The Colorado Scientific Society usually has Spring and Fall field trips. Here are trip guides, maps and pictures from past field trips. The most recent field trips are listed first.
The field trip guides for some field trip’s can be downloaded, usually as PDFs. The size of files larger than 3 MB is called out in the link, e.g. “Quaternary San Luis Basin, Ancient Lake Alamosa, 2007 (PDF 4.6 MB)”.
Past Field Trips listed by Date
For past field trips listed by date, click here.
The above lists include additional field trips for which we have fewer details.
Searchable Table of Past Field Trips
Major field trips are added to this searchable table, first.
Find field trips by name of trip, leaders, year-month, and keywords
- Click on the Year-Month link in a row to open the entry for the field trip.
- Search: You can search the table for a leader’s name, part of a field trip’s name, or other keywords. Use the Search box on the right, above the Keywords column header.
- Sort: You can sort any column in either ascending or descending order. Use the up and down arrows in the column header line.
Note: This is a partial index, including field trips from 2005-present. There are only entries where we have field trip guides, pictures, or other details. Additional field trips are being added.
Information about Field Trips
- Field trips include links to digital copies (PDFs) of trip guides and maps. Clicking on a link will open the PDF in a new tab.
- The text in the linked articles looks original, but it is searchable and selectable. (Text in maps and cross-sections in NOT searchable or selectable, because this can degrade the image.)
- Sizes of large downloadable files and maps listed after the name.
Past Colorado Scientific Society Field Trips
| Name of Field Trip | Leaders | Year-Month and Name Link to Field Trip Details | Other Keywords Used in searches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caribou Mine Tour | Peyton Jackson | 2024-June, Caribou Mine Tour | Gold, silver |
| Wildcat Mountain and onset of the Laramide Orogeny in the Denver Basin | Bob Raynolds | 2024-June, Wildcat Mountain | Deposition, Arahapoe conglomerate and aquifier |
| Fountain Formation in Red Rocks Park | Steve Cumella, Mark Kirschbaum | 2024-March, Fountain Formation in Red Rocks Park | Deposition, Ancestral Rockies |
| Touring Pikes Dome; Deformation of the Rocky Mountain Erosion Surface and Its Effects on Landscape Evolution and Drainage Reorganization across the Colorado Piedmont and Front Range | Ned Sterne, Cal Ruleman, Bob Raynolds, Steve Keller | 2023-Sept, Touring Pikes Dome | Pikes Peak, post-Laramide uplift, ancestral South Platte river, Castle Rock river, Calhan Paint Mines, Castlewood Canyon, Florissant Fossil Beds |
| Huntsman Gulch | Lew Kleinhans, Pete Modreski , Ned Sterne, Cal Ruleman | 2022-Nov, Huntsman Gulch | Barite, Junction Ranch Fault, Guy Gulch, Huntsman Gulch Fault, Crystal Cave |
| Central City Gravel: A Pleistocene Till with Profound Geomorphic Relationships | Cal Ruleman | 2022-Oct, Central City Gravel | Pleistocene till, Neogene tectonics |
| Enigmatic Ralston Salient | Ned Sterne | 2022-July, Enigmatic Ralston Salient | |
| Proterozoic structures of the central Colorado Front Range | Yvette Kuiper | 2022-June, Proterozoic structures of central Colorado Front Range | Yavapai/Mazatzal orogenies, Picuris orogeny, Edgar Mine |
| South Table Mountain, Lubahn Trail above Golden | Pete Modreski | 2022-May, South Table Mountain above Golden | Lubahn Trail, Denver Formation, Shoshonite |
