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Jun. 23rd, 2026
field camp was AMAZING! i went to a three week camp with another school, so it was a little intense because i was joining a capstone course without the same experience everyone else had (i was the only outside student!). i had a ton of fun and learned a lot, plus i made a really cool friend! our first project was mapping the legendary poleta folds, an area in the white mountains of california specifically set aside for geology training—the science as a whole has agreed not to make maps of the area public so that students have to map it themselves. it was a really challenging area with lots of strange faulting. i did pretty well, but there’s one hill that i simplified down to a thrust fault because i had NO IDEA what was going on and it turned out it’s a weird series of normal faults.
↑ the poleta folds
our second project was a strat column of ash and lake sediment layers. i missed a lot of points for silly things but my interpretation was pretty solid! i definitely don’t want to work in volcanology though, i spent the whole day getting silica dust in my eyes
after that we mapped an ore-bearing series of quartz veins in the aurora volcanics. this project was NOT for me. at this point i’d already realized that mapping is not my thing, and the project was done in conjunction with a mining company. i got a steak dinner out of it but i don’t even eat steak T_T it ended up being a little over focused on economic geology, and i just could not get myself to care
the last project was my favorite! we toured the eastern sierra nevadas and had to come up with a big-picture schematic cross section to explain the emplacement/stratigraphy of the area. this is the kind of geology i want to do! i’m hoping to study how rocks are deposited and i want to focus on large scales, particularly on mountain ranges, so this was the perfect assignment for me. it showed in my grade—this is what i did the best on!
↑ my schematic cross section!
overall i think i got what i set out to get out of the course; i’ve gained a LOT of field skills and can now locate myself on a topo map, which i thought i’d never figure out. i feel like it was a super valuable experience and it was a huge bonus that the group i went with was so wonderful! although i was exhausted by the end i almost wished for one more week
↑ the poleta folds
our second project was a strat column of ash and lake sediment layers. i missed a lot of points for silly things but my interpretation was pretty solid! i definitely don’t want to work in volcanology though, i spent the whole day getting silica dust in my eyes
after that we mapped an ore-bearing series of quartz veins in the aurora volcanics. this project was NOT for me. at this point i’d already realized that mapping is not my thing, and the project was done in conjunction with a mining company. i got a steak dinner out of it but i don’t even eat steak T_T it ended up being a little over focused on economic geology, and i just could not get myself to care
the last project was my favorite! we toured the eastern sierra nevadas and had to come up with a big-picture schematic cross section to explain the emplacement/stratigraphy of the area. this is the kind of geology i want to do! i’m hoping to study how rocks are deposited and i want to focus on large scales, particularly on mountain ranges, so this was the perfect assignment for me. it showed in my grade—this is what i did the best on!
↑ my schematic cross section!
overall i think i got what i set out to get out of the course; i’ve gained a LOT of field skills and can now locate myself on a topo map, which i thought i’d never figure out. i feel like it was a super valuable experience and it was a huge bonus that the group i went with was so wonderful! although i was exhausted by the end i almost wished for one more week