Upcoming Field Trips

Featured
Eastbank Bike GeoTour & Picnic
Jun 23
Eastbank Bike GeoTour & Picnic

9 Mile Ride with Return by MAX
Join us for our first annual Eastbank Bike GeoTour! We will be riding from the youngest to oldest rocks in Portland/Milwaukie along the Eastbank Esplanade and Springwater trail, with a picnic stop at Westmoreland Park.

This is a half-day event with a picnic stop. The ride is 9 miles long with return by MAX, although a shorter 5 mile route is available. Please bring snacks, water and picnic lunch and be prepared to ride in sun or rain.

2018 Annual Potluck at Rice Northwest Rock and Mineral Museum
Aug 12
2018 Annual Potluck at Rice Northwest Rock and Mineral Museum

This year’s GSOC potluck will be held at the Rice Museum. Your $10 will buy annual admission to the Rice Museum as a GSOC member. (Open to GSOC members only.)

Become a GSOC member today!

Mt. St. Helens Helicopter Tour
Aug 18
Mt. St. Helens Helicopter Tour

Once again this year, Sheila Alfsen will host a tour by helicopter of Mt. St. Helens and the surrounding devastation area on Aug. 18, 2018. The trip will be conducted at the North Fork Survivors Gift shop, located at 9745 Spirit Lake Hwy, Toutle, WA, 98649. Helicopters are flown by Hillsboro Aviation. The price includes a presentation in the gift shop theater of the 1980 eruption and its aftermath, and a 40 minute flight over the devastated area and close up to the crater where you can see the effects on the landscape.

Additionally Nathan Reynolds, Ethno-ecologist and Habitat Program Manager for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, will be giving a presentation about the federal designation of Lawetlat’la/Mt. St. Helens as a Traditional Cultural Property of the Cowlitz Tribe and Yakima Nation. Other activities available at the site include picnicking, gift shop browsing with Big Foot memorabilia, and a Lahar buried A-frame house.

GSOC President’s Field Trip: Camp Hancock with the Rose City Astronomers
Sep 14
GSOC President’s Field Trip: Camp Hancock with the Rose City Astronomers

This field trip, organized by GSOC President Paul Edison — with past-presidents Rik Smoody, Bo Nonn, Sheila Alfsen, and Larry Purchase — will focus on the geology of Camp Hancock and the John Day basin. We will be attending an Astronomy Star Party as guests of the Rose City Astronomers and OMSI.

Note: this trip will include two evenings of observing as guests of Rose City Astronomers/OMSI. Evenings under the stars can be quite cold in September. Conditions at Camp Hancock are primitive. We will be sleeping two nights in bunkbeds with thin mattresses in shared bunkhouses. As the camp is set up for dark sky observing, red lights will be provided for navigating in nighttime. Restrooms are 10-50 yards away. No food is allowed in cabins. Cars are off limits at because of car lights. Daytime will include hiking over rough terrain in hot weather. Rattlesnakes and ticks have been observed on the trail.

UPDATE: Registration will open June 15. Limited to GSOC members and their guests only. If you have questions, please call Paul at 971-404-6064.

Johnson Creek Watershed Geology Tour
Sep 29
Johnson Creek Watershed Geology Tour

Led by Melanie Klym and Matthew Brunengo. This trip will focus on the geology and hydrology of the Johnson Creek Watershed. Details TBA.

Downtown PDX GeoTour (South Tour)
Oct 6
Downtown PDX GeoTour (South Tour)

Come see billion-year-old building stones and the fossils hidden under our feet. Join us for a two-hour outdoor walking tour of downtown Portland’s geological mysteries and oddities. This tour is open to the public.

What to Bring on a GSOC Field Trip

  • Bring boots, raincoats, layered clothing even if it's not raining.  Be prepared to get wet and muddy.
     
  • Pack a lunch unless a lunch destination is announced, then bring lunch money.
     
  • You must be a member of GSOC or a guest of a member to participate in the field trips. Become a member of GSOC!
     
  • The GSOC Board has decided that a registration fee will be charged on GSOC field trips. Refer to the trip description for the fee. 
     