| South Table Mountain, southeast side | Bob Raynolds | 2022-May, South Table Mountain, southeast side | Denver Formation, Shoshonite. K/Pg Boundary |
| North Table Mountain | Pete Modreski | 2022-March, North Table Mountain | Denver Formation, Shoshonite |
| Toe Thrusts and Turtle Toes – Trackways and Tectonics of the Boulder-Weld Allochthon | Sue Hirschfeld, Beth Simmons, Bruce Trudgill, Bob Raynolds, Ned Sterne | 2021-Sept and Oct, Cretaceous Trackways and the Boulder-Weld Allochthon | Boulder, dinosaur, turtle tracks, White Rocks, toe thrusts, Denver Basin, Laramie, Fox Hills |
| Corral Bluffs and the Rise of Mammals after the K/Pg Mass Extinction | Sharon Milito | 2020-Sept and Oct, Corral Bluffs | Colorado Springs Denver Basin |
| Geology of Western Margin of the Denver Basin | Mark Mitchell, Jason McGraw, Donna Anderson, David Lindsey | 2019-May, Denver Basin Geology | Magic Mountain Paleo-Indian, Chieftain Mine, brick, Loveland Mine, White Ash Mine, Golden, Clear Creek, Pleistocene alluvial terraces |
| Geology of the Upper Arkansas Valley | Karl Kellogg, Cal Ruleman, Scott Minor | 2018-Sept, Upper Arkansas Valley | Northern Rio Grande Rift, Laramide Orogeny, magmatism, tectonism, sedimentation, Glacial outwash floods, minerals, silver, gold, molybedenum, landslide |
| Front Range Geomorphology and Mysterious Gravel Deposits | Cal Ruleman, Bob Raynolds, Beth Simmons | 2018- April, Front Range Pleistocene Geomorphology and Mysterious Gravel Deposits | Pleistocene Glaciation, Eocene Rocky Mountain erosional surface, Central City Gravel, Idaho Springs, Pinedale moraines, Clear Creek, Bear Creek |
| Flat Tops/White River Plateau | Linda Soar, James Hagadorn | 2017-August, Flat Tops - White River Plateau | Devonian, Paleozoic section, glacial history, Bison Lake, Crane Park Quary, Dyer Formation, vertebrate teeth |
| Geologic Wonders of the Hart(sel) of South Park | Peter Barkmann | 2017-June, Geologic Wonders of the Hartsel of South Park | Hartsel, Garo Sandstone, South park Formation, Neogene from compression to extension, Pleistocene glacial outwash |
| Colorado’s Permian-Triassic: the Lykins Formation | James Hagadorn | 2016-August, Colorado's Permian Triassic - The Lykins Formation | gypsum, Jelm |
| Basement hosted sandstone dikes of the Colorado Front Range (Tava sandstone) | Christine Smith Siddoway, Scott Lundstrom | 2016-June, Basement hosted sandstone dikes of the Front Range | Precambrian sandstone dikes, Neoproterozoic |
| New discoveries of dinosaur tracks and markings at Dinosaur Ridge | Martin Lockley | 2016-June, New Dinosaur tracks and markings | dinosaur mating scrapes |
| Middle to Late Cenozoic Geology and Geomorphology of the Laramie Mountains, Wyoming | Emmett Evanoff | 2015-Sept, Cenozoic Geology of Laramie Mtns, Wyoming | Gangplank, Sherman Surface, Chugwater Creek, Hartville Uplift, White River formation, paleovalley |
| Boulder Floods of September 11-15, 2013 and Impact on the Landscape | Rich Madole, Peter Birkeland, Sheila Murphy, Jonathan Godt, Dave Sutherland | 2014-Sept, Boulder Floods of Sept-2013 and Impact on the Landscape, CSS field trip | Fourmile Canyon Creek, Bear Canyon Creek |
| Green Mountain kimberlite pipe, Boulder Colorado | Pete Modreski | 2013-July, Green Mountain kimberlite pipe, Boulder, CO | |
| Catastrophic Glacial Outburst Floods on the Upper Arkansas River | Keenan Lee, Cal Ruleman | 2012-Sept, Glacial Outburst Floods on Upper Arkansas | Lake Creek glacier, Clear Creek glacier, Pine Creek glacier, ice dam, |
