Geology Club Field Trip
Hot Springs, Arkansas
November 18-21, 1999

The field trip participants taking a break at Brady Mountain Overlook after a hard day of collecting quartz crystals.
Stephanie Lozon, Elysia Plotka, Terry Tackett, Tommy Clark, Kelly Ryan, Todd Penner, Joe Fakult

Day 1. We got a late start. Then we drove and drove and drove to this great campground in Lake Catherine State Park.
Day 2. We spent the day collecting quartz crystals at Fiddlers Ridge Quarry. All of the students brought back beautiful quartz specimens.
Students collecting quartz crystals at Fiddler's Ridge Quarry. Note the ever present red clay. We got a little dirty but it was worth it! Todd Penner, Terry Tackett & Joe Fakult
Lake Ouachita from Brady Mountain Overlook. It was here we sorted our excellent quartz booty. That evening, Terry Tackett cooked venison burgers for everyone.
Day 3. We spent the day in Montgomery County collecting wavellite and then ventured to Magnet Cove, AR to collect aegerine and brookite crystals. We then visited the Midstate Quarry and finished the day with a private tour of the mineral collection of Clyde Hardin. Some of us (namely the trip leader) spent way too much money in his mineral shop.
Dr. Sarah Hanson and Al Falster (one of our guests from the University of New Orleans) excavating fantastic wavellite specimens from a vein exposed in this quarry.
Students comb the road cut looking for aegerine crystals that have weathered out of the alkalic rocks of Magnet Cove.
Group photo at Midstate Quarry. We found numerous neat minerals here.
Back Row: Dr. Sarah Hanson, Terry Tackett, Joe Fakult, Todd Penner
Front row: Elysia Plotka, Stephanie Lozon, Tommy Clark, Kelly Ryan
Day 4. We collected pyrite from Magnet Cove and then headed out for the long drive home.
Packing 101. As we were preparing to leave Lake Catherine State Park, the students were forced to suffer through a lesson in how to pack the van. The abbreviated version of this lesson was: "Do NOT pack the luggage on top of the potato chips and bread."
Tommy Clark with his bag of pyrite crystals.