Upcoming Field Trips


Corral Bluffs, near Colorado Springs

The Colorado Scientific Society normally has spring and fall field trips.


2023 Colorado Scientific Society Field Trips

We are working on several field trips at this time.


No Moss Gatherings

As in “a rolling stone gathers no moss“.
These are usually half day trips close to the Denver area.
Pete Modreski started these in the Spring of 2022, to encourage CSS members to get out after the Covid-19 shutdown.


Red Rocks Park – CSS No Moss Gathering

Saturday, March 30th 2024, 9:00 AM to noon

Steve Cumella and Mark Kirschbaum, USGS will lead this trip.

Red Rocks Amphitheater
Red Rocks Amphitheater

Join Steve Cumella and Mark Kirschbaum on Saturday March 30th for a 3-hour tour of the spectacular Fountain outcrops in Red Rocks Park near Morrison, Colorado. Park in the Upper North Lot (see attached map) and meet at 9:00 AM at the top of the Amphitheater. From there, we will walk 2.25 miles through the Amphitheater and along the Trading Post Trail for a cumulative 675’ of elevation gain and 670’ of elevation loss. Park entry is free and all are welcome to join us for this Colorado Scientific Society No Moss Gathering. Bring your expertise, your questions, your curiosity, and most of all – have fun!

The Pennsylvanian-age Fountain Formation is spectacularly exposed at the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Morrison, Colorado. The Fountain is composed of thick-bedded arkosic sandstones and conglomerates interbedded with dark maroon mudstones. The Fountain is believed to have been deposited by alluvial fans being shed eastward from the Ancestral Front Range. On this fieldtrip we will examine sedimentary features of the Fountain. Surprisingly, no detailed modern sedimentologic study has ever been done on the Fountain at Red Rocks, so we can discuss how well the features we observe fit within an alluvial fan model. Fortunately, high-resolution Google Earth imagery is available for the Red Rocks area and this imagery offers the opportunity to attempt to correlate the Fountain stratigraphy. The attached Google Earth images show possible Fountain correlations. (See the “Red Rocks, Google Earth Dec 2020, Cumella” PDF below. The colored lines on the images show possible correlations.) During the fieldtrip we can see how well these correlations hold up.

Flyer for Red Rocks Park No Moss Gathering 3-30-24.
Print and bring it with you.

Images showing correlations: Red Rocks, Google Earth Dec 2020, Cumella, 5.4 MB
Print this and it bring it with you.

Red Rocks Park map for field trip (in flyer for field trip)
Red Rocks Park map for field trip (in flyer for field trip)

See our Past Field Trips for other places and topics the Colorado Scientific Society has explored.

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