Gather up your picnic food, BYOB, and join us from the comfort of your home or backyard to see Garret Romaine, Executive Director of the Rice Museum, and Sheila Alfsen, GSOC President, take us on a tour of the Rice Museum collections.

Click for Zoom link.

This event will be rescheduled. 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. Tour is a one-mile loop on accessible sidewalks and in public buildings. Open to public.

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. 

This trip will focus on the geology and hydrology of the Johnson Creek Watershed. This will be an approximately 6 hour car tour led by Melanie Klym and Matthew Brunengo.

This trip through the geology of the Lewis River area involves about 2-3 miles of hiking. However, we will be driving about 120 miles total, so we encourage carpooling. Additional details and starting point TBA.

Field guide pdf can be found here.

Paul Edison-Lahm and Evelyn Bennett will be leading this beginner/intermediate level hike and car tour of Mt. Tabor and Powell Butte. No knowledge of geology is necessary. 

We will be starting early at the Mt. Tabor Visitors Center to beat the day’s heat and meet up with Friends of Mt. Tabor. We will encourage people to carpool from Mt. Tabor to Powell Butte. Bring a lunch!

Sorry this trip is sold out.

Sorry this tour is sold out!

This is a Central Oregon Geoscience Society field trip.

This field trip will explore recent mafic volcanism in the McKenzie Pass and Santiam Pass areas, with a focus on the Sand Mountain volcanic field. We will look at recent lava flows and tephra deposits, and at rivers, lakes, and groundwater that have been shaped by volcanic activity. We will also discuss hazards associated with mafic volcanic activity, including forest fires, disruption of water routes, and damage to infrastructure, agriculture, and tourism. 

Our sister club Central Oregon Geoscience Society (COGS) has extended an invitation for this field trip to GSOC members. This offers a great opportunity for meeting fellow geology enthusiasts and for building ties between our two organizations. More information and registration on the COGS website.

Sorry this tour is sold out. Stay tuned for our October 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.

This trip will focus on the geology and hydrology of the Johnson Creek Watershed. This will be an approximately 6 hour van tour led by Melanie Klym and Matthew Brunengo. Thanks to GeoEngineers for their generous sponsorship of this event. New start/end location: front of MILWAUKIE CITY HALL, 10722 SE Main St.

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 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. This event is sold out.

Join us at the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals for our annual potluck picnic, Sunday, August 12 at noon. Your $10 will go both to your day's museum admission and to your annual membership to the Rice Museum as a GSOC member. This year will be a great time to take advantage of this offer and treat yourself to a tour of this highly esteemed Pacific Northwest treasure.

Our speaker this year is Dr. Nick Famoso, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument Chief of Paleontology & Museum Curator, who will discuss the world-class John Day Fossil Beds. Nick's work has focused on the recovery of mammalian eco-systems after volcanic eruptions such as Mt. St. Helens and the Picture Gorge ignimbrite.

Picnic is potluck style, so board members will bring a main protein-based dish and general members may bring any type of side dish, dessert, or beverage (no alcohol). The Rice Museum is at 26385 NW Groveland Drive, Hillsboro, OR. Hope to see you there!

RSVP for the Potluck

With cooler weather forecast for Saturday, ride with us along the Eastbank from the Portland's youngest rocks to its oldest. We will dine after at the Milwaukie Station Food Carts and Beer Garden. No geologic knowledge required.

This is a 3-hour moderately-paced bike ride (9 miles) with a return by MAX. (A shorter 5 mile route, with return by MAX, is also available.)  We will be starting from "Peace Sign Park" at NE Oregon and Interstate.

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. 

We can't get enough of exploring Downtown Portland Building Stone! If you missed our Spring tour or just want to see more interesting buildings, join us for this two-hour walking tour of more of downtown Portland's geological mysteries and oddities. This tour is open to public. We will be meeting at Pioneer Courthouse Square, across from the 6th Avenue Pioneer Courthouse entrance. 

The Geological Society of the Oregon Country will host a one-day helicopter field trip of Mt. St. Helens. The helicopter tour is approximately 40 minutes of spectacular scenery as you fly over both the devastated area from the 1980 eruption and the crater itself. An educational presentation by Sheila Alfsen will precede your tour so that you can recognize and interpret the landscape in light of the greatest volcanic event in recorded U.S. history.

This trip limited to GSOC members and their guests only. Become a member today! 

This year’s GSOC picnic will be held at the farm belonging to GSOC Past President Janet Rasmussen and her husband Doug Rasmussen. It is open to GSOC members only. It will be held at 5401 NE Riverside Drive, McMinnville, Oregon. If you are coming, bring $5 a head to offset production costs, your favorite picnic chair, your favorite beverage and a side dish or dessert. Janet will be providing hamburgers and veg hamburgers, buns and condiments. Games will include croquet and billiards.

Become a GSOC member today!

Because of the high temperatures forecast for Saturday, the starting time for this tour has been pushed up to 9:00 a.m. We will fully refund your fee if you have already registered and the new time doesn't work for you. Sorry for the inconvenience. Email Paul with questions or cancellations.

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.

Join us for a one day field trip to study Missoula Floods gravel and cobble deposits, and Boring volcanism in Clark County on Saturday, June 17, 2017. Tour will be given by Bill Montgomery, CEMEX Executive, and GSOC Past Presidents Bo Nonn and Larry Purchase.

A One-day Field Trip

The Geological Society of the Oregon Country will host a one-day helicopter field trip of Mt. St. Helens. We will be based at Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center on the North Fork of the Toutle River. The helicopter tour is approximately 40 minutes of spectacular scenery as you fly over both the devastated area from the 1980 eruption and the crater itself. An educational presentation by Sheila Alfsen will precede your tour so that you can recognize and interpret the landscape in light of the greatest volcanic event in recorded U.S. history.

The deadline for your payment is Thursday, Sept 29th, 2016. Click for tour and payment information.