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In the Highland Mountains you will find these very cool rock formations. Next year I may have to take a detour and check these out.
The Humbug Spires Primitive Area is a non-motorized area popular for rock climbing. Impressive outcroppings of quartz monzonite, part of the Boulder Batholith, rise 300 to 600 feet and provide outstanding climbing opportunities, most of which range from 5.5 to 5.7 in difficulty, although routes to challenge all levels of ability are present. The main trail extends up Moose Creek into the rock spires.
The bugaboo spires are part of the southern intrusion of the Boulder Batholith, which extends from Helena, south and slightly west to Dillon. .
The complex geology of this unique batholith is little understood, but it is generally agreed that deep magmatic forces coupled with thin-skinned contractions resulted in plutonic rock being forced to, and exposed on the surface.
The fact that this occurred on the Eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains adds to the geologic questions that have yet to be fully researched. The formation, elevation, and contraction occurred in the late Cretaceous [70-80Ma]age. The granite varies from North to South along the length of the batholith, with the Northern rock having a more dioritic nature and sits in heaped shapes resulting in horizontal cracks, while the rock of the Humbug Spires region is a finely grained, almost white granite, [quartz monzonite], that tends to have vertical cracks, and is monolithic in shape.
The Humbug Spires Primitive Area is a non-motorized area popular for rock climbing. Impressive outcroppings of quartz monzonite, part of the Boulder Batholith, rise 300 to 600 feet and provide outstanding climbing opportunities, most of which range from 5.5 to 5.7 in difficulty, although routes to challenge all levels of ability are present. The main trail extends up Moose Creek into the rock spires.
The bugaboo spires are part of the southern intrusion of the Boulder Batholith, which extends from Helena, south and slightly west to Dillon. .
The complex geology of this unique batholith is little understood, but it is generally agreed that deep magmatic forces coupled with thin-skinned contractions resulted in plutonic rock being forced to, and exposed on the surface.
The fact that this occurred on the Eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains adds to the geologic questions that have yet to be fully researched. The formation, elevation, and contraction occurred in the late Cretaceous [70-80Ma]age. The granite varies from North to South along the length of the batholith, with the Northern rock having a more dioritic nature and sits in heaped shapes resulting in horizontal cracks, while the rock of the Humbug Spires region is a finely grained, almost white granite, [quartz monzonite], that tends to have vertical cracks, and is monolithic in shape.