393 Home & Route Map

393 Scores

393 Itinerary

Heywood Courses

Hefferan Office

Heywood Office

393 Drivers

393 Field Demeanor

National Park maps

National Forest maps

Bureau of Land Management maps

Searches

News

Base Maps

UWSP Geo Dept

Seat Availability

Change Colors

[BACK]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GEO 393 Field ParticipationMariscal Setup

Thirty percent of your grade derives from the quality of your field participation.  This is a somewhat subjective evaluation, as there are various specific goals or objectives that student teams are trying to achieve.  Much of the participation score is simply common sense, given the circumstances of group travel over long distances into unfamiliar places.  Some guidelines below may clarify what we shall consider for this element of your course grade.   [BACK]

Excursions

We have planned, and paid for, many major hiking trips to sites important to the course objectives.  These are walking trips ranging from one to as much as sixteen miles (use the itinerary for maps).  They also will occur in very diverse landscapes.  We expect (for grade) that you shall 1) take all of these hikes (barring extraordinary personal circumstances), and 2) be prepared for them.  The mandatory major excursions are:

Preparation includes many things.  You must have appropriate clothing, provisions, and gear for conditions not only at departure, but also for any contingencies (e.g., weather changes, altitude, etc.) that are likely on our trail.  You also must have your research needs in order, such as proper stowage and practice with instrumentation and data recording materials.  Further, you should depart already familiar with your objectives, task assignments, and restrictions--attempting to gain such familiarity after departure is a recipe for oversight.  [BACK]

Another very important element of fieldwork is courtesy.  Obviously you must cooperate with others in the party, but equally important is respect and compliance with the customs and requests of hosts and other visitors.  There is a high probability that we will receive unusual priveleges to visit places ordinarily closed to the public (e.g., private lands, Native American sacred sites).  At such sites you will adhere to ALL host instructions, lest we lose future opportunity by reputation as desecrators.

Timeliness and communications are essential in group excursions.  Although some flexibility is understandable, repeated individual tardiness impedes group objectives, and slackers will find themselves quickly ostracized.  While in the field it is also imperative that all persons remain in contact, not so much for the rare emergencies as rather for the likelihood of sharing interesting finds.  You should plan to be prompt, and in communication with others, at all times on all hiking excursions.

The person who chronically sits behind with the vehicles, takes knowing and unnecessary risks, behaves rudely, and (once pried onto the trail) refuses to heed or communicate should expect an extreme decline in the grade, commensurate with fellow student impact.  I have little sympathy for such parking lot pariahs.  [BACK]

Camp

We shall communally camp most nights so as to keep your costs down.  As a result, we must tend to ourselves on issues of sustenance, hygiene, and privacy.   In a large group, cooperative sharing is a requirement, and we expect that you shall make fair contribution to this. 

Camp chores are inevitable, and so to will be your turn at them.  Regardless of conditions, we must all contribute to setting up, cooking, cleaning, tearing down, and stowing.  Nobody should become the "standing" servant for any task.   Onerous camp chores go much faster, and thus leave everyone more time for another adventure, if handled jointly.  No person should have to handle the same or every chore all the time; everyone should expect to take on the drudgery on a regular rotation.   You will not receive easy acceptance as a shirker; plan to take your regular turn.

When it is your turn to cook or clean, you will ensure that you have washed thoroughly.   Inside tents and on the campsite you will remove all trash, especially as it may attract wildlife visitors!  Tentmates will not appreciate latenight visitors drawn by slob bunkies, but critters do!Camp raiders

The fellows you see above trashed a tent trying to get at three oranges and a Snickers bar deep inside a pack.  Compounding the damage was the insult of discovering one cold evening the "evidence" all over a sleeping bag that at least one of these visitors was more than a tad incontinent.  Other raiders may include foxes, coyotes, raccoons, or bears.   Never keep any food, cookware, rubbish, or cosmetics in a tent!  Store these items inside a vehicle or in Park Service facilities.  [BACK]

Bear Locker

Some camp equipment requires special knowledge or training for proper use.  If you do not have appropriate knowledge, do not use someone else's equipment (BUT, if you volunteer subordinate assistance you probably can learn...).  After long days, please do not irritate the "duty crew" with unsolicited advise--your turn is coming.

Be considerate of others' gear.  For example, heaving or jamming your untaped packframe onto someone else's inflatable sleeping pad may generate some resentment from the fellow traveler facing many nights of undeserved soreness, or it might also cause damage charges from vehicle owners.  Always coordinate gear stowage with your peers, in tent or in truck.

