In the north-central region of Maryland, the Catoctin Park has some of the oldest layers of the earth’s exposed mountains. The Appalachians rose out of a collision between plates in North America and Africa 200 million years ago, and parts of the convergence appear here, where the quartzite rocks you see are part of a vista known as “Wolf Rock.” The toughness of the quartzite is what enabled it to last for so many years without being eroded. I love the fact that somehow a few pines have managed to grow on this harsh formation.
