It was a wonderful turn out. There's nothing like enjoying the sunny day while eating BBQed burgers and hot dogs. Yum! Instead of Faculty Glade we had it on Observatory Hill, right outside of McCone. It was mighty convenient. Thank you all for helping out and making it such a great event for our department. The events of this year included strikes and dips on the geogon, temperature estimate of water in a bucket, height estimation, triangulation, mineral and rock ID, a treasure hunt and finally Geopardy. The Geolympian of 2009 is Russell McArthur and he received a golden rock hammer from last year's Geolympian Colin Phillips.

On this field trip we tried making sense of the accretionary wedge associated with the subduction complex that's responsible for the Franciscan formation. We also analyzed folds in chert beds.

We woke up at the usual time, packed up and were out. We left to Death Valley, stopped at Mosaic Canyon before getting gas. Then we hit up Badwater, Devil's Golfcourse and Ubehebe Crater. The sun was setting by the time we reached the sulphur mine. We grabbed some specimens to burn later on the campfire. We camped alongside the road in the middle of the desert and stargazed...

Since we didn't have time the previous day to attend the mine tour, we got one at 8am this morning. After spending a couple of hours at the Trona Mine we headed to Wildrose Mountain to hike 8.5 miles round-trip. And some had a snowball fight at the peak. We headed back down and then hit up an abandoned mine on our way back to our campsite in Trona.

We left Berkeley around 6:15pm and headed down to the Borax Mine for a lovely tour. Then to the Trona Mine where we didn't have enough time to go on a tour. But we camped out at a site near there...

David Belt planned this trip for GAB. We stayed at Dave's cabin in Sonora and then headed to privately owned property to do some gold panning. After being somewhat unsuccessful at finding some gold we headed to see a giant nugget at a winery, then headed to the Natural Bridges Park. The trip was 2 nights long but I left after the first night and therefore do not have photos from Sunday, April 5th.

This field trip was all about faults with particular emphasis on strike slip. The first few are near the Upper and Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir. Then we headed to Pillar Pt. displaying terrace uplift. Moss Beach was next where we got an overview of the area. We split off into 2 groups. My group went to Montara Beach first to examine outcrops in fine detail. We viewed landslides and a thrust fault that was surrounded by BBQing people. Then we traded and went to Moss Beach where we split into partners and mapped structural data such as strike and dips. What a beautiful day!

The second day was rather rainy, which explains why I didn't take nearly as many photos. But it was still beautiful nonetheless. We basically went to a lot of stations and Joel downloaded information about the air and water. The cameras that we were supposed to set up didn't work and we didn't want to fool with them in the rain.

Joel Scheingross invited Sam Peach and I to accompany him during his field work for his geomorphological studies. We went to the Angelo Reserve in Mendocino County, CA. It is so beautiful there, which is why I took so many photos. Moss and trees are totally photogenic. Throughout the day we helped Joel build a sediment trap by putting posts in the ground, then using a net and a tarp tied to the posts as the sediment trap. We had lunch underneath this awesome tree on this huge boulder in the river. Sam called the tree "Brontosaurus." We finished the trap and headed to take discharge measurements. Sam went out into the river wearing some nice waders to take the discharge measurement using this fancy electronic equipment. I sat on the river bank and wrote down whatever he told me. We worked until complete darkness.

After departing Berkeley at approximately 8am, our 2 vans plus Rudy's pick up truck headed to check out the knockers made of primarily blueschist at Ring Mountain Park near the Mill Valley/Corte Madera area. Then we continued northward to Laytonville which was about 15 minutes north past Willits. At the quarry we observed numerous minerals in this great landslide. Our bags were alot heavier on the way back, full of rock specimens. We stopped along highway 101 to see some pillow basalts from a distance and to identify some minerals that had been washed onto river banks. Then back to Berkeley by 6pm.

The clouds were magnificent as they bid us farewell from Big Sky Country. We finished cleaning up the bunkhouse after breakfast. We had our bags packed and stuffed into the rentals. Dan'l even managed to fit in with the door closed. We gave the box and card to George and Mary Jane Brimhall as a thank you for the whole field camp experience. Then we headed to Butte. A group stayed at the airport while the drivers returned the rentals after getting them washed. We had a few hours to kill at the Butte Airport. They have funky toilets too! We flew to Billings, MT and stayed on the plane to Seattle. Then back home after a 90 min lay over. Home sweet home right as the sun was setting.

This is when everyone realizes that field camp is coming to an end rather quickly. We all were busy working on our papers and cleaning up the bunkhouse a bit. At night we all marvelled at the completed box for Mary Jane. We also made a card to give to George made out of people's reader covers and such. We also got together for a group picture which was fun. It was all freaking awesome. Then more goofing off until we were ready for bed.

