Field and Lab Methods Field Trip

Big Bend National Park, Texas
Spring Break 2001

Field and Lab Methods Class of 2001
Back row: Jake Barnes, Jon Gentner, Bryan Warner, Doug Damery
Front row: Dr. Forest (Rock) Haines, Elysia Plotka, Dr. Sarah Hanson

You can click on the photos below to view them at a larger size.

Day 1. We drove and we drove and we drove. Then it got dark. We kept driving….Then it was morning.
Day 2. And we were still driving….. We finally stopped that afternoon at the Alamo and then found our way to the campground at Amistead National Recreation Area.
We camped along the shore of Amistead Reservoir shown to the right. Mostly, we were just glad to NOT be driving.
We're not sure who was cooking the
burgers here.
 But Sarah wasn't worried, she played her guitar and waited for dinner.
Day 3. We measured several stratigtaphic sections and collected fossils along US 90 just east of Big Bend National Park.
Jake, Rock, Jon and Bryan measuring a stratigraphic section at Prairie Canyon cut. Elysia and Jake measuring the Prairie Canyon Cut section.
Day 4. We hiked into Boquillas Canyon. Here we saw the Santa Elena limestone cut by a normal fault.
Beautiful exposure of a normal fault in Boquillas Canyon (on cliff face to the right of the river). Doug Damery sits in a small cavern in the Santa Elena formation
Sarah and Rock boot skiing down sand eroded from the Santa Elena formation.
After our hike we took the rest of the morning off in Boquillas, Mexico.
But first we had to get there, and the Rio Grande River was in the way. Fortunately, the Boquillas Ferry, the"La Enchilada",was there to take us across.
Our destination - Beautiful downtown Boquillas.
After a long morning of shopping for minerals and fossils and blankets and tacos and…. we decided to take a break. Juan Valdez dropped in for a visit.
He especially liked Sarah. Rock was very happy. Now he has something to tease her about for a VERY LONG time.
That afternoon we left Boquillas (and Juan) behind and returned to camp for a siesta. Later in the afternoon the students began their class projects which included measuring stratigraphic sections and mapping a section in Big Bend National Park.
Day 5. This day was spent mapping and measuring sections in Big Bend National Park
Rio Grande River from Elysia's section. South of the river (to the right) is Mexico. The wildflowers were doing famously that Spring.
Day 6. We finished the mapping projects in the morning and headed out toward Tornillo Creek.
Here Rock explains how to use fossils, lithology and sedimentary features to decipher the depositional history of an area
Day 7. This day was spent measuring sections in Santa Elena Canyon and near Terlingua, TX.
Bryan Warner in Santa Elena Canyon. Here Terlingua Creek cut through several hundred feet of the Santa Elena limestone.
Bighorn Sheep in Santa Elena Canyon.
Day 8. The hike to the South Rim in the Chisos Mountains was rained / fogged out. The mountains were in the clouds so bailed early and headed back to Michigan. Driving.
Day 9. So, yes, we spent the most of this day driving too but we made it back to Adrian early in the afternoon.