Parker the Geologist

(I love this picture, the photographer must be quite talented...)

This summer Parker spent 99% of his time in his field area gathering geologic data for his Masters Thesis. His field area is located near Thistle, Utah which is "a lot of miles squared" (quoting Parker) and truly was a beautiful place to be. He covered most of it by foot and some on four wheels. He scouted out some great camp spots along Lake Fork Road, with a pretty little creek along it, correction: in the fall it was a little creek, in the spring it was raging! He lived through the snakes, the fire evacuation and smoke and last but not least the voracious mosquitoes, their masses truly had the capacity to suck him dry! He put some more hours under his belt of climbing fences, chasing escaped cattle, wild turkeys, and the frequent lizard. He also had quite the scare with a crazy 8 yr old boy 4wheel driver whose passengers were the boy's mother and a little baby.

Amongst all the extra excitement (noted above) which comes from living in the mountains all summer, Parker was pure geologist, Working hours a day, he gathered intriguing information about the geology in the area and enjoyed the beautiful scenes and creations along the way!
Like a mountain goat...

Classic Geology Picture - note the hammer for scale

The 4-Wheeling was Awesome!

Below is pictured the Lake Fork Fire on a day it really fired up. It was quite a sight to see, the picture doesn't even do it justice. Parker had to evacuate the area he had been working on, because it was just one canyon over. We had been much closer to the fire all morning previous to the time this picture was taken. That was a smokey night in camp. Maybe it was good luck cause that night I got to skin my first rattlesnake that my father-in-law caught for me, after he killed it of course. I wondered what snake really tastes like... no one else was else was curious enough to help or encourage my discovery of the answer! I am sad that we lost the skin, it would have made a sweet snake skin cord for a hat or something.
Though it was torture to be away from my new husband most of the summer, it always seemed less bad once we were together again. I was able, thanks to the flexibility in my jobs, to be Parker's (favorite) field assistant for about a four weeks over the summer, we had a great time and made great memories! I am so proud of Parker for all his hard work and sweat put into this project. I am also glad we are together again. It is easier to reminisce the good times than to miss him all the time! It is hard to believe that graduation is just around the corner already!