Quarry Hills
The Quarry Hills are an unusually high white sedimentary rock formation in the middle of the valley. Rocks were quarried from here by the Mayas to build their tombs in the Stann Creek Valley Area. Rocks were dynamited from here to build the railways and again to build the surface of the Hummingbird Highway in the mid-1990's. Through all this blasting the caves did not collapse. Storage rooms for dynamite that were built by the British into side of the hill can still be seen today. The elevation of the hill offers a natural place for the Pomona gravity fed water system. Amazingly, to this day the site is still being mined for its rocks and the caves are not protected.
Black Creek Lagoon
It is the lowest point and a collection basin for water that does not flow into North Stann Creek River. It lies between the Quarry Hills. A tributary called Black Creek drains the lagoon in rainy season. It is the home of many animals like turtles and birds and is a good place for bird watching. The second quarry hill is very difficult to climb but on the very top is a survey post dating from the 1920's marking the elevation of the hill when the British mapped the soils of Belize.
Did you know? Some rivers, which drain from or flow through areas of dark black loam, water appears to be black due to the color of the soil; these rivers are black mud rivers.