January: First off, I drove to Salt Lake City for a blogger meetup with Hgg. Later, I went to Elko for a meeting and to the lake to check out the snow.
Snow-covered valley in Utah with distant ice-fog.
February: MOH and I went to Great Basin National Park, which I've blogged about incessantly over these last couple years. I also made one roadtrip through Nevada, although I'm not sure why.
Ice near Sacramento Pass on the way to Wheeler Peak
March: In early March, I drove across the wet salt flats of Utah...
...and ended up on the icy mud flats of Alaska. In Alaska, we saw wildlife, a river (an icy river), a glacier (or not), a lodge with good beers, and more snow. I had flown north to see the Iditarod, but we ended up watching it on TV instead of braving the downtown cold.April: Work, nothing else.
May: MOH and I went to Wheeler Peak, and later in the month we attempted Spencer's Hot Spring (too crowded), stayed in Austin, hiked to the Cold Springs Pony Express Station (not yet blogged), and went to the lake. I drove across Nevada to go to the GSN Gold Symposium, and went on two field trips, including a stop at Goldfield.
Lupines and ash-flow tuff on the trail to the Cold Springs Pony Express Station.
June: MOH and I came back from our late May trip to the lake, and then I drove to Big Smoky Valley, stopping briefly in Kingston, Carver's Station, Manhattan, and Belmont. We stayed once again in Austin, and went to Wheeler Peak at the end of the month.
Spectacular lenticular cloud in Big Smoky Valley, east side of the Toiyabe Range.
July: The biggest trip of the year for both MOH and I, was our trip to central Oregon via a brewery, Jarbidge, Baker City, and John Day Fossil Beds. While there, we saw lots of geology. We then returned via the Winnemucca-to-the-Sea Highway, a story which is not entirely complete.
Mt. Jefferson as seen from the Dee Wright Observatory
August: Work picked up again in August, so I didn't travel much. I did, however, manage to make it down to that Nevada hub, Tonopah. Over the course of three days, I crammed in lots backroad driving while looking at various geological features...
The Crater, in Clayton Valley north of Silver Peak.
...wandering around a couple old stomping grounds...
A southern pass into Fish Lake Valley,
with Mount Pinchot (13,494 feet, 4113 meters) of the Sierra Nevada in the distance.
...and dropping in on the infamous Silver Peak.
The Miner's Inn of Silver Peak, now defunct and rather bland looking. Was once the home of Alice's Restaurant, where you could, indeed, get anything you wanted.
As you may remember, I returned from the Tonopah area on one of the dustiest roads in Nevada.
September: After going to Elko for a meeting, I drove through Ruby Valley (MSR Maps), then took a long dirt road through Long Valley.
Ruby Lake NWR in the fall.
October: I went on the GSN fall field trip (a very dusty and slow affair due to an inexperienced bus driver who didn't like dirt roads or mines); then MOH and I took our famed Ophir Canyon route to Middlegate and beyond, returning via Pyramid Lake and Austin, NV.
Old building in Austin, NV.
November: Work.
December: While I was returning from an unexpected trip to the lake, MOH was making his way through central Nevada to another destination, so we decided to meet at Middlegate Station, where we spent two nights. We attended one of their twice monthly (or every other week) Prime Rib feeds, which I highly recommend. We banged around on some rocks, looked for fossils, and walked around on the fault scarps from the 1954 earthquake at Fairview Peak, which wasn't very photogenic because of heavy overcast. Central Nevada roads, even in the lowlands, are no longer recommended because of mud, snow, and continued storms. The central Nevada lowlands in question are at about 4000 to 5000 feet in elevation (MSR Maps). Low lowlands below 4000 feet are muddy to questionable.
The 1954 fault scarp is that irregular line cutting across the face of the mountain, generally below bedrock and often near the top of the alluvial fan. The scarp is by no means linear, and more than one can be seen in places. (Photo taken at about 6500 feet on the east side of Fairview Peak from a muddy road.)
MOH and I have already been to Wheeler Peak once this month, where the slopes were partly hidden by slowly lifting ice fog.
Wheeler Peak shrouded by ice fog and ice clouds.
And the year isn't over yet!
Where have you been?
2010 Participants:
The Musings of a Life-Long Scholar
Geotripper
Geotripper Postscript
VWXYNot?
Mountain Beltway
Andrew's Geology Blog
Maitri's VatulBlog
Geology Happens
Magma Cum Laude
Chris Rowan at Highly Allochthonous
Point Source
En Tequila Es Verdad
Anne Jefferson at Highly Allochthonous
Georneys
Liberty, Equality, and Geology
11 comments:
I love how you get around. Another great year of travel!
Ooh, nice meme! I shall have to add this to my list of posts to write!
Gaelyn, seems like you get around also. :)
Cath, looking forward to your post!
All done!
This was a really fun meme to do. It helps that it was a fantastic year of travel, even though I only left the province three times (two trips were for work, and the other was only to Seattle, although I did go by bicycle, which was cool). I love how I have a record on my blog of everything I've done... I never used to keep a diary or journal, so this is a relatively new experience for me.
You've been added to the list of travel meme-ers!
This is a great post and a great meme! Your post reminds me that I need to spend more time exploring Nevada. Although, in looking at that Sacramento Pass ice picture, maybe I won't do it on my upcoming February vacation!
Cian, thanks! Nevada can be a little chilly for visiting in the winter, though southern portions of the state can be much better in February than in August. Beatty, for example. Hope you blog your trip!
I knew geologists travel frequently, but it's still a little surprising to see how much! It was really cool to see a little bit of so many different places.
Thanks for chaperoning this meme (or however it would be described) and for catching mine when it showed up.
That crater is volcanic, yes? I hadn't heard of much volcanism in Nevada - what is it doing there?
Helena, it is a volcanic cinder cone with basalt flow, there are a few here and there in Nevada, generally about a million years old and younger (with some being older) associated with the extension, high heat flow, and thin crust of Nevada. CVO lists a few.
wow, I can't believe it's one year ago. amazing set of photos!
Hgg - a whole year! And I haven't been back to SLC since - no, that's wrong, I went to the airport once.
Post a Comment