GSOC members can attend geological field trips led by professional geologists.

Field trips include both short local field trips and more adventurous multi-day overnight trips. Most trips require registering participants to be GSOC members. Registrants should be logged in before attempting to register.

GSOC is working hard to plan field trips for 2025. Please stay tuned for more information, which will be announced in the bimonthly email to members. The posted schedule on the home page will be revised and official trip descriptions added below in the Field Trips preparing for registration section as plans are set.

Members should receive an email shortly after midnight on the eve of the registration kickoff date that will contain a registration link. Registration dates are shown on the field trip schedule on the home page of the website. Members should use the button on the email to register - please disregard the button shown on the website because our membership platform adds those automatically and they don’t go to the right page for signup. Each member will only be able to register themselves and one guest. If you want to go, register as soon as possible because our trips are popular and sell out quickly.

Field Trip Preliminary Descriptions

This section is included to give prospective field trip participants preliminary information about trips being planned, so they may reserve (refundable) lodging accommodations and add the trips they are interested in attending on their calendars. Most GSOC field trips are self-catered (we do not provide food, lodging, or transportation). We cannot guarantee that everyone who wants to participate on a particular trip will be able to register, as participation on most field trips is limited due to space requirements.

Oregon Calderas Trip

May 31 – June 1, 2025

The AWG Pacific Northwest Chapter is teaming with the Geological Society of the Oregon Country (GSOC) to plan a trip that members of either organization (plus one non-member guest) may join. This trip will be based in Prineville, OR, and the trip leader will be Carrie Gordon. We will spend Day 1 exploring the 29.5 MY Crooked River Caldera and Day 2 exploring the 40 MY Wildcat Mountain Caldera. The Day 2 (June 1) program will end in time for those continuing on to the Ouzel John Day raft trip (to be led by Dr. Emily Cahoon) to get near the put-in that evening. This trip will be self-catered, so participants will be responsible for their transportation, accommodations, and food during the trip. The trip will be based in Prineville and lodging accommodations are available in this town.

The trip fee will be $40 (nonrefundable), and registration will be through GSOC’s website beginning on May 11, 2025. Use registration instructions per emails distributed by the trip organizers to GSOC and AWG members. Registration will be limited to 18 participants because of parking availability at some spots. Registrants will receive pdf guidebook materials and some handouts during the trip.  Please contact Marcia Knadle with questions or to join an interest list and get information on local camping and motels. Marcia will also assist with finding carpools and roommates.

Deep Time in the Spokane Area

June 20 - 23, 2025 plus optional overnight stay in Republic, Washington, on June 23.

The western edge of Laurentia (i.e., the North American continental core) was on the trailing edge of the continent between the previous two super-continental cycles. About one billion years ago during rifting of the Rodinia supercontinent, deep basins were formed that accumulated layers of sediment. Later, after the breakup of Pangea, this continental margin became active about 150 million years ago with active accretion and shortening of oceanic crust to form what is the western coastal states today. During the last 150 million years the continental edge has undergone compression from multiple subductions zones and resulting thrust faulting and relaxation, volcanic and plutonic intrusions, metamorphism, erosion, burial, accretion, and other such processes involved in an active plate margin. New dating and analysis tools developed and used in the last 30 years have allowed researchers to decipher the tectonic history and stratigraphic jumble, but there is still more to do!

The purpose of this trip is to view examples of strata from the Laurentia craton and the Belt Supergroup, the Deer Trail Group, the Windermere Supergroup, and Cambrian-Ordovician stratigraphy in the Pend Oreille Valley, all deposited on the trailing edge of Laurentia over a long span of time. Our trip guide will be Dr. Chad Pritchard of Eastern Washington University in Spokane. We will be looking at stratigraphy in northeastern Washington and western Idaho. We also plan to view some historic aspects of the mining industry in Silver Valley in Idaho. We will be meeting in Spokane on the morning of June 20 and staying until June 23. Travel will be by car caravan. After the trip itinerary is concluded, participants may stay overnight in Republic, Washington. We can look for fossils at the Stone Rose Quarry in younger Eocene strata there the next morning before breaking up the group. If you are interested in researching the topics we will cover in advance, we recommend getting a copy of GSA Field Guide 69, Proterozoic Nuna to Pleistocene Megafloods edited by Mark D. McFadden and Chad J. Pritchard. We’ll be visiting sites from the first two field trips. Also, if you are planning on driving to some of the sites, a Washington State Parks Discover Pass is convenient to own. Otherwise you may need to pay a daily fee of $10.

This trip will be self-catered. Participants should plan to stay overnight in the Spokane area the nights of June 19, 20, 21. and 22. You should also book a room in Republic for the night of the 23rd if you plan on visiting the quarry. Your reservations are recommended to be refundable, as we will only be able to accept 20 participants on the trip. Trip fee to be determined. Registration will open May 24. Questions can be sent to Carol Hasenberg.