Every time I teach the hundred-student intro geology course I offer an optional field trip to give the keener students a chance to get out of town and ideally spark some curiosity, fascination, and interest. Over the years I've adapted the strategy somewhat, stepping back from more ambitious field trip itineraries and moving the trip towards the start of the quarter to get the students to open up in class and labs earlier. My go-to has become Pisgah Crater and the Lavic volcanic field, which is well suited for covering topics covered in lecture and allowing open exploration. At about a 2 hour drive from Riverside, it makes for a manageable day trip and a unique experience for the students. Typically I get about 20 students sign-up and 10 that actually show up but this time I managed to get 20 students appear. This time around the mine at the crater seemed inactive with plenty of boy scouts camping nearby, but we still parked near the gate and walked around the cinders then worked our way across the lava with some lecture stops along the way. Though the lava flows here are thousands of years old, the desert environment preserves the intricate flow features well enough that the students can directly relate what they see to footage of recent Iceland eruptions. I led the way to SPJ Cave, one of the longest lava tube caves in the field where I deployed the extension ladder I brought for students to climb down into the tube to explore.
The students seemed to have a good time branching out to explore some of the different passages in SPJ in both the downstream and upstream directions, with a few students managing to find the small manhole-sized backdoor entrance upstream. The light beams coming into the main SPJ entrance were the best I had seen and students seemed to enjoy taking their selfies and poses.
Once they were satisfied with SPJ, we snacked on the surface and I gave the students a choice of what to do. Surprisingly this crop of students was keener than previous years, with all opting to explore more of the lava field. Two groups set off with one group more interested in checking out some of the other lava tubes and summiting the crater rim and the other group nearly as ambitiously circumnavigating the crater following rough wasteland flows. I followed the lava tube group past Suicide Bridge, into the back of Glove Cave, and up to the crater rim (windy!).
Around 2pm we all assembled at the car and worked our way back, the traffic mostly forgiving thanks to my decision for a Saturday field trip. All in all the trip seemed a success and everyone seemed to have a good time. One student even made two more trip out there on their own with friends since! Thanks especially to the grad student helpers I had.
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