I've written many times about Crowder Park in Apex, North Carolina.  Part of the Wake County Parks System, this 33 acres of land off Ten Ten Rd was donated by the Crowder family in 1992 to be used for the enjoyment of the people as a park.

Filled with walking/running trails, a pond, playgrounds, picnic areas as well as natural areas, Crowder park is a favorite of the residents for miles around. You'll often see families with their little children on the tricycles and playground equipment, groups of people holding a barbecue in one of the three shelters, and every kind of dog imaginable being walked by their owners.

Sunday was a beautiful day here in North Carolina; sunny, breezy, about 75 degrees. What better time for a walk in the park with my husband and "grand-dog".  Having been there hundreds of times, you'd think we'd know it pretty well by now.

However, we discovered a new trail, leading to the "amphitheatre".  We'd seen one end of this trail before, but now it was extended to make a full loop.

So off the beaten trail we went to see what we could see.  Low and behold, in the middle of the woods, what do we come across but this sight (see right).

From far away, with the sun shining on it, this almost looked like a pile of dirty snow. But let's get real, it's Labor Day in the south, no chance of that happening.

Walking closer, we could see that there were 2 huge pieces of quartz poking out of the ground.   Seems almost like the tip of an iceberg, where maybe this is only 10% of the actual rock.

I've seen a lot of small to medium quartz in the area. When the house next door to us was built we actually collected 1-2 foot sized rocks for our garden. 

This is the only rock that I've seen in Crowder Park.

From the natural shapes and edges you can almost see faces. Maybe this will be the Mt. Rushmore of Apex, North Carolina!