Tentative Dates: August 7th through August 21st, 2006 - 2nd Summer Session
Prerequisites: at least one introductory-level geoscience course
Special Fees (plus tuition for 3 credits) - $550
$100 deposit - due by June 15th
The remainder of the special fee (for food, gas, etc.) due by the last week in July
I will need at least 4 drivers....you are elibible if you are a university employee (drivers get $100 off the fee)
This course is designed to be an introductory field experience for students with an interest in the geosciences. During the duration of the course we will travel across the Upper Midwest, the Great Plains, and the Cordilleran regions of the United States. We will be making many stops along the way to view and explore geological features, and students will be assigned both group and individual inquirey-based projects. The stops will include: fossil collecting in northern Iowa; Red Rocks and Dinosaur Ridge in Denver, Colorado; Keystone, Colorado; Canyonlands National Monument, Arches National Monument, and Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah; and a 1/2 day raft trip on the Green River.
Itinerary
- 8/7/06 Drive 577 miles, camp at Coralville Lake IA
- 8/8/06 Coralville Lake IA, Devonian Fossil Gorge.
Drive 423 miles, Camp at the Fort Kearney Recreation Area, NE
- 8/9/06 Drive 385 miles, camp at Chatfield State Park, Littleton CO
- 8/10/06 Visit geologic sites in the Morrison Colorado area, including Dinosaur
Ridge, Red Rocks Park, outcrops of Precambrian metamorphic rocks.
Drive 53 miles, Camp at Chatfield State Park, Littleton CO
- 8/11/06 Drive to Silverthorne
Quick stops at Silver Plume CO and Loveland Pass
Montezuma, Colorado Conduct field investigation at the confluence of Deer Creek
and the Snake River
Drive 100 miles, Stay at the Alpen Hutte Lodge.
- 8/12/06 Free Day Stay at the Alpen Hutte lodge.
- 8/13/06 Drive to Dead Horse Point State Park,
Quick Stops at Glenwood Canyon and Colorado National Monument
Rt 313 Stop, stratigraphic section
Dinosaur trackway
Dead Horse Point State Park
Optional Stops to Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail and to collect petrified wood
Drive 296 miles, camp at Dead Horse Point State Park.
- 8/14/06 Canyonlands National Park
Whale Rock Trail (1.0 miles round trip)
Upheaval Dome Overlook Trail (1.0 miles round trip)
Grand View Point (optional)
Mesa Arch Trail (optional, 0.5 miles round trip)
Drive 56 miles, camp at Dead Horse Point State Park.
- 8/15/06 Arches National Park
Visitors Center
Moab Fault
Devils Garden Trail (1.6 miles round trip)
Sketch Skyline Arch
Windows Trail (1.1 miles round trip)
Drive 31 miles, Camp at Arches National Park.
- 8/16/06 Drive to Dinosaur National Monument
FAA Radar Station Fossil Collecting Site (Green River Formation)
Optional Stops: Harpers Corner Road, scenic drive.
Hike Plug Hat Trail (.25 miles)
Hike Harpers Corners Trail (1.5 miles)
Drive 209 miles, camp at Dinosaur National Monument.
- 8/17/06 Dinosaur National Monument
Raft trip on the Green River
Camp at Dinosaur National Monument.
- 8/18/06 Dinosaur National Monument
Tour Dinosaur Quarry and Museum
Hike Desert Voices Nature Trail (1.5 miles)
- 8/19/06 Start Return trip home.
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
Drive 611 miles, Camp at Lake Maloney State Recreational Area, North Platte,
Nebraska
- 8/20/06 - back to Fargo