2012.06.01 Going Home!

Time to go home. This trip has been great, but I'm so tired. This trip has been so very educational, but also very draining. It's been a lot of traveling and hard work, but not a lot of personal space or time. I saw more of the NW US with the Maymester field trip than I possibly could have on my own, and I found a few places along the way that I really want to return to one day. I should probably start planning this out now.

That's all!

2012.05.31 Lawn Lake Flood and Rocky Mountain High

Just pictures again. I'm suffering serious sleep deprivation at the moment and can't think. But I can pick up a camera and snap pictures. These are from a few days ago, but they tell a little bit of the story of the Lawn Lake Flooding event and what the area looks like now. 

The large rocks were deposited when this stream  had a much higher competency rate, during the flood.

These large rocks would have been moved by much more water  at much greater speeds.

Had this flooding event occurred without witnesses, geologists would  use clues such as these large misplaced rocks to tell the story of the land.

Matt and Sal attempt to... I'm not really sure what they were doing.

We might be smiling, but I think Buffy and I both had a little altitude sickness.

2012.05.30 Devils Tower

 Devils Tower! This was great. We all wore silly aluminum foil hats and scared the other tourists. If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few thousand for you!

Obviously, the aluminum foil is to prevent aliens from reading our thoughts.

Wait, it gets better. Before getting to Devils Tower, we stopped in a little town called Bill, Wyoming. Population 11. And they sold t-shirts! We quadrupled the population for a few minutes. The picture below- that's the whole darn town!

2012.05.27—2012.05.29 Yellowstone, Big Decisions, and Rocky Mountain National Park

The trip did in fact change. Though there was no snow on the ground this morning, there was still a nasty band of ice and snow heading for Glacier National Park, so we decided to head to Rocky Mountain National Park instead.  The weather was so nice compared to Yellowstone. Dry, cool (well, cold), but no rain, no sleet, no snow, no wet socks.  There we checked out moraines, tundra, talked about glacial features and how glaciers carved out the mountains and lakes.  Then we camped out, and the next morning we were entertained with stories of bear attacks and more bear attacks by the wonderful Ranger George Weaklim.  I think the change of plan was great, and we stayed for two days. Bonus—we finally had campfire astronomy with Dr. Cruzen, which really helped ease my mind about some of the astronomy work that’s coming up in the near future.

This is education at its best!

2012.05.26 Yellowstone, Earthquake Lake, Too Much Snow

What a trying day. The tent was covered in six inches of snow this morning when we crawled out. I cannot believe it did not collapse on us in the middle of the night, some of my classmates were not so lucky though. We then spent the morning visiting Huckleberry Ridge, the Lava Creek Tuft, and the Montana Quaternary Faults. When the sun finally peeked out we stopped to check the weather and learn about the destruction at Earthquake Lake in the 1950’s. Then we spend some time at Duck creek collecting sediment samples and talking about the types of rocks.

It may be important to note that the campsite we have been in at Yellowstone DOES NOT HAVE SHOWERS. By the end of the day I’d been four days without taking a shower, as had all of my classmates. Luckily, we were able to find the Lodge, where you could shower for as long as you wanted for less than five bucks. That shower has so far been the highlight of my trip.

Also, due to the terrible weather, we may be changing the trip itinerary. I guess we’ll find out what we’ll be doing tomorrow.  I’m so glad our tent was  still up, so no set up in the dark. Of course, we weren’t able to hit the sleeping bags until late anyway.

By the way, my camera froze to death. There will be limited pictures until I can replace or fix it.

2012.05.25 Yellowstone, Wildlife, and SNOW!!

Let's take a break from geology for a minute. I have several pictures of the wildlife in Yellowstone that might be more interesting to see. But, if you need a geology fix, scroll down to the bottom to see a fumarole!

I awoke to a snow covered ground! In a tent! The day was mostly window geology again, which showed us fumaroles,  Palette Springs, and a quick stop (IN THE SNOW) to measure the dip and slip of exposed rocks using the Brunton compasses.  The nasty weather is not conducive to learning, but we are trying.

2012.05.24 Unknown... Jackson Hole, Maybe?

I was sick, so I barely remember anything about this day. In fact, I think I slept the entire time I was in the van.
Fortunately, I have pictures that say I must have been in Jackson Hole, WY. Seriously, if this picture were not right before the Yellowstone Pictures, I wouldn't have had an entry for this day.

These are antlers. I vaguely remember that Ute was very disturbed by this.

Thankfully we got to set up camp in daylight, then we had an astronomy lesson since this was the first night the skies were clear. 

2012.05.23 Bear Lake State Park

Bear Lake State Park—cows to the left, big lake to the right. It was so windy and cold during te night. I missed my sweet Georgia humidity so bad.

So, a little about Bear Lake—it’s a graben, it was formed by upthrown faults. The lake is very long, because it was probably a river that was naturally dammed when the  horst  (the mountains) were forced upward.  Some  of the evidence to that  are  soft sediment deposition, trees that were in areas that were covered with salt water,  and terraces along the sides that show the river flowed further than the lake.

Guess when we set up camp.

Actually, setting up camp late every night became fun after while. We look like we're having fun, right? 

