Colorado Scientific Society, Fall 2026 No Moss Field Trip
Sandstone Ranch
Saturday, October 31, 2026
Leader: Ned Sterne, Consulting Geologist, Colorado Scientific Society 2022 President
Sandstone Ranch Open Space CSS No Moss Gathering – Saturday, October 31st, 2026
Join Ned Sterne between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday October 31st for a hike to discuss the geologic structure of Douglas County’s beautiful Sandstone Ranch Open Space. The hike will be divided into two parts. The first will be a 1.1-mile walk involving a 180’ elevation gain to see an exposure of the eastern range-front fault. After viewing the fault, we will return to the parking lot, which gives you the option of skipping the second part of the hike. The second part of the hike will be a 3.4-mile walk involving 275’ of vertical gain on the way out and 133’ of vertical gain on the way back. This part of the hike will take us to the site of 3 holes drilled by Shell Oil in the 1950’s used to determine the dip of the eastern range-front fault. We will discuss the surface and subsurface data, including seismic data, that inform the variety of structural interpretations made for this area. Total mileage if you do both parts of the hike will be 4.5 miles with 590’ of vertical gain.
Please email me at nedsterne@aol.com if you plan on attending, so I can let you know if we cancel the trip due to foul weather – if we cancel on the 31st, we will postpone the trip one week and try again on November 7th. Our meeting place will be the parking lot for the Sandstone Ranch Open Space (39.2252, -104.9415) located 1.7 miles south of the entrance to the Perry Park development and accessed via an entrance road west off SH105. We will start hiking promptly at 9:00 a.m. and will complete the hike around 1:00 p.m.. Bring water, a bag lunch and clothing suitable for a fall day in Colorado. My phone number is 303 829-2789 if you run into problems. If you would like to carpool, meet at 8:00 a.m. at the northwest corner of the Littleton Mineral RTD Station parking lot (39.5818, -105.0267). We will depart from there at 8:10 a.m.
Download a PDF with this announcement: Sandstone Ranch Open Space, CSS No Moss Gathering
More Information on Sandstone Ranch open space can be found at:
https://www.douglas.co.us/open-space-natural-resources/properties/sandstone-ranch/
Click on the button to “View the Interactive Map” for Douglas County. Sandstone Ranch is in south central Douglas County, south of Perry Park.
