Fieldtrips
The Spring Calendar of Field Trips is beginning to take place.
How To Enroll. Field trip fees are $10 per person and your online payment below will enroll you on the trip.
Refunds & Cancellations. If you can't go, you may give away or sell your spot to someone else, but refunds are not issued unless the Club cancels the trip.
How to Get There. All participants are responsible for their own travel to the destination. Before the trip you will receive a trip planner by email with details about the destination, travel directions, road conditions, what to bring, and nearby camping areas.
Membership Requirement. You may attend one Club function (one field trip, open shop, or demo etc.) to find out if you like what the Club has to offer. Thereafter membership is required to participate. If you see more than one trip on this list you want to attend then please Join the Club. Annual membership prices are very reasonable.
How To Enroll. Field trip fees are $10 per person and your online payment below will enroll you on the trip.
Refunds & Cancellations. If you can't go, you may give away or sell your spot to someone else, but refunds are not issued unless the Club cancels the trip.
How to Get There. All participants are responsible for their own travel to the destination. Before the trip you will receive a trip planner by email with details about the destination, travel directions, road conditions, what to bring, and nearby camping areas.
Membership Requirement. You may attend one Club function (one field trip, open shop, or demo etc.) to find out if you like what the Club has to offer. Thereafter membership is required to participate. If you see more than one trip on this list you want to attend then please Join the Club. Annual membership prices are very reasonable.
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Sandhill Crane Migration
and San Luis Valley Geology Saturday March 12 (plus or minus March 11 to 13) Trip Leader Jama Crawford Driving through the San Luis Valley at maximum speed, one would never know the treasures this valley conceals. This is a true rift valley with faults that penetrate the Earth's crust all the way to the mantle. River re-routing and plunging rift effects left the valley north of the modern Rio Grande River high ... but not dry. Snow melt flows in, but not out, and the valley feature over 120,000 acres of wetlands. This gave rise to the largest intermountain waterfowl migration in the U.S. We will bear witness to this breathtaking migration, while learning about the geology that supports it. Our focus will be on 20,000 Sandhill Cranes, the largest and most entertaining of the valley's avian visitors, so bring binoculars and a camera. Most activity takes place on Sat March 12 (a day trip is possible but involves 5 hours round trip driving and returning home after dark) but several side trips are planned for Mar 11 and 13 if you can stay over. Lodging is in short supply so find a hotel room quickly preferably near Monte Vista, where we will meet. Heated camper trailers, trucks and vans should be able to handle overnight temperatures (in low 20s) but this is not a tenting weekend. Cranes have always been an art inspiration for me, so expect to be awestruck. |
ON YOUR OWN
Fossils/Rocks to Be Seen
These sandstone, mudstone, and shale layers from the Fruitland Formation are very colorful, from the brown-ochre tones of the badlands to yellow-orange rock formations and hoodoos, as well as light gray mud hills, charcoal colored badlands and occasional coal seams. Fossils include petrified wood and many animal fossils, including dinosaur bones and early mammals. Again, no collecting is allowed. During the Cretaceous Period, the San Juan Basin is believed to have been a beach/marsh complex resembling coastlines such as modern Louisiana or the Carolinas today, with land to the west and inland sea to the east. Palm wood is common throughout the San Juan Basin as are dinosaur fossils of both herbivore and carnivore species.
References
BLM Website - http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/wilderness_and_wsas/wilderness_study_areas/wilderness_study_areas/Ah_shi_sle_pah_WSA.html (retrieved Sept 2016)
American Southwest Website - http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/ah-shi-sle-pah/ (retrieved Sept 2016)
Chaco Canyon 1:100,000 scale topo map
Google Earth 36 deg 10 min 29.33 sec North 107 deg 52 min 42.12 sec
Submitted by Tom Strain, Sept 2016
Fossils/Rocks to Be Seen
These sandstone, mudstone, and shale layers from the Fruitland Formation are very colorful, from the brown-ochre tones of the badlands to yellow-orange rock formations and hoodoos, as well as light gray mud hills, charcoal colored badlands and occasional coal seams. Fossils include petrified wood and many animal fossils, including dinosaur bones and early mammals. Again, no collecting is allowed. During the Cretaceous Period, the San Juan Basin is believed to have been a beach/marsh complex resembling coastlines such as modern Louisiana or the Carolinas today, with land to the west and inland sea to the east. Palm wood is common throughout the San Juan Basin as are dinosaur fossils of both herbivore and carnivore species.
References
BLM Website - http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/wilderness_and_wsas/wilderness_study_areas/wilderness_study_areas/Ah_shi_sle_pah_WSA.html (retrieved Sept 2016)
American Southwest Website - http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/ah-shi-sle-pah/ (retrieved Sept 2016)
Chaco Canyon 1:100,000 scale topo map
Google Earth 36 deg 10 min 29.33 sec North 107 deg 52 min 42.12 sec
Submitted by Tom Strain, Sept 2016