5 Participants of the Summer 2017 Geology Field Camp. It is hard to believe, but 2017 marked the 68th year for field geology along Eightmile Creek near Cañon City, Colorado. 2017 was an uneventful and delightful year for field geology. The weather was mostly mild, no severe thunderstorms forced us to huddle in low places, the cactus flies (gnats) were scarce and our cooks, Jan Van Pelt and Sabrina Hicks, did their best to make certain no one lost weight. Sixty two (62) students attended, including 33 from OSU and 29 from other institutions including Arkansas Tech, Cal State Sacramento, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Southern, Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne, Midwestern State, Sam Houston State, Sul Ross State, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Texas at Dallas. Camp started with cool weather and slowly warmed through the session. Field projects in 2017 included Phantom Canyon/Gnat Hollow, Grape Creek, Indian Springs Ranch, Mixing Bowl, Big Orange, Red Canyon Park, Blue Ridge and Twin Mountain. Field trips to Cripple Creek and Victor, Pikes Peak, Great Sand Dunes National Park, and Leadville provided scenic breaks from the demanding fieldwork. In the Cripple Creek and Victor area, we visited the CC&V Gold Mine and stopped at the recently opened overlook to watch excavation of the North Cresson pit. Afterwards, a group toured the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine and were delighted with the mining experience. This year’s trip up Pikes Peak was similar to 2016 in that our women drivers are still the coolest as evidenced by their van’s lower temperature brakes at the Glen Cove safety check station. Because of overflowing crowds at Garden of the Gods and a lack parking for our vans, we drove through the park and stopped only at the visitor’s center. Afterwards, we enjoyed a hike up Pulpit Rock and spent some time analyzing the ash- ‐rich early Tertiary sedimentary rocks that make up the feature. We visited Great Sand Dunes National Park on a beautiful mild and sunny day with little wind. In these ideal conditions, a group of about twenty climbed the tallest dune while the rest of our group enjoyed wading in Medano Creek and relaxing in the park and taking in the stunning vistas of the magnificent Sangre De Christo Mountains. At Leadville, Newmont Mining gave a tour of their water treatment facility that removes metals from the acidic mine waters draining from the YAK Tunnel. Newmont personnel outlined the physical and chemical processes used to clean the water and restore the pH before it is discharged into the Arkansas River watershed. While in the Leadville district, we collected water from a catchment below a sulfide dump, collected mineral specimens, toured the National Mining Museum and of course, threw snowballs. The fulltime faculty for the 2017 camp were George Bolling, Rick Hobbs, and Jim Puckette. Shorter- ‐term faculty included Natascha Riedinger who assisted with measuring section and Ahmed Ismail who supervised the geophysics project. Teaching Assistants were Michelle Abshire, Curt Carter, Gina Lukowczki, and Justin Steinmann. Tim Sickbert managed the camp and served as our medical officer. Tim also was the master griller for our weekend cookouts, which gave Jan and Sabrina a well-‐deserved break. Ms. Tiny Striegel of Cañon City, the poet laureate of field camp and an honorary alumnus of the Boone Pickens School of Geology, enlightened us with her ninety-‐four years of wisdom by reading poetry during supper. Numerous guests visited the camp including former students, friends of OSU, neighboring ranchers and other property owners where we conduct field exercises. We encourage to you to visit during the 2018 camp, which begins May 21 and ends June 22. Field Camp News
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