Upcoming Field Trips

Corral Bluffs, near Colorado Springs

The Colorado Scientific Society normally has spring and fall field trips.
Our No Moss Gatherings are short visits to interesting sites around the Denver area (from “a rolling stone gathers no moss”).

Click to Join or Renew your Colorado Scientific Society Membership

Note: The Colorado Scientific Society has adopted the federal fiscal year calendar of Oct 1 – Sept 30 for our expenses and membership. The vast majority of our renewals start late in the calendar year (~Nov) and dribble into the following spring (~March) with very few received outside that window.

Check the Fiscal Year 2026 CSS Paid Membership List for your status.

Colorado Scientific Society, Fall 2026 Field Trip
to Northeast Corner of Colorado

Saturday and Sunday, September 26-27, 2026
Leader: Bob Raynolds, Denver Museum of Nature & Science

This is a no cost CSS trip with participants purchasing their own meals and overnight accommodations.
It concentrates on water, archeology, and Oligocene geology.

Tom Westfall's book on artifacts found along the South Platte River. We will see the ancient quarries, and Tom will tell us about his research and collections.
Tom Westfall’s book on artifacts found along the South Platte River. We will see the ancient quarries, and Tom will tell us about his research and collections.

Travel to Northeast Colorado and consider:

  • Subsurface stratigraphy, including Ogallala Aquifer and river gravels
  • Archeology; surface finds and ancient chalcedony quarries
  • Neogene outcrops: White River, Ogallala, Arikeree?
  • Water issues: Surface vs. groundwater and interstate compacts (and conflicts), including Ogallala Aquifer and river gravel

Logistics:

DAY 1 including Ogallala Aquifer and river gravels

  • Car pool from Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
    Meet on the north side of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science at 8:30 AM on Saturday, September 26.
  • First stop at Rocky Mt Arsenal to tie into the basement injection well.
  • Then drive out I-76 to Sterling and the corner point marker following a new cross section along our route
  • Tour major private surface archeology collection and replication facility
  • Tour ancient chalcedony mines on Flat Top Mesa, a paleo chert quarry long used by indigenous peoples for material to make stone tools

Night in Sterling; options to camp at Reservoir or stay in Best Western Motel

View of the upper White River sediments on the High Plains escarpment. We will discuss the manner of deposition of these late Tertiary sediments.
View of the upper White River sediments on the High Plains escarpment. We will discuss the manner of deposition of these late Tertiary sediments.

DAY 2

  • Investigate surface and subsurface water use; municipal and agricultural
  • Examine the proposed canal route to be constructed by Nebraska to enhance their surface water supply
  • Review water use strategies by farmers facing diminishing supplies
  • Return to Denver Museum of Nature & Science at 6:00 PM

To sign up, email Bob Raynolds at: bobraynolds1@gmail.com

After you have signed up, Bob will send you any additional information about the trip, including any updates. (Updates may Not be posted to the CSS website.)

Future Trips
Bob says: “I plan this as the first of 4 trips, one to each corner of the State. The following three trips will be over the next few years, and each will likely be 3 day trips as they cover greater distances than this first one.”

At the Corner Point, field trip participants will be invited to collect a pebble. This will be affixed to a carefully crafted map of the State that will have space for three more pebbles to be collected on subsequent trips. The final four-pebble chart will be fridgable (that is worthy of hanging on your family refrigerator).

North Table Mountain, Lichen Peak – Postponed
CSS No Moss Gathering

This field trip was postponed due to the US Government Shutdown.
Leah cannot run it during the shutdown because it is USGS work.

Meeting place: North Table Mountain Park West Trailhead
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 noon
Trail: 575 foot climb over 0.85 miles from trailhead to summit of North Table Mountain

This field trip has been postponed due to the US Government Shutdown.
Leah cannot run it during the shutdown because it is USGS work.

Led by Ned Sterne, plus Leah Morgan (USGS), Bob Raynolds (if he’s in the country) and Lexie Millikin, the hike will go up the North Table Loop Trail, the first part of which is a gravel access road to the top of N Table Mtn, and then up to the “Lichen Peak” area. This latter place contains an unusual “squeezed up” area of lava (a laccolith, apparently younger than the rest of Table Mtn) which Leah, Lexie, et al. have been studying. They will show and explain all!

You might let Ned know (nedsterne@aol.com) if you are planning to come on this trip, so they know about how many to expect. Because Jeffco Open Space hiking regulations limit hiking groups to no more than 14, if there are more coming than this, they will divide into two groups, spaced a ways apart on the trail.

The West Trailhead parking lot can get very full on weekends, so it might be a prudent thing to arrive early to find a parking spot, or to find parking elsewhere if the lot is full. [Parking along the shoulder of Hwy 93, of course, is NOT an option.] One alternative, about a quarter mile toward Golden from the trailhead, off Pine Ridge Rd and then Wyoming Circle, is a small parking area (or curbside parking?) with a short spur trail that connects to the North Table Loop parking area. That can be an alternative if you find the Trailhead full up.

Link to 2005 CSS field trip to North Table Mountain lead by Harald Drewes.
Harald’s field trip guide is posted with the info. about the field trip.

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

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