I've been to the planet Mars! The sky is blue and the trees are growing there too!

I promised to write a post about the detour of my January 11 tour. It doesn’t go through the Blue Trail route, but it’s worth a look because it’s free to visit for now. It is an abandoned bauxite mine, several of which are near the village of Gánt. It is just a 20-minute walk from the village center and is a favorite area for dogs and their owners. Because of its red color, bauxite is like being on Mars. I don't know if trees grow on Mars. The title was just an eye-catching joke! If there were no trees and bushes there, the resemblance would be more realistic.

The sun warmed the ground heavily, so my boots sank into the rubble red soil. Fortunately, it didn't stick to it like clay.

The only obstacle was the thorny bushes, I had to keep the unpleasant thorns away from me with my walking stick.

Area formed by erosion.
During rains and snowmelt, small streams of water form that gradually deepen the soil.

For a geologist, layers of different colors say a lot. I’m not a geologist, so I just admired them.

Going close to the walls is dangerous, the rocks can collapse at any time. That's why I took photos with a telephoto lens.

The vegetation is quite dense, mainly black pines and thorny bushes - hawthorn, wild rose grow here. A few more decades and a real forest will emerge if one does not intervene.
The people walking here trampled on a clearly visible path.

The rather deep, reddish-purple color indicates that the rock also contains other metals (e.g., manganese). I'm not an expert, but I guess.

This little detour lasted for an hour and I’m sure I’ll be back here in the spring.