| Pegmatites near Harris Park, CO | Pete Modreski | 2012-July, Harris Park pegmatites | Family friendly, mineral, gem, quartz crystals, Pegmatite Points, |
| Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad Geology Train Excursion | 2012-June, Cumbres and Toltec Geology Train | Narrow-gauge railway | |
| Late Cenozoic Evolution of the Colorado Rockies; Evidence for Neogene Uplift and Drainage Integration and New Insights into the Cambrian-Devonian Depositional Systems and Paleoenvironments of Western North America | Andres Aslan, Paul Myrow | 2011-May, Late Cenozoic evolution of Colorado Rockies | Glenwood Canyon, Colorado River, Lava Creek B |
| Geology and Mining History of the Western San Juan Mountains | George Moore | FT_2011-Sept-Oct, Geology of the Western San Juans | mining history, Silverton, Ouray, Red Mountain, Animas Forks |
| Aspen region, Grand Loop Field Trip—A Tribute to Bruce Bryant | 2010-Sept, Grand Loop Field Trip | Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Independence Pass, Upper Arkansas Valley, Maroon Bells, Roaring Fork Valley, Grizzly Peak caldera | |
| Victor Mine and Front Range Geology | Tim Brown | 2009-May, Victor Mine Tour and Front Range Geology | Cripple Creek, gold, open pit mine, heap leaching |
| Northern Never Summer Range volcanic field - The search for Braddock's Caldera | Ed Larson, Jim Cole, Karl Kellogg, Lang Farmer | 2008-Sept, Northern Never Summer volcanic field - The Search for Braddocks Caldera | Never Summer Mountains, Cache la Poudre River paleovalley, Bill Braddock, mid-Tertiary gravels, pal |
| Quaternary Geology of the San Luis Basin near Alamosa, Colorado with Ancient Lake Alamosa | Michael Machette | 2007-June, Quaternary of San Luis Basin with Lake Alamosa | Sangre de Cristo fault zone, Mesita Volcano |
| South Platte Country, White Cloud Pegmatite, Buffalo Creek Fire and flood | Pete Modreski | 2005-June, South Platte Country - White Cloud Pegmatite, Buffalo Creek Fire and flood | South Platte River, Pikes Peak Granite, Spring Creek |
| Volcanic and Plutonic rocks of Table Mountain | Harald Drewes | 2005-April, Volcanic and Plutonic rocks of Table Mountain | shoshonite, Golden, Ralston dikes |
| Black Hills and Badlands, South Dakota | Emmett Evanoff, John Lufkin, Jack Redden, Alvis Lisenbee | 2004-Sept, Black Hills and Badlands, South Dakota | pegmatites, Tertiary White River |
| Proterozoic Accretionary Terrane of the Central Colorado Front Range | Lisa Fisher, Thomas Fisher | 2004-Aug, Proterozoic Accretionary Terrane of the Central Colorado Front Range | |
| The Colorado Front Range, Anatomy of a Laramide Uplift | Karl Kellogg, Bruce Bryant, John C. Reed, Jr. | 2004-May, Colorado Front Range, Anatomy of a Laramide Uplift | |
| Laramide and Precambrian Geology and Tectonics of the Central Front Range | Robert Weimer, Lisa Lytle, Thomas Davis, Thomas Fisher | 2004-April, Laramide and Precambrian Geology and Tectonics of the Central Front Range | |
| Northern San Juan Volcanic Field | Peter Lipman | 2003-Sept, Northern San Juan Volcanic Field | Cochetepa Park, Creede, La Garita, Lake City, San Luis, caldera, Fish Canyon Tuff, |
| Pawnee Buttes | Emmett Evanoff | 2003-Spring, Pawnee Buttes | Bones Galore, Ogallala |
| Geology of West-Central Colorado, in Glenwood Springs and Aspen areas | Bruce Bryant, Ogden Tweeto | 1982-Oct, Geology of West-Central Colorado | Dotsero, Glenwood Canyon, Aspen, Maroon Bells, Eagle Basin, White River Uplift, Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado River |
