Field Trips

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Meeting participants have two field trip options to choose from during the afternoon on Thursday, June 10.

Option 1 - Wasatch Water Tunnel Tour - Free

The walking tour lasts one hour and tours will run between 1pm-4pm on Thursday. Hard hats are required and provided. Comfortable clothing and walking shoes are required.

The Wasatch Water Tunnel is a fascinating underground operation of pumps, pipes, and old mines that supply water to Snowbird Resort and cooling water to the Co-Generation Plant.

Your tour of this tunnel will bring you underground through mines dug in the 1870's and 1880's. This is only a small part of the 1000 miles of mine tunnels between Snowbird and Park City. The rock that lines the incline is called Tillite. It is over 600 million years old - Pre Cambrian. You can see the remains of ancient sea shores on the ceiling and sides.

Option 2 - Geology of the Central Wasatch Mountains Near Snowbird, Utah - $11/person

The guided bus tour is three hours, departing from Cliff Lodge at 12pm and returning at 4pm. Dress is casual/comfortable; umbrellas may be needed for inclement weather. There will be stops to view the rock exposures, but hiking is not involved.

  • Stop #1 - Alta, Utah: Igneous history, 19th century mining history, drinking water source from mine tunnels with heavy metals.
  • Stop #2 - Bypass road near Snowbird: Neoproterozoic glaciation, Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic strata, Mesozoic thrust faulting, Tertiary igneous intrusives, Basin-and-Range normal faulting.
  • Stop #3 - Mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon: Pleistocene Glaciation, Wasatch normal fault, paleoseismology and earthquake hazard.
  • Stop #4 - Big Cottonwood Canyon: Neoproterozoic tidal estuary, tidal rhythmites, and Neoproterozoic Earth-Moon system.