled the weather. In 1988, during a submarine expedition of the lake, scientists tied him up near Wizard Island to avoid the tree bumping into the submarine. The story goes that the moment they did, the sky grew dark, and a storm blew in. The skies miraculously cleared only when the Old Man was released.

A park ranger demonstrates the buoyancy of the Old Man of the Lake. Circa 1930.

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