  • We encourage carpooling and may need to mandate carpooling on certain trips if parking space is limited at the stops on the trip. People who carpool are also asked to share the cost of the gasoline for the vehicle in which they are riding.
     

Our Previous Adventures

Previous Field Trips

Featured
Helicopter Trip to Mt. St. Helens
Helicopter Trip to Mt. St. Helens

A small party of GSOC members braved the iffy weather on September 9, 2017, to take a new view of Mt. St. Helens, aboard a helicopter owned and piloted by Hillsboro Aviation Company, on a trip of geologic discovery organized by Sheila Alfsen. The flight was launched from North Fork Survivors tourist complex on Spirit Lake Highway east of Toutle, Washington.

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The Great Eclipse Camp-Out
The Great Eclipse Camp-Out

Twenty four GSOC members and their guests made it to the camp-out in Mill City, Oregon, hosted by GSOC member Dennis Chamberlin, and led by GSOC President Rik Smoody. The purpose of the field trip was to get a bunch of science-minded individuals together to observe one of the most accessible eclipses of this century, and enjoy a bit of geology and camping.

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Mt. Hood field trip
Mt. Hood field trip

Larry Purchase writes about our recent amazing GSOC Mt. Hood field trip "My thanks to all who contributed, especially..."

  • Janet for her firm Presidential direction: "No Matter What! Don't Cancel!"
  • Ellen for naming the flowers and appreciating the hydrology of the White River stream flow.
  • The Smoody Family for reconnoitering the area for years.
  • Julia for taking such great photos. Wrecking yard junk at the bottom of the Parkdale Lave Flow?
  • The park rangers for warmly welcoming us and giving us a wonderful tour of the Cloud Cap Inn.
  • Eric & Paul for organizing a last minute car load of participants.
  • Most of all to Bo! — for devoting so much time and energy in researching the geology and preparing such a concise, to the point, field trip guide.
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Jan and Janet Discover Mima Mounds from Google Earth Image
Jan and Janet Discover Mima Mounds from Google Earth Image

President Janet's SE Oregon Scouting Trip (Take Two)

On Monday, June 1, Jan Kessler and I headed down to SE Oregon to scout my field trip stops for the September GSOC trip. My husband Doug and I did a preliminary trip last August.

We had Marli Miller's new Roadside Geology of Oregon with us so the navigator could read aloud from it as we travelled. It was very helpful. We stopped at Glass Buttes off Hwy 20 between Bend and Burns. Neither of us had been there before. The turnoff is on the south side of the highway, just west of milepost 77. Look for a cattle guard. I was disappointed that it wasn't a sparkling glass mountain as I had imagined.

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GSOC 50 Years Ago, 1964 Annual Campout
GSOC 50 Years Ago, 1964 Annual Campout

Friday, September 4th, 1964, GeeSockers began to gather at the Rujada Forest Camp. As shadows vanished in the twilight, the dancing council fire drew everyone to exchange views with the stars and each other. Trip Chairman Truman Murphy wore out his thumb with his guitar accompaniment of the songfest from “Barney Google" to 'Goodnight Ladies", while Echo II sailed overhead. 

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Sheila's 2014 President's field trip to Silver Falls and Eastern Cascades
Sheila's 2014 President's field trip to Silver Falls and Eastern Cascades

Recent pictures from Sheila Alfsen's President's field trip to Silver Falls State Park and the Eastern Cascades. Photos & selfie courtesy Carol Hasenberg.

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Scouting Steens Mountain for Janet's 2015 Field Trip

One of the joys of planning a GSOC field trip is pre-running a trip itinerary to find the best sites of geological interest. Janet and Doug Rasmussen recently returned from scouting Southeastern Oregon for Janet's Steens Mountain 2015 field trip and all indications are that GeeSockers will be in for a treat next summer!

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Spring Field Trip to Lewiston Basin & Snake River
Spring Field Trip to Lewiston Basin & Snake River

Dave Olcott led this Spring's field trip to Lewiston Basin during the week of April 30th, 2014. Keegan Schmidt gave the orientation on Wednesday April 30th at Lewis & Clark State College. Dean Garwood, and Roy Breckenridge of the Idaho Geological Survey at University of Idaho have documented the trip in their beautifully illustrated Lewiston Basin Field Trip Guide.

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