From the Peak to the Park: The Geology of Pikes Peak Country, Colorado

17-22 June 2006 (5 days, 6 nights)

The Nature Place Conference Center
Florissant, Colorado

 DAILY ITINERARY

DAY 1: SATURDAY, JUNE 17:

• Between 10:00am – 2:00pm local time, arrive at the Colorado Springs airport to meet the shuttle van(s) to The Nature Place (about an hour's drive).
• Relax & tour the conference center grounds before social hour at 5:00 in the lodge.
• Dinner is at 6:00, followed by brief presentation.

We will have the following schedule each day:

SUNDAY–THURSDAY, JUNE 18–22:

• 8:00 breakfast in the lodge (sack lunch provided for the day's field trip)
• 9:15 leave by van for a day in the field
• After 5:00...return from the field
• 6:00 dinner
• 7:30 evening program (a preview of the next day's field activities)

Specific topics for each day's excursion and evening program:

Sunday, June 18 -

Introduction to stratigraphy and structure of the southern Front Range along the "Gold Belt Byway", Cripple Creek to Canon City via Helena Canyon ("Shelf Road"), Garden Park dinosaur fossil localities, Canon City embayment, Skyline Drive (Dakota hogback), Royal Gorge overview, return via Currant Creek fault zone and High Park.

Evening: "A Look into the Basement", a preview of Monday's trip through the Proterozoic crystalline rocks of the area.

Monday, June 19 -

Basement geology from Wilkerson Pass (South Park) to Pikes Peak batholith, anatectic migmatites in sillimanite-grade metasedimentary rocks, three generations of Proterozoic granitic plutons (I-, S-, and A-type spanning a 700-million year interval) and associated pegmatites and mineral deposits.

Evening: preview of Tuesday through the Eocene Thirtyninemile volcanic field.

Tuesday, June 20 -

Mid-Tertiary volcanics, emphasizing paleogeographic control of early pyroclastic flows (36 Ma. Wall Mountain Tuff) and later domes, lava flows and lahars of the Guffey volcanic center, all part of the Thirtyninemile Volcanic Field, the second largest in Colorado.

Evening: preview of Wednesday's trip through the Florissant lake beds in and near Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Wednesday, June 21 -

Relation of volcanics from the Guffey volcanic center to the formation of Eocene Lake Florissant, with its remarkable preservation of 1700 species of plants and insects. Within the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument we'll visit the petrified forest area and examine the paper shales and tuffs of the Florissant Formation. Afterwards, well stop at a private fossil quarry outside the Monument for collecting .

Evening: preview of Thursday's trip to Cripple Creek mining district.

Thursday, June 22 -

Cripple Creek Mining District and the geologic controls on the localization of the alkaline diatreme that hosts the gold telluride ores. Tour underground workings (now dormant) at the Molly Kathleen Mine and current large-scale heap-leatch surface mining operations of Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining Co. (AngloGold Ashanti).

Evening: Farewell banquet and closing remarks.

Friday, June 23 -

Pack and leave for Colorado Springs airport after breakfast.

GUIDEBOOK:

Daily handouts will cover each trip and topic; other reference material will be available for purchase such as:

• GEOLOGIC GUIDEBOOK TO THE GOLD BELT BYWAY, COLORADO
  by Thomas W. Henry, Emmett Evanoff, D.A. Grenard, Herbert W. Meyer, and David M. Vardiman (2004), 112 p., $19.95.
• MESSAGES IN STONE, COLORADO'S COLORFUL GEOLOGY
  edited by Vince Matthews, Katie KellerLynn, and Betty Fox: Colorado Geological Survey, 2003, 157 p., $16.95.

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