Let’s start at AuSable Chasm on Route 9, where cool air rushes by the waterfall in the gorge even on the calmest of days. This 1,000-acre scenic vista of rock and river is the oldest natural attraction, not only in New York, but in the United States. It will be 135 years old this May. Although you can raft down the river and camp within the area, one of the most impressive features is the waterfall that cuts through the 450-foot-thick sandstone walls. At some points, the sandstone appears in colored layers and looks like a miniature Grand Canyon. While the AuSable Chasm took about only 10,000 years to erode to sea level, some Champlain Valley attractions are even older than that.

Click the animal paws above to open information and pictures on a separate page. Roll over icons below to preview pictures to the right. Dikes Coral Reef Adirondacks AuSable Chasm Whale Bones

Around 480 million years ago, a coral reef grew in New York and Vermont known as the Chazy Reef. At that time, the North Country's tectonic plates were about 3,000 miles south and in optimal conditions for coral. Now the reef has fossilized. However, what makes the site so interesting is that it is known as the “oldest coral reef in the world,” according to the Vermont Geological Survey.

"At first it looks like only a simple rock quarry. If you look closer, you can see the fossils," David Franzi said.

One of the best places to see these fossils is in the Fisk Quarry Preserve on Isle LaMotte in Vermont. “At first it looks like only a simple rock quarry. If you look closer, you can see the fossils. To a geologist, this is pretty amazing,” David Franzi, an earth and environmental science professor at SUNY Plattsburgh, said.

The quarry is a great place to visit on a nice day. Turtles scamper and swim about the ponds, snakes weave in and out of the tall rock walls, and if you look close enough, you can see fish swimming in the water. At some spots, you can even see the fossils of old snail shells. But these aren’t the only outstanding creatures found in rocks in Vermont.

About 10,000 years ago, when hundreds of feet of ice buried the North Country, this glacier extended all the way from Canada to Long Island, New York.

“Eventually the glacier slowly receded. Because of its weight, it left the land below sea level,” Thomas Wolosz, Chairman of the Chemistry and Physics Department at SUNY Plattsburgh, explained. At this point, the Champlain Sea, an extension of the Atlantic Ocean, covered parts of New York and Vermont. This body of water was home to saltwater plants and sea creatures. One large creature made its way to the Champlain Sea near Charlotte, Vermont. In 1848, as workers dug a path for the new railroad, they discovered its bones.

Embedded in blue clay, the bones were first attributed to the famous Lake Champlain monster, Champy. But to the surprise of many, they belonged to a whale. This fossilized white whale, or beluga, now rests in the Perkins Museum of Geology at the University of Vermont. Fondly known as Charlotte, the bones have been named Vermont’s official state fossil, and interestingly enough, it is the only state fossil whose species still exist today.

Across from Charlotte and the Green Mountains of Vermont stands another living, and growing, relic.

Today, the Adirondacks sprawl more than 8,000 square miles across northeastern New York. But millions of years ago, these same mountains could only be found underground in the form of molten magma. From the mantle, magma floated to the surface, forming a gigantic mass called a batholith.

“The Adirondacks have some of the world’s oldest rocks. Some are billions of years old,” Donald Bogucki said.

“The Adirondacks have some of the world’s oldest rocks. Some of the rocks are billions of years old,” Donald Bogucki, a professor in the Earth and Environmental Science Department of Plattsburgh State University, said. Unlike most mountain ranges around the world that build when two tectonic plates collide, the Adirondacks were born when the soil coating these magma masses eroded away. Then, hotter, younger basaltic magma oozed up. Creeping its way through, it filled in the cracks.

On Route 374, down the road from the Dannemora prison, are two distinct and well-known dikes. “Dikes are created when hot magma intrudes into fractures of the rocks. These features are younger than the Adirondacks,” Bogucki explained. While these Dannemora dikes can be easily missed as you curve down Route 374, it is amazing to think that this landscape, which is so cold most of the year, has been shaped by hot magma.

Whether you want to raft in a gorge, spend time atop the oldest coral reef in the world, or climb mountains of magma, Lake Champlain’s rocks hide many geologic treasures.

Tell us what you're favorite geologic North Country Feature is

Some other interesting geologic features of upstate New York to check out:

1) Ingraham Esker

This esker (a ridge caused when glacial meltwater deposits sand and gravel) can be seen all the way from Ingraham to Champlain. Dating back 10,000 years, the ridge is more than 10 feet tall and 1,000 feet wide. You may have passed by this amazing glacial feature without even knowing it, so look closely on the side of the road next time you are in the area.

2) Basaltic Sheets at Poke-O-Moonshine

The basaltic sheets can be seen from Route 9, about three miles south of Route 22 intersection. These sheets were created when the magma cooled and re-crystallized underground. The dark, sheer vertical cliffs contrast with the low-sloped hills that surround it.

3) Anorthosite in Jay

Right over the south side of the bridge on Glen Road in Jay is a small black outcrop of the crystal-like anorthosite. This formation, caused again by cooling magma, appears smooth and black. Scientists are confused about how this rock has formed.

4) Fossils at Crown Point