Denver Airport- Field Camp DONE

I'm sitting in the Denver airport waiting for my flight to Bozeman, MT to begin my Yellowstone REU. The past three weeks have been intense and long and also rushed so there is a lot to catch up on, maybe I will go in reverse order.

I had my friend from camp cut my hair last night. I really wanted to shave my head, it's the only time I'd ever be up for it. But I didn't have the proper equiptment. Instead, I had her cut it in a way that I wanted, it definitely needs to be fixed up a bit but it is super cute. I have a photo on facebook.

Last night we also received prank awards, and I got a first-aid award because 2 weeks ago I used my Wilderness First Aid skills to wrap up a guys ankle in the field. I ended up using an ace bandage, a towel, my shirt, my hat and duct tape. Yup, that's what they prep us for. Anyway, everyone was really grossed out that I put my had on his foot as a splint so that followed me the past three weeks.

Otherwise, we drove all the way from Dyer, NV through UT back to Canon City, CO in a day and a half. It was a marathon, and rough, but it was also gorgeous and a treat to drive by Great Basin National Park again.

The past two weeks we were based out of Dyer, NV where we each were in pairs and got to map our own square kilometer. These were mainly miocene tuffs and they had never been mapped before. We got to figure out the stratigraphy (rock units), name them and then map them. There were 8 groups and all of our maps fit into a piece of a bigger puzzle. Then for the past 7 years the field camp has been doing the same thing and all of those areas fit into an even larger map. I thought it was super cool to be able to do an actual project. My partner and I did a great job in the end and got solid grades.

I got the golden hammer. So, there is an individual award given out every year to the best all around field camper. This means that they were consistently solid in mapping and helped with camp life. The award is the coveted golden hammer (picture to come). I was pumped, I definitely worked hard, learned a lot and did my best to keep positive and help out. It totally paid off.

Before we were in Nevada, we were in Utah for a week. We went to Capitol Reef National Park for a few days and looked at the stratigraphy there, learned it in detail and then did a small mapping project. Then we went to the Henry Mountains and did a couple day mapping project. It is absolutely awesome and beautiful there.

Also in the past three weeks: I got my first stitches out, I went on my first motorcycle ride, and I saw my first tornado. :)