heading to yellowstone

Posted by Alyssa Howlett , Sunday, June 20, 2010 6:06 PM

Oil update: We didn’t find oil, but we did do very well on the project! Jimmy’s Angels (my groups oil company) ended up drilling in the correct spot, we were right within the sandstone we needed to be in and we were projected to get over $184 million from our well and ~2.5 barrels total! We did really well in our presentation as well and ended up getting a 95/100! Again, top grade! :) YAY!

Since then we have been working on mapping Beaver Creek. This area is a lot closer to the mountains than we have been previously and was really messed up. There are rocks going everywhere and after we were convinced the rocks were formed one way, we would walk a little further and be confused again. We spend two days out there walking up and down ridge after ridge. The project was due this morning. I got it all done and fell good about what I marked down, but it was funny that no one had the same looking topographic map. The contacts were very hard to see due to a lot of alluvial material and vegetation. I will say, even though the formational structures were hard to figure out, it was really neat to see all the structures we talked about in class actually in front of me.

Later on Saturday, some of us went to see petrogliphs, Indian drawings carved into rocks! This older women showed us them and we took a ton of pictures! It was really exciting to see a drawing from so long ago.

On Friday night, Dirty Annie’s, the general store/restaurant up the street had a “Friday night event” which included a bond fire, dj, and karaoke. It was really fun. We all sang songs and danced around! A great last weekend for us. Since the place is up the road, we all walked, who knew it was going to be the longest walk ever! But, it was worth it. I wanted to sing “Party in the USA” but they did not have it! Crazy, how could they not have my song! So intend I say “See you again” by Miley (not as good as the first Party in the USA concert done on Halloween, but it was not to bad). Ha. We also did some swing dancing to the country music and then at the end, the dj played some dancing music! We busted out the moves! It was mainly just us at this event, but that is perfect because we bring the party!

We are heading to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and the Wind River Basin over the next 8 days. I am really excited since I have never been to these places before. The good thing is the whole time we are at Yellowstone, we don’t have any projects! We just fun touristy things with a little geology thrown in on the side for fun. I mean since we are nerds and like all that stuff. We are legit camping for 8 days. Yes, sleeping on the ground for 8 days, having to pay to shower, and cooking all our food. We usually take 4 vans into the field everyday, we are taking 6 vans on this journey across Wyoming, one being completely food! Whoa!

I also will be without a computer for the next eight days as well. No internet while camping in Yellowstone. So I will be slightly cut off from the world for a bit, but I will have my phone, and I hope I get service while I am out there (and I hope there are outlets somewhere, bathroom maybe? To plug my phone in! ahh).

Our last couple days on this trip will be spent doing our final project. Once we get back to camp on Tuesday the 29th we will finish the project and then clean up camp on Wednesday, then depart for Ames on Thursday! I really cannot believe how fast this has gone. After that first week, time here has completely flown by! I am glad and excited to get back, but also, it is nice here, in it own special Wyoming way. We are having a good time, and it is nice that this is a retreat for me. Nothing else to worry about, I am getting tan (kinda, I have some pretty special tan lines) and my hair has never been happier since I have only blown it dry 3 times. Ha Ha. It is going to be a switch going back to not being outside all day long and not climbing mountains