Hickory Run Boulder Field

Most parks boast about their lush greenery, and while Hickory Run State Park has its fair share of flora, its most fascinating feature is a massive field of huge gray stones.

The 16-acre expanse in the northeast portion of the park is startlingly level across the tips of the countless boulders and features an unmistakable lack of vegetation with its borders, despite being surrounded by greenery on all sides. The rocks were deposited in their current formation over 20,000 years ago as glacial melting deposited the stones in one long swath. Most of the field consist of medium-size boulders, although some of the larger rocks are as large as 26-feet across.

A flow of Hickory Run Creek runs beneath the tightly packed sandstone rocks, but due to the immense weight compressing the soil, vegetation cannot thrive. What the Hickory Run Boulder Field lacks in soft, verdant splendor it makes up for in tectonic wonder.