Flatirons
Mineral Club Field Trips
· Unless otherwise stated, trips take place on Saturday or Saturday and Sunday.
· Due to liability concerns, field trips are open only to FMC members and their guests. Nonmembers may attend only as personal guests of individual members.
· Please RSVP to the field trip leader or designated contact person as early as you can to make planning easier.
· Because many of the trips are on private land and claims, we must abide by any restrictions they choose to set.
· You must RSVP to go on a trip. Sign up at any meeting or contact the trip leader before the day of the trip.
· Unless it is cleared with the trip leader in advance, start times are firm.
· If you find you can’t go on a trip you’ve RSVPd for, please let the leader know if at all possible.
· All participants are expected to abide by the AFMS Rockhound Code of Ethics.
We
would love to have two field trips a month throughout the summer, but we need
more volunteers to lead trips. Perhaps you have a favorite place to go
collecting that you would like to share with club members, or maybe there’s a
new place that you’d like to explore with others in the club, or pick a
collecting place out of one of the Colorado collecting books and have other
club members join you. If this sounds
like you, consider leading or co-leading a trip for the club. Leading a trip is pretty simple, you just
need to select a place and date, promote the trip and get club members to sign
up, collect the liability releases from participants, and go out and have a
good time. For more information about leading a trip, or to suggest a trip, please
contact Anita Colin or Gabi Accatino.
For information about any field trip or to sign up for a trip, contact Gabi Accatino or the field trip leader.
Planning Your Own Field
Trips
Colorado is blessed with many, many areas of geologic interest. When planning
you summer trips to visit our beautiful state, consider adding a stop or two to
learn more about Colorado geology and perhaps do some collecting. One resource
for discovering is the Colorado Geological Survey’s publication, Rock Talk. This
newsletter is devoted to “Colorado’s Magnificent POGIs” or places of geological
interest. There are 20 pages of place to go and see dinosaurs and fossils,
minerals, mining history and mine tours, scenic geological sites and
activities, and cave tours. If you would like to find collecting places
in Colorado, Pete Modreski of the USGS has published
a great article.
The article describes many collecting sites in the state, plus recommends
several books that list collecting localities. Another source of collecting
places is http://www.peaktopeak.com/colorado/index.php3,
which lists areas by location and mineral. And, don’t forget one of the best
sources for collecting ideas – our own club members.
If you found some great specimens at one of our club field trips, or on a trip of your own, please bring them to the next club meeting to show others. Everyone enjoys learning where to collect specimens and what can be found.
Remember: While
you are out collecting this summer, pick up specimens for grab bags. Each year we need nearly 10,000 specimens for
the grab bags we fill. The money earned
selling grab bags is used for college scholarships for geology students.
2013 Field trips
April
27 (Sat.) – North Table Mountain (Golden, CO), seeking zeolites. Trip leader: Dennis Gertenbach.
Once again, we will be going to North Table Mountain outside of Golden for our
traditional first collecting field trip of the year. Everyone will find several zeolite minerals,
including analcime, thompsonite,
and chabazite, plus there are a number other minerals
at the site. There is now a new trail to
the site, which is much less steep than the one we have taken in years past.
The hike from the parking
area is about a mile, climbing about 700 feet in elevation. There is a new trail to the site, so the hike
is not as steep as the previous route.
This is a great trip to take kids, as everyone will find specimens to
take home. Children must be accompanied
by an adult. If you would like to come
on this trip, you can sign up at the April meeting or contact Dennis Gertenbach. Details about the trip will be sent to those
who sign up for the trip. If we are
snowed out, the trip will be postponed one week to May 4.
Future trips, proposed &
in development:
2013 trips past:
Check out
previous years' field trips
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Updated
3/18/13