While I did have wifi most nights, what I didn't have was energy and time to say anything of substance regarding the day's sights and events. So starting day 2, I made my priority to get my photos downloaded to ye old electronical difference engine, and get a few "teasers-" photos I was pleased with- uploaded to Twitter, with a minimum of commentary and concern with geological utility. I figured those things were better addressed with blog posts, which simply were not going to happen. Between the difficulty of sleeping in unfamiliar beds in unfamiliar settings, and days that invariably ran longer than anticipated, I think it's fair to say all three of us spent the trip in a state of semi-exhaustion, and complete exhaustion by the time we retired to our respective rooms.
So herewith are the photos I posted from the road, more or less in the order we visited the sites, along with the associated Twitter comments I made when posting them. I'm not going to try to resize these to larger, but they should all get much bigger if you click on them or open links in new tabs with a right-click.
Booyah geotweeps! Tired, but great geo! Few pics: 1, Salt Creek Falls, yday
Volcanclastic seds, diatomite, coal, on Rt. 97 N of Klamath Falls, ~30 mi.
Pinnacles, Crater Lake NP
@Dhunterauthor in front of lahar deposit filling cut into volcaniclastic sed layers
Platy jointing 1; hammer middle bottom for scale.
Platy jointing 2, partway up Doherty grade. #1 in left middle of #2
Pisolitic texture in devitrified rhyolite (I was reminded later by @CGKings317 that the correct name for these structures is "spherulites," however, I'm not sure "pisolitic texture" would be incorrect in this context. Any geo-terminology nerds care to clarify?)
Filling in the happy little alluvial fans- Doherty Rim
One more pic before bed: Hart Mountain (on right) from near Adel, OR.
Summer Lake: a geologist was here (before us, I mean)
Ball & pillow structure in Table Rock tuff cone deposits.
Yaaaaaay! Correlation is fun! (Table Rock tuff cone deposits)
@callanbentley The rarely observed "splort structure." (Table Rock tuff cone)
Palagonite tuff at Fort Rock, OR
3 episodes of palagonite tuff accumulation, 2 of sloughing into blast crater, & 1 major episode of wave erosion.
Mahogany obsidian (looks like Glass Butte) in facade of hotel where staying tonight (Budget Inn, Bus. Rt. 97, Bend OR)
Parasitic cinder cones on NW flank of Newberry Volcano, from top of Lava Butte
A few final teaser photos from last day of volcanic rambling: 3 Sisters, Paulina Peak Pinnacles & Paulina Lake
Paulina Lake, Central Cinder Cone, East Lake and obsidian flow, ringed by Newberry Caldera
Contorted flow banding in Newberry Obsidian Flow (need to measure lens cap, but recollection is 52 mm)
Flow banded block broken off and re-entrained in more flow banded obsidian, Newberry Caldera, OR.
One more: Dee Wright Observtory, McKenzie Pass, OR: a most propitious place to observe volcanoesKeep in mind, these are intended just to be quick and dirty updates, and to tantalize various geobloggers with hints of things to come. I will post the majority of these photos again with more detailed discussion and many additional shots from the same stops and areas. I shot 625 pictures on this trip, so the above, while including some of my favorites, are truly only a drop in the bucket. Also be sure to follow @Dhunterauthor (En Tequila Es Verdad), who was my impossibly generous sponsor, delightfully enthusiastic traveling companion, and increasingly, dear friend on this grueling but wondrous excursion. She probably took twice as many photos as I did. The third member of our company, Cujo359, blogs at Slobber and Spittle, and while not as enamored with things geological as Dana and I are, also helped underwrite my participation in this adventure, and showed enduring patience in the face of our lithic fixation. He has already posted a lovely picture of a rail trestle west of Oakridge OR, and will undoubtedly post further documentation of this trip in the days and weeks to come. Followup: Thanks to a commenter on that post, information on a large landslide has come to light, which Cujo359 has gone through and discussed in detail at the link. For example, mud/debris lines 50 feet up the tree trunks...
I make no promises regarding the regularity or frequency of posts in this series, but I'm looking forward to working through some first-hand experiences at long last. Stay tuned!
Thanks for mentioning my railroad bridge article. Thanks to a commenter, I found out some interesting information about the area around that bridge that I've added to it. Turns out that geology really does matter. ;-)
ReplyDeletePoor Bif! I wish his caregivers had been more caregiving, but at least he survived and readjusted to having his papa around quickly.
ReplyDeleteRunning round in the field with you was fantastic - so glad we did this! Already wanting to do it again, now I've (almost) caught up on sleep. Suppose I should organize photos and write up this trip first, though... ;-)
Thanks for showing me some of the most awesome sights of my life!
@Cujo359- Thanks for updating post; hadn't heard of that slide.
ReplyDelete@Dana- Bif is still being kind of clingy. He slept on my lap for several hours last night; normally in this warmer weather it's 10-15 minutes, tops. Kind of dreading diving into writing this thing up. Will probably take more total time to write up than it did to DO it! So glad we pulled this off; many spots I figured I'd likely never see again, and few who even know of them. Would have been a huge loss. Looking forward to more!