Summer Camp for "Adults"

The parallels between summer camp and summer field are many; perpetual outdoor living in an isolated setting, grappling with adversity, and of course, plenty of costuming. For years, dress-up day has been a tradition for the last day of mapping, but this group enjoyed a few extra dress-up days, usually related to kitchen duty. The cooks were instrumental in providing a costume closet to go along with themed dinners, but the real pièce de résistance was a magnificent hair extension. Found among the boxes of stuff from last year, the cooks attached it to a pole on the study tent. By itself, it looks like a muskrat. On others, it became a wise guru’s beard, a two-toned mullet, or Genie’s high ponytail.

(Genie Matt granting wishes)

The most elaborate theme dinner was Thanksgiving with the Ferguson’s – UCLA came by for dinner, brought the beer and participated in pudding wrestling. I don’t think that kiddie pool will ever be the same.

(Melatite and K-T boundary as troubled teen and Janis Joplin)

To keep the students from getting burned out on mapping, there are a couple of unrelated field trips thrown in; this year’s theme was mining. Since eastern California and Nevada are hot beds of interesting mineral assemblages (Q: what is a pirate’s favorite metamorphic assemblage? A: Skarn!), there are a lot of abandoned mines and mining towns.

(fractured xenoliths in the skarn outcrop)

So, we looked for minerals, everyone wanted to bring home their own pieces of smoky quartz, garnet and vesuvianite and we checked out Goldpoint, a former mining town that has been bought and is slowly being converted to a tourist destination. Apparently, they just filmed the movie “Blood River” there in case you’re curious.

(obligatory white van caravan in Goldpoint)

(old bugs, old town)

And finally, folks finished up mapping, had a fabulous dress-up day complete with gnomes and many in drag, and they spent 2 days in camp finishing off the maps, cross sections and reports.

(see? gnomes)

(Mel contemplates faults while waiting for someone to write on her Wall)

Overall, this was one of the best TA experiences I’ve ever had, in no small part due to how incredible this group of students was. Fun, friendly, hard-working and smart; can’t ask for much more than that!

(one shot devoted to my favorite sed structure of all time, Hummocky cross stratification!)

Week 1: The Warm-up

(overlooking Hwy 168, astride an ancient reef)

We hit the infamous Poleta Fold belt on June 18th and did our best to conquer daunting regions known as Confusion Canyon, Van Gogh's Ear and the Meat Grinder, just to name a few. We were not alone; UC Santa Barbara and UCLA were out at the same time, which was fun but it certainly created some new and interesting challenges. Try finding a quiet place to visit the little Geologist's room while the hills crawl with students and there are no trees.....

The 1st week was a chance for all of us to get our field goggles back on by measuring and describing the old Cambrian-aged Poleta Formation,

(up they go!)

then mapping it's outcrop pattern in "Little Poleta."

(Corina and Scott find the fold hinge. It's like finding a pot of gold...)

(diligent mappers get back to the outcrop)

Little did they realize how fondly they would look back on Hell Hole once they got to Big Poleta. But, they rose to the challenge, mapped and moved, and earned their first day off.

(victim of hell hole or just another gratuitous dead-animal-in-the-desert shot?)

A chunk of us spent an ambitious day off climbing Laurel Mountain, on the edge of Convict Lake. We were seduced by the description of the climb as a geologist's dream and we weren't disappointed. Laurel Mountain is the top of an incredible exposure of metamorphic rock, similar in age and original lithology (ie, shallow marine shelf rocks) to the ones in the Poleta Fold belt, but MUCH more metamorphosed (check here for more dramatic photos of the face than I have).

(eensy-beensy geologist in blue shirt for scale, near the bottom of the photo)

(still a lot of rock to go)

It took us about 3 hours longer than we expected, and the near-run down the mountain through vegetation covered hillsides to get back to the van left us pooped with shredded shins. I definitely moved a little slower in the field the next day.

(happy at the top)

(pooped at the bottom)

Stayed tuned for week 2....

Haven't melted yet...

But we do worry a little about catching fire. Almost everyday has been hazy, so we've had great sunrises every morning.

Just a quick post; internet is inconvenient, but I'll update the stories and pictures when I get back to Santa Cruz on July 10th.

So far highlights include regular costuming in the Poleta fold belt (the cooks have gotten us off to a good start), in particular the Poleta Genie. Daily swimming in the Owen's River, an epic climb up Laurel Mountain on our last day off, mineral hunting and a visit to a Nevada Ghost town...

Up coming of course is the fourth of July and dress-up day in the field, which ought to be good, considering how much this class enjoys being in costume already!