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Fossil Beds National Monument: 2005 GSOC President's Field Trip
by Janet Rasmussen
On the weekend of September 17 and 18, I joined a couple dozen folks for the Geological Society of the Oregon Country President's Field Trip to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. We stayed at Hancock Field Station, operated by OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). The accomodations, for me, were in a women's dorm, or "shed" as we referred to it. It had a roof, bunks, some heat and electricity, but the door didn't really shut. No complaints were permitted; Evelyn remembered when it had no electricity or heat.
I got there after dark, and settled in. In the morning we had a bountiful and delicious breakfast prepared for us; and packed lunches for the day's tour of the area. Evelyn and Tara joined me in my car, and we followed the crowd to Blue Basin.
Blue Basin is located off Hwy. 19 south of Kimberly, Oregon. An unexpected bit of geology here would make you believe you were in the Badlands of South Dakota, looking through a blue-green filter.
GSOC members enjoying the walk.
Another beautiful view of Blue Basin; I couldn't get enough!
We stopped at the Cant Ranch, which was the Visitors' Center before the new one was constructed. There we had lunch and a view of Sheep Rock.
Sediments exposed near Sheep Rock.
We had a great visit to the new Visitors' Center, just a short walk up the highway. Murals and reconstructed fossil skeletons create a sense of life in this part of ancient Oregon.
We stopped to see the Goose Rock Conglomerates and I got a nice specimen, but it looks like a chunk of concrete.
Our leader, Charley Carter, holds forth regarding the stratigraphy we are seeing.
A boulder of the Goose Rock Conglomerate.
We stopped to look at the pictographs that give Picture Gorge its name. They are faded and have been overwritten with graffiti.
The pictographs of Picture Gorge.
Evelyn, Tara, and I stopped in Fossil on the way back for gas and film. We took a small detour to look at the county courthouse there, and discovered this row of teapots ornamenting the fence line of a house across the street.
The following day, the itinerary was for short or long walks from the Field Station. We were happy not to have to drive, and I chose the long walk. Many got up early for a dawn walk, but I confess to sleeping in...
We walked to the Clarno Nut Beds, where many of the fossils in the Visitors' Center came from. Although we couldn't collect from the Monument, we enjoyed looking for fossils at the surface.
This, I think, is a small nut fossil I found. I also found some wood and stems in the layers here.
About half of our group made it to the top of the Red Hill. It was a steep walk.
Most of the juniper was living, unlike this example. The juniper have become pesky since they aren't controlled by fire (fires being suppressed), so other means, including controlled burns, are used to control them.
We left the monument, and entered some private ranch land. Emily, our leader, said the owners gave permission for Hancock Field Station staff to lead people through this area to the Slanting Leaf Beds, where we could legally collect fossils.
Most of the time we were on a trail, but on the private land, we walked cross-country.
Once we got to the leaf beds, I ate lunch quickly and climbed up to the beds which were at the top of a steep slope of loose rock. Those who stayed below found just as many fossils as we did up at the top.
But I wanted a fossil that hadn't seen the light of day in 30 million years. And I did find a few, mostly metasequoia, and an alder leaf.
On the way back, I passed the Hancock Tree, a fossilized, still-standing tree trunk in a volcanic outcrop.
