The Old Red Sandstone was a rock we studied in my undergraduate sedimentology and stratigraphy course. Hutton's unconformity is a building block in understanding how different rock layers and deposits can be formed. When looking at samples of the sandstone under the microscope in the first half of 2014 and reflecting on my own ancestry to Scotland, I made Siccar Point (where Hutton's unconformity was discovered in the 1700s) a place I wanted to travel to when I could, maybe as part of a heritage travel trip. On Thursday 18 July 2019, I made the trek to the site. While we had learned about the rocks and the unconformity in my coursework, I did not know quite what the area looked like before arriving. There is a parking area labeled with a sign and a trail through cow lands leads to a steep slope where ropes along a fence guide visitors to the rocks below. I brought a head of cabbage, my field-work food of choice and which I eat like an apple. As I was eating my cabbage and walking, cows were sniffing the air and looking at me. I was concerned they might approach me and take the cabbage so I wrapped it up and put in my backpack. There are informational placards along the way that provide a little bit of geological/historical context of what one is looking at. The rocks themselves are beautiful. There is space to explore along the rocks and a cove with a cave one can climb down to that held different aerial critters when I was there. It is serene and a fun place to adventure to. The ropes added an element of thrill to the out-and-back journey, and the cows felt like guardians of the place. My cabbage and I made it peacefully back to my rental car. read more

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