Station 12 Pinnacles

Pinnacles 

A pinnacle is a large, steep-sided, rock outcrop. The shape of a pinnacle is primarily controlled by weathering of vertical joints. Where the granite contains many joints, pinnacles are smaller, more numerous and more closely spaced, as seen in the photograph below. Weathering of granite with relatively fewer joints results in the larger, more common, isolated pinnacles like Chicken Rock, Lost Arrow Spire, and Creekside Tower. Rare are the pinnacles found in the granite of the Green Creek Complex within the Reserve, but they are numerous along the south slope of Cache Peak in Big Cove.  

As erosion of this multi-jointed wall continues, other pinnacles will begin to form, as noted by the dashed lines below.