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.