Take Wing Event: Geology of Abiquiu with Kirt Kempter

Take wing with PEEC at one of our special Take Wing events.  These special events are offered as thank you gifts for donations to PEEC's capital campaign of $150 or more per person registering. To register, make a donation either online or by check to PEEC's capital campaign.  Once your donation is received, you will be emailed a link to the registration page for all the Take Wing events.  The hardest part?  Choosing just one event!  Please call us at 662-0460 if you experience any trouble registering.

Spend a day in the field with local geologist Kirt Kempter, exploring the landscape that so fascinated Georgia O’Keeffe at her homes in Abiquiu and at Ghost Ranch. Kirt will lead participants on an easy, one-mile hike through the Abiquiu Formation, which inspired several of Georgia’s paintings.  Bizarre and captivating rock formations adorn the white cliffs in this intimate canyon only a few miles from the town of Abiquiu.  Following our morning hike we will continue towards Ghost Ranch, where dinosaur-age rocks ring the panoramic Piedra Lumbre on the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  En route, highway stops will be made to appreciate scenic vistas along the Rio Chama and to learn more about how the Abiquiu landscape evolved over geologic time.  Time permitting, we might also visit Poshuoinge, a large pueblo ruin overlooking the Rio Chama just a few miles east of Abiquiu.

Participants should bring appropriate hiking attire, picnic lunch, and water. Meet at Bode's in Abiquiu.

A National Geographic grantee and Fulbright Fellow, Kempter is a geologist, teacher, and photographer living in Santa Fe.  He has led many geologic expeditions to Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon National Parks, and has published numerous geologic maps and articles on the geology of the American Southwest. He received his Ph.D. in geology from the University of Texas and has visited and studied plate tectonics and related volcanism around the world, including Iceland, Costa Rica, Mexico, and South America.  He now works for the U.S. Geological Survey as a field geologist, studying the volcanic history of the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico.  He is also well known as a photographer of stunning photomosaics.