Respect personal privacy whenever possible.  In group camping this is a challenge.  On a co-ed expedition gender courtesy and discretion is an obvious need, but usually is the least problem.  Medical, emotional, dependency, and financial circumstances also become potential privacy concerns at close quarters.  You must always treat confidences about any such matters as a very personal trust, not open to further revelation unless welfare impact on others is imminent.  Breaching trust will destroy group cohesion faster than anything else. If you have another's confidence, maintain it.  Gossip kills good trips.

I do insist on one invasion of your personal privacy, however, but I also assure you that it will remain 100% confidential.  Although I have advanced Red Cross and Search and Rescue training, I can do you no effective service if I find you passed out and treat for bee sting when in fact you have gone into diabetic shock, or I begin high-altitude hypoxia therapy when you actually are having an asthma attack, etc.  PLEASE INFORM ME OF ALL EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITIONS, AND THE LOCATION AND KIND OF ANY MEDICATIONS.  [BACK]

Transit

Unavoidably (at least until Scottie's transporter room becomes available at university revenues), we shall have to endure two days van-bound each way.  During this cramped time please observe some basic courtesies.

  • WEAR SEAT BELTS (the driver does not deserve your ticket; I will ensure that YOU will pay it)

  • use headphones (maybe your neighbors won't appreciate fourteen straight hours of Metallica dueting with Cornball Billy's harpsichord and bagpipe chamber orchestra to play "Ted Bundy Disembowelled Donner and Blitzen In The Jet Engine Test Plant"...you get the picture )

  • bring your own entertainment device (avoid radio fights)

  • use (and seal) litterbags; do not landfill the back seat.  However, DO store camp trash in vehicles, but dispose of it at first PROPER opportunity.

  • refrain from unsolicited advice to the driver

  • stow your SMALL personal coolers near you

  • NO OPEN ALCOHOL BEVERAGES ANYTIME

  • minimize aromatics (tobacco, perfume, lutafiske, etc.)

  • KEEP THE CB RADIO ON (for convoy directions)

  • Coordinate your rest stops with the whole group

  • Keep your meal tabs at reasonable cost

  • Observe motel & campground courtesy

  • Load out and load in promptly, and on time

  • Advise driver/instructors immediately of defects

[BACK]

Campus

There are six criteria affecting your participation score while on the UWSP campus:

  • attend ALL pre-departure meetings:  Friday, 08DEC and Friday, 14DEC (also incl. drivers' on Friday, 01DEC00 if applicable)

  • advise me [privately] of all medications and their location

  • leave NO vehicles parked on campus during the trip

  • clean all UW vehicle interiors before returning them

  • return all UWSP equipment on time and in form

  • attend the final post-trip meeting (Sunday, 04FEB01, 4 PM)

Personal Conduct

Most of this is just common sense, but just for the record, here are a few conduct policies that all participants must comply with:

  • ALCOHOL:   While I do not ban alcohol from the class, I will not tolerate drunkenness, nor will I permit alcoholic beverage use on the trail.  Keep it back at camp.  At the end of a busy day, I like sipping a beer while sorting and cleaning gear just as much as the next person.  But, we do not need to be doing a nightly twelve-pack, and attempting it is likely to so affect your field work that a grade impact is inevitable.   We WILL comply with local regulations (age limits, dry counties, etc.).   Use discretion.  Alcohol is a diuretic; it accelerates dehydration about 1 hour for each 4 oz drink or 12 oz beer, even after consumption ceases.  This can become dangerous in desert or high altitude sites.   [BACK]

  • TOBACCO:   There is no tobacco use at any time in a University vehicle.  At many sites, indoor tobacco use bans are in effect, and common courtesy dictates that this applies to all restaurants and other public facilities also.  Because of fire hazard there should be no tobacco use inside of any tent, and upon request we can segregate smokers from non-smokers as tentmates.  [An interesting (or inspiring?) aside--last year someone used this trip as an opportunity to quit "cold turkey", and to date has not resumed!]   [BACK]

  • FIREARMS:   Sorry; this is not a hunting trip, we will not need to rob any banks, nobody is going to attack us, and so we do not have any need for firearms.  Leave them home, we're going to be far too busy to hold any target practice.

  • CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES:  None allowed; discussion over.  I will personally turn in violators to the gentle hands of the DEA or state police.  And I won't care if your Mommy gets mad.

