Day: May 21, 2019

2019-09-20 Pat Pringle: Geology of Mt. Rainier Field Trip

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Sept. 20-22, 2019:  Mt. Rainier Field Trip

Professor Emeritus Pat Pringle of Centralia College and colleagues led a 3-day trip to the Mount Rainer area to see the geology of this fantastic mountain and its geologic and environmental effects on the surrounding region.  Participants provided their own transportation and lodging (in Ashford and Packwood); we provided field trip log, a published guidebooks, experts on specific aspects of the geology and geomorphology, and a chance to see one of Washington’s three active volcanoes.

The trip started at 11 am Friday at Mud Mountain Dam Park south of Enumclaw.  We made a CCW circumnavigation of Mt. Rainer and ended up on the northeast side on Sunday afternoon, east of Enumclaw. Rain and socked in that day, but good wx for the first two days. Many of the stops were roadside, but we took several 1-2 mile hikes with 300-500  feet of elevation change.  A good time was had by all, and a true value at $50 each.

Pat Pringle

For more info, you can download the preliminary field trip route and schedule by clicking here. In addition, Pat published a guide to this area that will serve as a more comprehensive resource. Pdfs of the various chapters of the Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier National Park and vicinity, Information Circular 107 (IC-107) as well as pdfs of other publications can be downloaded via links in the Washington Geological Survey’s online catalog.

Go to this link, and then go down to the WGS publications catalog link. This catalog gets updated regularly. Suggestion, it may be easier to download the book as individual chapers, because the entire book is >300 MB.

2019-07-15 Kitty Reed: Fort Worden Geology beach walks

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Bluffs at Fort Worden

Beach Walks on July 15 and 31, 2019:  Geology of Fort Worden Bluffs

Kitty Reed describing sedimentary features exposed in the bluffs on the north side of Fort Worden

July 15th and July 31st

Geology group advisors Kitty Reed, Michael Machette, and Keith Norlin led two beach walks along the bluff on the north side of Fort Worden.  These walks took 2-3 hours each and occurred during morning low tides:  July 15, Mon., 9-12; July 31, Wed. 9:30-12:30. We looked at the sediments that record much of the late Pleistocene history of the area, as well as on-going bluff erosion. A fee of $10 per person (paid at time of field trip) was charged to cover our photocopy costs.  Each trip was limited to 15 persons, and registration deadline is a week before each trip.

To download a more recent guide for this trip click here*. The long version of the self guided field trip is found on the QGS website; titled:  Geology of bluff along North Beach, Fort Worden (updated 2023) – click here.     *This link is temporarily not working, check back soon 2/2024.