GEO BIKE ADVENTURE – CONNECTING LOCAL TRAILS AND REGIONAL GEOLOGY

Rails-to-Trails inherently dissect topography generating outcrops rich with regional geologic context, the challenge is getting students to the engage with the geologic processes preserved in the exposures. Enter the bike: purchased in 2017 Eastern Washington University (EWU) Outdoor Programs fleet of rental mountain bikes provided the solution and inspiration. Riding south from EWU Cheney campus (~1.5 miles) cyclists intercept the southern end of the Fish Lake Trail (formally Burlington Northern tracks), connecting Spokane, WA to Cheney and onward to the TriCities. Riding Northeast students cross cutting Alluvial deposits, Mazama ash beds, Glacial Lake Missoula Flood exposures, Columbia River Basalt stratigraphy and PreCambrian Belt Supergroup, the ride to Fish Lake encapsulates a full spectrum of Eastern Washington’s geology. Additional stops highlight: exposures of the Cheney fracture zone, the city of Cheney’s wastewater treatment facility and Miocene charcoal trees, casts and small phreatomagmatic events.

Initial conceived as a sustainable field activity for science directed introductory students, deliverables post ride included field notes, an annotated sketch and a simplified stratigraphic column. During EWU’s COVID Field Camp of 2021 the ride proved invaluable addition due to driving restrictions. Deliverables expanded to a well-formatted geologic trifold brochure for the city of Cheney. The ride is ~10 miles out and back to Fish Lake and provides an optional swimming break, but disappointingly (based on student comments) uphill on the return. The dynamics of planning and organizing a non-traditional and non-motorized (carbon neutral) field adventure are involved, but worthwhile.