We were busy working on our papers all day. We also put together the box that people found at the dump. Cheyenne drew a picture of Mary Jane while Maya and Scott painted it. We all signed the box and filled it with pretty rocks that we had collected. Awesome!

After our day off was well spent it was time to work. We all stayed around base camp and worked on our papers, discussing and utilizing the maps that George had hanging around the bunkhouse. There were some beautiful clouds out though. =)

For our last day off in Montana, we split into groups.The 1st car went to Crystal Park while the other car went to Butte. I was in the Butte car.We ate a lovely breakfast and then I walked with Shreya around Butte, taking pics of their lovely brick buildings.We also went shopping at places like the Butte Farmer's Market, a rock and mineral shop, K-Mart and other souvenir stores.We met up with the other car at K-Mart.We all headed to the Berkley Pit, where we had to spend $2 to see the viewspot.Then we headed to Montana Tech since we heard they had an awesome mineral collection.Someone read that they were closed.So we all went to a field to play some hackeysack and ultimate.I sat out at Ultimate.And I watched this magnificent thunderstorm around Mt. Fleecer.Then we all watched as it headed our way and left when it started to rain.At one point lightning was striking all around our cars.We ate at a pizza place.

Today was our last independent mapping day and last night off in Butte. This is when our mapping projects are coming to completion and we're just trying to do some clean up work. Scott and Dave needed the sledge hammer to see if this huge rock outcrop had sulfides in it. It didn't but it was entertaining watching them whack at it. Then George took us to the Blue Moon Saloon just outside of Wise River, before reaching highway 395. It was an awesome place. After finishing dinner we did laundry in Butte where ultimate and hackeysack were played. Then we returned to the Blue Moon Saloon where we played pool and hackeysack in the actual place with the cook! I don't think I will ever have the chance to play hackey sack in a bar/restaurant ever again. Only in Montana...

We started out our day meeting an influential man from the Crow Nation. We had a lovely breakfast and then headed to the Absaloka Mine near Sarpy Creek. It is an open pit mine, which was a stark contrast with the underground Stillwater Mine. We couldn't get out of the van but Brian Lee drove us around the place and we marveled at the huge machinery used in the mining process. Once our tour was done we started our drive back to Wise River. We found that Scott and Dave's tent's rain fly had totally blown away and all of their stuff got wet. Poor guys. They were good sports about it though.

After waking up very early, we ate a continental breakfast, and headed over to the Stillwater Mine in southeastern Montana. We got to get all dressed up in miner's gear and took a train that led us 3.5 miles down this tunnel where we were walking 2500ft below the surface. We received a very good tour through the mine by chief geologist Sam Corson and Jennifer Phaneuf. Stillwater is a platinum and palladium mine. After being underground for a few hours we took tours through the core logging process. After the tour was over we were starving and ate in the closest town - Big Timber. We entertained ourselves with pool and funny faces. Then we drove to Hardin where we stayed in another Super 8 Motel.

Hecla is no longer in operation but once was teeming with workers mining silver. We first visited charcoal tilns, where they make the charcoal fuel for the smeltering process. Ore was attained through pyro-metalurgy, a process in which crushed rock was mixed with limestone and quartz, melted and differentiated, causing the silver to sink beneath the by-products. We ate lunch beside beaver dams and pretty little lakes and streams. Then we explored the mine tailings, searching for pristine minerals. Then we went to the mill where they once crushed the rocks. The entire area was once glaciated and lies in one of the largest valleys in the Pioneer Mountains. Now the area is filled with glacial outwash including moraines. As you can see the area was very photogenic.

More independent mapping. Our photos lessened since we didn't really find any outcrops to photo. But check out the tree throw that was the size of Josh! More pretty clouds...

Aren't these clouds wonderful to wake up to? More independent mapping with the cows... The insisted on walking right in front of us along the path, forcing us to avoid fresh cow dung. It started to rain as we picked up the other mapping groups. And the clouds showed the potential for rain and thunderstorms. Gretchen and Shreya sang while cleaning up after dinner, and Russell got jiggy with it. The clouds were amazing and check out the lovely rainbow in the last few photos. =)

It was our 2nd day off. We all decided to try to check out some swimming places. We headed to one of the rivers near the Lewis and Clark Caverns and ended up stopping after crossing a bridge. The boys scoped it out, making it sure that it'd be safe before jumping off. The water was very deep. Then we all headed into Butte. Then we headed to a ghosttown called Coolidge that was past base camp on highway 43. The mosquitoes were crazy but the buildings were very nice in the lighting. And then we headed to Quartz Hill while it was getting dark. We left and ate at the Wise River Cafe before heading back to camp.