Loch Ness is for the Cryptids

"Oh you're kidding... What?? How did I never notice this before? This is so cool!" I'm trying to keep my composure as Kendon and I venture into Loch Ness on our boat. Both sides of the lake look different.

Our tour guide Shaun has been working here for about a decade and was interviewed last year about some "interesting sonar images" his team found. I'm a pro-wrestling enjoyer and can suspend disbelief when the occasion calls for it, so... cue the x files theme song when it's time for Nessie.

But it's not Nessie that's making me lose my cool right now, it's the geology of this area. 

In the Scottish Highlands, a land mass that eventually-became-Europe and another land mass that eventually-became-North-America mush into each other (Great Glen Fault). 

(Source: Wikipedia)

Loch Ness is at the meeting point of one of these mush zones.

This means that both sides of the lake look different from each other.

They physically look different, because one of them broke off from what became the Appalachian mountains and floated ever so slowly all the way across the Atlantic and is now pressing into another continent.

One side of the lake has evergreens with dark green foliage, and across the lake you'll see brighter green foliage on yew, sycamore, and cherry trees. It feels so strange to be in the middle of what is very visibly two different land masses.

The lake itself was originally filled with water from the north sea (salt water) and then covered with glaciers. The ice melted, the lake became freshwater, and the saltwater fish adapted to survive. There are freshwater variations of saltwater fish that swim in these waters. Now it was Kendon's turn to excitedly tell me about how cool it is that the fish made these adaptations.

Mountain sediment makes the water so dark, that (cue the x files music) I can see why it inspires so much mystery and intrigue. Apparently, sonar has picked up several creatures bigger than great white sharks near the bottom. Apparently there are 480 types of DNA that scientists discovered here.  Anything could be lurking nearby.

Even... Perhaps...?

But I don't need Nessie to be real to think this is a really cool place on our planet.