Beware of Basalt!

UP Bend Local on the Oregon Trunk at Trout Creek - 1997

Oregon is pretty much made up of basalt.  As igneous rocks go, basalt has a higher concentration of iron versus silica, and that makes it dense and also sharp when it fractures. In the photo above, you can see the road below the trestle. Getting this shot requires a climb up a fractured basalt rock fall. All was going great up till the last few feet where the rocks got much bigger, and also less stable. I stepped on one that wobbled sharply under my weight. Of course, in these kind of situations the railfan's first impulse is to protect your camera, and not your body. Down I went, and got a nasty little contusion on my leg that took weeks to heal.