After realizing that in this whirlwind return to school that I'll never catch my tail, I figured I might as well crank out this last entry now before it gets any later. We were without either power, electricity or both on days 7 and 8, and day 9 was the flight back which coincided with St. Patty's Day. So forgive the tardiness, but hopefully that line of excuses suffices one way or another. There is still plenty of geology to cover, so let's get to it! Day 7: Our first stop was along a roadside carved through a U-shaped valley.... hint, hint. The lateral moraines rising up from Bishop Creek was the last piece of evidence we needed to certify that this was the result of glaciation (photo 1088). From there we followed the creek ("crick" ... read more

Day 5! Wednesday, March 13, 2012 (I decided I’m going to start adding dates for posterity) As is becoming customary, I will close out my blog from the night before. We arrived at the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Lab (SNARL) just as the sun was starting to set. We were a little disappointed because of our failed attempts at seeing the petroglyphs and Owens River Valley, but on a trip like this, morale doesn’t stay low very long. The immediate remedy, in fact, came from the Coso Volcanic Field group that prepared an Italian meal which would’ve nearly made Grandma Aquilina proud. We listened to Dan Dawson, the Director at SNARL speak briefly on what the research lab is, how it plays into the bigger picture of California’s education system, the opportunities it holds for graduate ... read more

Day 3! I’ll start by closing out last night’s log…. We made it to our campgrounds where there was a little diner opened for us to grab a quick bite. I got a bacon cheeseburger and the best tasting beer I’ve had in quite some time. It was just a Sierra Nevada, but after a long day in the field it tasted like nectar of the gods. The best part of it all was I was able to get 3G at the exact moment the Sabres were headed into a shootout vs. Ottawa. When Ennis netted the game winner, I cheered in solitude and raised my glass! Weeeeeeeee (are currently driving on a bumpy road, so I ‘m leaving the typo for effect) got back to set up camp. My tent is in kind of rough ... read more

After an eye piercing 5AM wake-up, our trip began. I could’ve done without shutting down Haakons with the MilVets last night, but I woke up with steam in the tank and excited for the adventure! As is customary, I arrived early to help lug the bags from the Faculty lounge in Schermerhorn down to the shuttles that were waiting to take us to JFK. After a few phone calls to a few oversleeping, post-midterm Ivy Leaguers, we herded the cattle and made our way from Columbia’s front gate to JFK. Weighted down like pack mules, we arrived with a healthy 15 large duffle bags of gear to accompany all of our personal necessities. We checked into our flight to the tune of some good news! Using my military ID, I was able to get the group ... read more