super-cooper

While attending Mississippi State University and earning my Bachelor’s Degree in Geology, I attended the Summer Geology Field Camp of the University of Arkansas during the summer of 1999. The following tale is a write-up I did for the Geology Department newsletter at State after we returned. It’s amazing what you can find on those old ZIP disks that are lying around in boxes.

From May 17 to June 28, 1999, 18 students, two teaching assistants, and Dr. Doy Zachary participated in The University of Arkansas’ Summer Geology Field Camp in Montana. Students from Mississippi State University Geology included Jill “could you help me with these 15 bags of mine” McQuirter, Sherri “this sucks” Hamilton, Liz “shutup George” Hoffmaster, George “no, I can’t tell you where I found this dinosaur bone” Phillips, Dwight “this is not your room” Lockhart, Lee “I’m not drunk, I’m just tired” Seal, and myself (no, I’m not giving myself a derogatory nickname). Other students came from all over the U.S., including Virginia, Texas, Utah, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, and of course, Arkansas (pronounced Aw-kun-saw).

Geology Summer Field Camp-where else can you drop $2,500 to spend six weeks looking at the same long faces every single day? Probably nowhere. But seriously, in retrospect, I had a blast. While out there, I really missed my dog, and for me it stunk being away from what seems like modern life for so long. Others, whose names I won���t reveal to protect their butts, were more than happy to get out of the house and away from their significant others for so long. One of the beauties of Field Camp is that you basically have three responsibilities: be at the van at 8 a.m. to go to the field, do some sort of work in the field (or make your partner do it all), and turn in your projects (correct ones would be best). Aside from those three things, you have no other responsibilities whatsoever! When, I ask, could that ever happen to you again in modern life? Probably never. Anyway, the following is my attempt to hit on some of the high and low points of the trip.

Just like your Dad told you when you were a kid riding in the back seat, getting there is half of the fun. With a round trip of about 5,900 miles, we certainly did plenty of “getting there”. The trip to Dillon, MT took four days. Several people had never seen the Rockies before, so that was the first major “ooooohhhhh, aaaaaahhhhh” event of the trip. Dillon is a small cowboy town of about 1,000 people. It has plenty of bars (around 25), a Patagonia Outlet, and a Taco John’s. I recommend the The Metlen and the Patagonia Outlet, but don’t even ask about Taco John’s. The dorm facilities at Western Montana College were, let’s say, “cozy”. Dwight and I shared a room, and everyone told us that it smelled like dirty socks….that could have been because there was always a pile of my dirty socks and wet towels in the closet. I had never been to Montana before, and I loved it. The wide open spaces were my favorite aspect of Montana and Wyoming. Our first project was fun – beautiful views of snow capped peaks, mild temperatures and low, low humidity were accompanied by rattlesnakes, armies of blood-sucking ticks, and most importantly, ROCKS!

Birch Creek Station (BCS), what a great place. This is where we stayed next, about 20 miles out of Dillon. No one could figure out why we stayed out there, maybe it was to keep us out of the bars for a week or so. BCS consists of several nice rustic cabins built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930′s and a lodge which is much more modern, all surrounded by gorgeous mountains – the tallest of which is Mt. Torre at a little over 14,000 feet high. The three best things about BCS were the food, the food, and the food. And we’re talking homegrown cookin’ too folks, not cafeteria food – for breakfast: eggs, sausage, biscuits, pancakes, french toast, fruit, bacon; and for dinner: grilled hamburgers, tacos, fish, real baked potatoes, pizza, and for the grand finale – New York Strip cooked to order on the grill. We were in heaven…well, almost. Some people hated the isolation that BCS offers, I loved it. There was no TV, and hardly any stations could be found on the radio either. Time in the evening was spent “Hammin’ it up” (drinking Hamm’s beer, it’s quite shitty), playing card games such as Uno, Spades, and Egyptian Rat Screw, reading, sleeping, or occasionally actually working on projects (imagine that). The weather was interesting also, in one day while at Birch we saw snow, sleet, hail, and rain, all accompanied by high winds, of course.

After about a week we left BCS for a few days and went to Yellowstone National Park, Teton National Park, and Craters of the Moon National Monument. Craters made us think that we really were on the Moon with its’ desolate, blackened volcanic terrain. Unfortunately, the weather turned horrible in the Tetons and Yellowstone. While in the Tetons, we saw huge glacial lakes and crossed the Snake River about 25 times, but we couldn���t see the mountain tops for the low clouds. The day we went to Yellowstone, it rained most of the time. However, we did get to see the mud volcanoes, the sulfur vents, some of the geyser basins, buffalo, elk, and of course, Old Faithful. We had a great time on that regional tour and saw some impressive geology.

