Hakeem Bennett carefully climbed up the highest peak of the Adirondack Mountains He relied only on his fingers and toes to find the little cracks in the rock The small spaces would allow him to scale the summit No ropes or safety harnesses for Hakeem Bennett It was just him Hakeem Just him Hakeem Bennett alone against the mountain Of course since he was also a famous geologist Hakeem had professional responsibilities Hakeem would stop along the way to the top of the world and collect rock samples He tucked them in his backpack for later examination Hakeem Bennett shouted Principal Schneider from far behind him You’re daydreaming again We’re stopping for lunch Huh replied Hakeem with a shake of his head He hadn’t been paying attention Johanna Schneider the school’s nature expert had been telling the class about the animals insects and rocks that could be found in the Adirondack Mountains Once again Hakeem had gotten lost in his own fantasies Yes Principal Schneider said Hakeem His cheeks burned with embarrassment at the sound of his classmates laughter
Hakeem wasn’t a geologist He was just an eighth grader who had wandered ahead of the rest of his science class They were on a field trip from the Nathanael Greene School in Brooklyn New York Geology was one of Hakeem’s favorite subjects He hoped to be a geologist one day If he ever wanted that day to come though he had to start paying closer attention to the real world Hakeem rejoined his classmates They gathered around their teacher Mr Brown and pulled off their backpacks After we eat said Mr Brown we’ll continue up the trail It leads to the largest marble cave entrance in North America Although he was visually impaired Mr Brown with help from his dog Stanley knew the mountains better than anyone Hakeem couldn’t wait to explore the mountain’s marble caves Unlike the other kids he didn’t believe stories about the caves being haunted by the ghosts of old miners Even without ghosts the caves were interesting enough A real geologist could study all sorts of rocks and learn a lot about how the world was formed Once Principal Schneider and Mr Brown were sure the class had cleaned up their trash they all continued on their way Soon the class rounded a bend in the trail There behind some trees were the giant twin entrances to the Great Caves Every student oohed and aahed at the sight Hakeem stared into the mouth of the larger cave Principal Schneider explained how the giant network of caves had been carved inside the mountain Many caves are made up of limestone but the Adirondack Mountains have caves made of marble explained the principal Marble is an extremely hard rock Over many years however water can get into the cracks of the marble and start to dissolve the rock making the cracks bigger and bigger Believe it or not added Mr Brown those tiny cracks eventually became these
tunnels and caves Thousands of years ago floodwaters rushed through the valleys between these mountains carving the caves out of the marble Does anyone know what happened next I do said Hakeem raising his hand Mr Brown was glad that Hakeem was participating instead of daydreaming Yes Hakeem he said
