Choosing a Geology Field Camp

Before graduating with an undergraduate degree, many geologists attend a field camp to practice real world applications in geology. Field camp is typically a six to 8-week field intensive course where students learn how to read geologic maps, create geologic maps, measure stratigraphic sections, and interpret geologic structures. I personally consider this a 'rite of passage' for geologists, and highly recommend that every geologist takes this course regardless of where your career path leads you. In this post, I want to share my thoughts on how to choose the best field camp for you.

1. Money - Unfortunately, money will likely be a key criterion in choosing a field camp. To attend field camp, you will need to pay tuition for this credit course just like any other course you would take at a university. The cost of the tuition will depend on factors such as if you are in-state or out-of-state, how much travel is involved, and the resources at the field camp. Additional costs to you maybe a flight to the University holding the field camp or hiking and camping gear. Now, luckily, many field camps and other organizations such as the Geological Society of America have scholarships that can help you defer these costs.

2. Location - Field camps are literally located all over the world. I think the first thing you need to decide is if your university has their own field camp, do you want to attend that one. Advantages of going to your own universities field camp are likely in-state tuition costs, familiarity with the professors teaching the course, and also perhaps familiarity with the field camp area.  Disadvantages are you may have already been to this area for other classes, and therefore you might not be challenging yourself to learn something new. If your University does not have a field camp or you chose to attend a different one, then you need to decide if you want to go overseas or stay in the United States, and where exactly do I want to go. This decision might be decided based on your career path. Perhaps you are attending graduate school in the northwest of the US and want to gain familiarity with the area, or maybe you want to see classic outcrops for sequence stratigraphy.

3. Topics Taught - Most field camps always teach the basics of reading and creating geologic maps, creating stratigraphic sections, and identifying geologic structures. However, Universities may vary on how the teach these topics or exactly what topics they teach. Also to take into consideration, and this ties into point number 2, is if the geologic station has a dedicated station or is traveling to different areas. It is important to carefully read the websites of all the field camps and understand what topics they teach.

So now I will talk quickly about the field camp I attended and why I chose this one. I picked the University of Wyoming Field Camp because it traveled to many locations in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah. At that point in my life, I have not traveled much, and I was hoping to see as many new things as possible. At each of the new locations, we camped for several days. I really enjoy camping, and so this was an advantage to me instead of staying in a cabin with other people. I also enjoyed that this field camp took us to the Book Cliffs of Utah to learn sequence stratigraphy.  While I attended we also mapped out igneous intrusions as one of our projects and also mapped mass wasting events.

In summary, I think those are the three major things you need to consider in choosing a field camp. Below I will attach a website that provides information on all the geologic field camps that are available. Have fun!

https://education.usgs.gov/nagt/geofieldcamps.html