After our final short stay back at BCS, we departed for Glacier National Park. We were all pumped up and looking forward to this regional tour and for good reason, it was incredible. We stayed overnight in Missoula on the way to GNP and George pointed out that on the hills surrounding town, you can see sequences of horizontal lines that are markings of the paleo-water level of glacial Lake Missoula. We also drove across the Camas Prairie, where, when the ice dams of the glacial lake failed, water came rushing out and created the giant 10-20 feet tall ripple marks on the prairie floor. And then Glacier National Park – what a doosie – 70 degrees, blue skies, and some of the most awesome mountains and views of the entire trip. We tried to rustle us up a grizzly, but to no success. While at Glacier N.P., we were only about 25 miles from the Canadian border, so Dr. Zachary decided to take us to Canada just so we could say we had been there. (Begin sarcastic tone here) Let me tell you, there is no other feeling like the one you get while your van is being searched at the border by Canadian officials. One feels so, ..violated (End sarcastic tone). And in case you are wondering, they didn’t find anything illegal, and we were sent on our merry way into Canada, the land of very ornate road signs. And hey, with the exchange rate to our advantage, post cards were about 4 cents cheaper than in the states – what a killer deal.

Our final stay was at newly renovated dorms back at Western Montana College in Dillon. Here we went to the bar way too much and did several small two day projects. One project was glacial, so everyone from the south was pretty much lost on that one for a few hours. On the way home we stopped at Devils Tower, Wyoming. Devils Tower has a certain mystical quality surrounding it that is accentuated seven nights a week at the KOA campground when they show “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” on the big screen TV out back. The drive from Devils Tower to Fayetteville was insane – 24 hours straight – and my eight hours of driving just happened to be during the violent thunderstorm from Hell. However, in the end, we all made it back to Fayetteville with all of our fingers and toes and tons and tons of rocks. When I finally made it back to Starkville, I had been up for somewhere around 40 hours with about 1 hour of sleep. I think I can speak on behalf of most everyone when I say that we had an awesome time. Sure, there were times when you wanted to kill one or two, perhaps three of your comrades, but that’s what happens sometimes on long journeys. To sum it all up, we made lots of new friends, went to some great places, saw some awesome sights, learned a ton about geology, and drank lots and lots o’ beers.

Some suggestions for future participants (i.e., you jokers that are going this coming summer):

• Take clothing to cover any climatic condition possible on the face of the earth, seriously. Take enough stuff to get you by in 95 degree heat and 20 degree snow storms.
• Don’t worry so much about packing too much stuff to take with you. Just ask Jill on this one. Unless there are 50 people going (highly unlikely) you have enough room to pack a ton of stuff. We could have all taken mountain bikes with us practically. Find out how many people are going and pack accordingly.
• While on the road, eat at grocery stores; fruits, sandwiches, and the like…it’s a lot cheaper and easier.
• Have a very warm sleeping bag, for you will need it. If you are buying a bag, don’t skimp and buy some department store special…you will be cold while camping. Also have some sort of sleeping pad.
• If you can, take your own tent. At times, you will want to get as far away as possible from others while camping.
• Take a small desk lamp with you, the lighting at most of the places you will be staying is poor for map work.
• Dr. Zach can cash checks for you in Dillon – ATM fees will kill you, so I was told.
• Take your Walkman so you can drown out unwanted van jibberish.
• Take your rock ID books, maybe a structural book and your petrology and structural notes, but that is about all you will need. Don’t bother taking your whole library.
• Have good boots for field work, preferably thick leather. Cactus spines go right through canvas and into your toes.
• Don’t eat ham or turkey sandwiches for months before you go. Trust me on this one.
• If (or should I say when) you fall asleep in the field, make sure you have your shirt on. Just ask Dwight.
• Have fun, enjoy it as though it were a vacation, take in all the views, see all of the sights, and make an A!

Top Ten Sayings Overheard at Field Camp ’99

1. “Hey, can you louder that?”
2. “Dwight, this is not your room!”
3. “I don’t care about you pushing me in the fire, I just want my damn beer!”
4. “Oh, did I say that outloud?”
5. Q – “What time is it?” A – “Beer-thirty”
6. “Hey (insert name here), this is your face – WHAM!”
7. “I’m not drunk, I’m just tired.”
8. Q – “What is this?” A – “AFR” (Another Fucking Rock)
9. “Let’s go to The Metlen!”
10. Any statement involving the term “fixin”.