Geotrippin’ Parte the Seconde

Where were we before the craziness that was this weekend happened? Oh. Right. Oregon!

Forgot to mention our stop by the Prehistoric Gardens on Day the Seconde, didn’t I? Allow me to rectify that with this nifty picture of a T-Rex, me, and a Stellar’s Jay.

Moi at Prehistoric Gardens. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.
Moi at Prehistoric Gardens. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.

We didn’t have time to go fool around inside, but we got a brochure for Evelyn, because we’re going to drag her there when she visits. Absolutely!

At the beginning of Day the Thirde, we dipped into California for a very brief time. I haven’t got any pictures of the knockers there, but I will have someday, because sea stacks stranded inland? Hells to the yes! They look awesome.

We were, however, burning to get to the Josephine Ophiolite, and we zipped along the Smith River, and suddenly…

Moi avec sheeted dikes. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.
Moi avec sheeted dikes. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.

Wow.

All those rocks are sheeted dikes. It’s the first time I’ve stood on same whilst knowing what I was looking at, and now I’d swear I’ve seen some in the North Cascades, and I’m burning for the snow to melt and the parks to open so I can hunt them down again. These are polished to a lovely pearly gray sheen by the river. If you click the linky, you’ll see how they form. I’m standing on what used to be a rift. Yowsa!

Moi at greatest serpentinite outcrop I've ever seen. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.
Moi at greatest serpentinite outcrop I’ve ever seen. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.

Further up Highway 199, you can turn off on a little gravel road by Patrick Creek and stop by this roadcut just off the highway and ZOMG. The serpentinite in this cut is outstanding. Above, you see me on a mission, getting ready to attack with hammer and camera.

Crop of Moi at greatest serpentinite outcrop I've ever seen. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.
Crop of Moi at greatest serpentinite outcrop I’ve ever seen. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.

If you’ve ever wondered what field work for all these geology posts looks like, that’s it. Also, I now have ten tons of serpentinite, and if you want some, all you have to do is ask nicely and it shall be yours. Eventually. When I make it to the post office. As RQ just how often that is – I still haven’t sent her the prints I promised! But it will probably be there before you die of old age. Possibly.

Moi staring at another outcrop. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.
Moi staring at another outcrop. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.

This is an outcrop just up the highway from Patrick Creek. I can’t remember a damned thing about it. I *think* this is when  we were encountering the Galice Formation, and this weird-looking stuff is all the crushed and altered rock in a fault. I sorta-kinda remember discussing it. I really need to remember to scribble down a few notes at stops – my memory isn’t always triggered by images, although words will do it. And I somehow have to remember that my memory’s been about as good as that of a geriatric goldfish in oxygen-poor water, but I keep forgetting.

Where was I? Oh, right. Galice Formation. It’s ocean floor sediment stuff, slightly metamorphosed. Which means things like slate.

Moi collecting slate at a Galice Formation outcrop. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.
Moi collecting slate at a Galice Formation outcrop. Image credit Lockwood DeWitt.

Some of this slate had a bizarre rainbow sheen like an oil slick – Lockwood thinks it might have been caused by metals being deposited by water. I’ll show you more of it when we dig into the details of these stops.

Thus ended Day the Thirde – and that was the day we got to a hotel at a reasonable hour, and had time to mess around before dinner. This. Never. Happens. And yet, we’d seen a ton of interesting stuff, talked to interesting people (the rangers at the Gasquet Ranger Station Visitor Center are outstanding people, and they know their geology, and they have a guide to the Josephine Ophiolite available for free!), and collected a variety of wonderful rocks. I don’t know if that will ever happen to us again, but it was veryvery nice.

And now, to the caves! Bat caves, even, although we didn’t see any bats…

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Geotrippin’ Parte the Seconde
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8 thoughts on “Geotrippin’ Parte the Seconde

  1. rq
    1

    The fact that you made it in at a reasonable time speaks to improving planning abilities. ;)
    I’d love some serpentinite, but I doubt it ships well (or cheaply!), so I’ll just have to look around and see if I can find my own.
    Waiting for more!
    (PS As for those prints, it might help if I actually sent you my mailing address… hahaa, miracles don’t happen. I’ll get on that.)

  2. 3

    Forgot to mention our stop by the Prehistoric Gardens on Day the Seconde, didn’t I? Allow me to rectify that with this nifty picture of a T-Rex, me, and a Stellar’s Jay.

    But, but ..but ..where are the T-rexes feathers!? ;-)

    Maybe you could’ve “volunteered” to help out science education and our revised understanding* and added some while you were there? (A tarred and feasthered T-rex?)

  3. 7

    T-Rex, me, and a Stellar’s Jay

    So, two dinosaurs and a mere mammal then!

    Lovely rocks! You can bring me one if you come to my hurling thing in the fall.

  4. 8

    Siiigh, happy. The Smith River pict is amazing, and now thanks to your trip ’round the Cascades I will have a whole new way of seeing my home when I finally go back again.

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