2012.05.22 Utah, Bingham Canyon, and Salt Lake

Utah was far greener than I expected.  The Wasatch Front  gave me a view of new geomorphic features—triangular facets, flat irons, and a long series of alluvial fans.  There were nice to look at, but all of the mountain ranges had started to run together .  The weather was really different, again. There was a thick haze in the sky.  Basically, the salts from Salt Lake are in the air and are the perfect particulate matter for air to create haze. Okay, really, I’m not 100% clear on this process, but I’m getting it.

Later in the day we drove up a mountain to see the Bingham Canyon—only the largest copper mine in the world! The view was incredible, the wind was strong enough to knock down a small child, and the one lane mountain road that twisted and had at least eight hairpin turns that led to the top of the mountain… well that was just terrifying.  Horrifyingly scary. But once we made it to the top we learned how the copper mine literally destroyed the town. Poor mining practices caused the water to become poisoned and it remained that way today. Water is pumped in from outside the area for the residents that remain.

We finished the day at Salt Lake. I’ve always imagined salt lake to be like an inland ocean. It’s not. It smells terrible, not the pleasant saltiness of the sea, but a rancid gagging smell that coats the hain and clothing for days. Sewage is dumped in the lake because it is nearly useless for any other living things (except sea monkeys, apparently, but even thay can only live for a short time).

Again, we set up camp in the dark. It’s become a theme. But during the night I heard both cows, and waves. Do they raise cattle on the beach here?

2012.05.21 The Book Cliffs and Arches National Park

Smile- this is awesome!

We made it to the Book Cliffs and studied the stratigraphy of an outcrop in Tusher Canyon. This was a task—someone forgot to pack the measuring tapes before the trip. Of course with several brilliant students working together, an alternate plan was devised. I learned how to measure height using a Brunton compass. Actually, I watched as more experienced students measured the height. Then we worked as teams so that those who’d previously taken stratigraphy classes could help teach those of us who had no idea what we were doing.  Final determination: the outcrop was 30 ft. tall, the top 6 ft. consisted of a poorly sorted conglomerate, and the remaining 24 ft. were fine layers of mudstone that alternated between gray, tan, and brown, and gypsum evaporate every few inches throughout.

Sal and Vince explain the Brunton compass.

After a quick lunch we went to Arches National Park. The rock formations there are amazing, though the winding road was a little nerve-wracking.  I was able to see the effects of erosion, wind, and faulting, and how the processes have shaped the world we live on.

These are massive! But they look so fragile.

Gift shop! T-shirts!

The weather was exceptionally dry; our weather readings indicated that the humidity was less than 10%. Even though I sucked up four  32 oz. bottles of water my eyes felt dry and scratchy and I barely sweat at all.

Oh, and we picked up a mascot while we were in the Book Cliffs. His name is Raul.

Then we set up camp in the dark. Again.

2012.05.20 Cedar Bluff State Park, the Rocky Mountains, and One Spectacular Eclipse

Today is the day Dr. Cruzen has been waiting for—the annular eclipse.  We made a mad dash to get to a location that would offer exceptional viewing of the eclipse, so we did a lot of 45mph window geology. 

The Rocky Mountains came into view just outside of Denver, CO.

The eclipse was spectacular--about 90%. I'm so happy I was able to take a decent picture of the event. It was also near the end of the day, so by the time we made it to the campground, it was dark.

2012.05.19 Kansas River and Thunderstorms

Since we set up camp in the dark the night before, I was surprised by my surroundings when the sun came up on day two. We were in the Ouachita’s and only a short walk from the Kansas River. One bank was very white, sandy, and very fine (point bar). The other was rocky and covered in vegetation (cut bank).  The very width of the point bar tells that the river floods, probably regularly.

This day added to my tasks. Everyone in the van was assigned a different weather instrument and at every stop I had to check the barometric pressure and record that, as well as measurements for temperature, wind, humidity, and gusts. We took four readings before we got to Oklahoma. Then the weather changed. We watched as the clouds grew heavy, formed a wall cloud, and the sky opened. We survived our first Great Plains thunderstorm. The following pictures show the progression of the storm as it builds.

The sky started to grow darker.

Mammatus clouds formed. I'd never seen these outside of a book.

Rain in the distance--we got a few sprinkles on the windshield, but nothing to get worried over.

The day ended in Cedar Bluff State Park in Kansas, where we set up camp in the dark again.

2012.05.18 Alabama to Arkansas...I Think

It’s only the first day of this trip and I am already blown away by how much I just don’t know.  Within the first few hours I was searching for clues to the geology of the land—discussing the rolling hills, how hoodoos are formed, areas of tornado damage, and how different strata (layers) formed.  We stopped at a road cut outside Birmingham, AL to determine what type of rock was there, and why it was important to break the rock to determine the real color, not just the surface color that might be stained by minerals as they are weathered. Then, west of Jasper, we learned about faulting and coal formation. 

It was a busy day that ended in Arkansas with a radio broadcast chat between the four vans about the sunset and how the pink to purple to orange light cast on the horizon is caused by scattered light—longer wave lengths  equal more red light because of the angle he light strikes the earth. We then set up camp in the dark. It’s a good thing we practiced at home before the trip.