Field Trips

Field Trips

Be sure to join your friends and neighbors on one of these great opportunities to meet other cabin owners while learning more about the area around our cabins.

Sign up early for any trips you have planned and check back here to get the latest information as plans do change. We have some good ideas for this year!

Additional Field Trips

Suzy Cyr has agreed to work on 2024 Fields Trips. She is looking for ideas that pique your interests. In the past we have had geology, history, flowers, trees, mushrooms, and more. If you have any ideas for field trips, please email Suzy at suzy@seahorsestudio.net.

2024 Field Trips

July 27th Field Trip – Rocks and Fossils

TIME:  1:00PM
LEADER: Carl Buchholz
MEET AT: Kaner Flats Campground, Little Naches Road.
INFO: Carl Buchholz buchcs@aol.com or 509-966-4861

The thundereggs are small but many have very high quality. Some have green areas and red veins in them with crystalline quartz centers. We will also stop along the way and look at plant fossils in road cuts. These sites are right next to the roads. The thundereggs are in loose soil at this location, so they are easy to dig and screen.

Tools to bring, if you have them: rock hammer, shovel, trowel, a three prong scratching digging garden tool, containers like zip lock bags to collect into, if you have a 1/4 inch hardware cloth screen bring it, some flat boxes like grapes are packed in to place fossil in, some pieces of carpeting, rags, old towels, or newspaper to place between the rocks to protect them when packed in a box, gloves, knee pads are nice, and water. You probably don’t have all these things, but bring what you have. I have extra rock hammers, small picks, and army shovels that you can borrow. This will be a good field trip for children, because it is easy digging and they can find some excellent thundereggs and fossils.

2023 Field Trips

July 8: Tree Health and Forest Ecology

We will meet at the day-use portion of the campground to meet Sean Tait, certified arborist and an expert on Northwest trees. As we walk along a paved one-mile loop trail through old-growth forest, Sean will help us understand the state of our forests and the unique stresses that impact individual trees in the forest. He will address both problems and solutions for cabin owners who live and deal with trees on permitted lots. We will also have a chance to view some of the very largest trees in the American River Valley.

August 5: Alpine Wildflowers of the Cascades

We will meet at the west end of the National Park arch for a walk along the Naches Peak Loop Trail at the top of the Pass to learn about some of the glorious variety of flowers that live in the subalpine regions of our local mountains. Naturalist and author Susan Summit Cyr will introduce participants to the plants that we encounter along this mostly level 3.5-mile loop trail. The views of Mt Rainier are unparalleled and we will also enjoy the many small ponds and other features that mark this trail. Members can participate in just part or all of the trail hike and should bring their own water, snacks, and sunscreen.

September 16: History of American Ridge Ski Bowl and other local landmarks

We will meet in the parking area next to the information sign at the beginning of Bumping Lake Road. Susan Cyr, author of the history book, Tanum, will introduce participants to the time period in the past century which saw rapid development of recreational facilities in the local national forest. We will visit the American River Guard cabin and the American River Gaging station which is a CCC structure made entirely of stone. We will then drive up to the American River Ski Bowl and explore the site while learning about its unique and fascinating part in NW ski history.

Cascade Mountain River
Wildflowers at Sunrise in MORA
American River Guard Station

Past Field Trips

Check out previous field trips from:
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2017
2018
2019

Pics from Past Field Trips