  • NOISE:   At motels and campgrounds, on guided tours, and in restaurants you must keep noise to reasonable levels.  After 10 PM (and yes, we will have some arrivals after this time) the management and our fellow occupants will not appreciate loud parties, excessive cheering, tent stake hammering, engine revs, etc.  It is failure in your courtesy if I receive noise complaints.  [BACK]

  • HARASSMENT:   I have absolutely NO tolerance for any form of racial/ethnic, gender, religious, departmental, or other prejudice.  We will be in close quarters for most of this trip, and we will encounter a wide variety of fellow travelers and local people.  I have recourse options for anyone I catch engaging in derogatory remarks or actions, and the perpetrator will find them extremely costly in dollars and course grade.

We have never had an occasion for concern about this.  Don't you be the first.

  • VEHICLES:   See the Transit info above, and the Driver info (even if you will not drive), for most of these requirements.  Please remember that the vans do not belong to us, so they should not receive excessive wear, nor should we convert them into vagabond landfills.  They SHOULD receive a thorough communal cleaning periodically, and drivers must inspect and report fluids, wipers, lights, and mechanical soundness daily.  No one should ever remove the vehicle paperwork from the vehicle for any reason except upon request of a law enforcement officer.  No one should regard the vehicles as personal "closet space"; keep your gear compact and with you at night (except food).  Do NOT leave valuables unattended in a vehicle; they are notoriously poor safe deposit vaults.  Please always DO use the vehicle as secure food storage overnight (but keep food in wrapped containers).  [BACK]

  • LUGGAGE:   With a group this size, "compact" will be the buzzword.  Eliminate or secure all sharp edges that might damage other persons' gear.  If you acquire souvenirs, keep them small; anything too large you shall have to ship at your own expense.   Do not acquire or stow any contraband.

  • FINANCE:   We find that record keeping is simplest and procurement coordination goes best by using ONE instructor's University credit card.  Accordingly, we ask that the group channel all mutual expenditures through the trip "banker".  Also, if you run short of cash and we're 200 miles from the nearest ATM, don't silently endure privation and lost opportunities; see the "banker" for a cash loan (repayable when we do find an ATM).  Aside from souvenirs, snacks, and personal phone calls, you should have rather few cash needs during the trip.  Consult with the instructors and your classmates before making replacement equipment purchases--we may already have it!

Do not feel ashamed if you need to request cash.  The "banker" remembers being a student, too, and will be discrete.  Obviously this cannot be a regular habit, and it must be repaid at first opportunity (there are severe legal restrictions to student-staff transactions), but do not cause yourself to miss out because of a crumby twenty bucks. [BACK]

  • CELL PHONE:  We will have a University cell phone available (number and monitor hours at the bottom of every course web page), but because of roaming charges for incoming as well as outgoing calls you should minimize its use to urgent needs.  Pizza deliveries and date arrangements are not "urgent"; family well-being and job prospects are.  Be aware, however, that we may travel into areas outside the connection range.  Please use public phones for routine personal calls.

  • MEDICATION:   On the pre-trip "Quiz" I have asked that you provide a list of any medical conditions and medications; please be accurate.   However, I am neither nurse nor gossip.  Unless in dire disability, I expect you to properly administer your own prescriptions (and please keep them labeled at a location where I can find them for you in an emergency); I in turn promise that I will NEVER reveal them to anyone other than medical personnel and I WILL destroy my listings immediately upon return to UWSP. [BACK]

  • MEALS:   On the pre-trip "Quiz" I have asked that you provide a list of any food items that you CANNOT deal with.  Please be accurate; one of my greatest sources of frustration on past field trips has been the person who informs me only after we are 50 miles from the nearest store that they cannot eat what I have on the menu.  It is also a serious detriment to the morale and performance of that person who misses a meal after a hard day's work.  PLEASE tell us what we should avoid for your food.

  • WATER:   We are in desert and high-altitude country.  You probably will not realize it, but the average adult human body will expend daily some two quarts of water to climate under winter conditions--and more if you are making strenuous exertions (like walks into Grand Canyon).  Always start the day carrying two quarts of drinking liquids (NO alcohol, and electrolyte restoratives such as GatorAid are good additives).  Do not "plan" to borrow water; your "lender" will have the same bodily needs as yourself.  [BACK]

On the other hand, at remote camps our water supply (carried; there rarely is environmental water available) will be finite.  We must apportion whatever we have in containers to 1) drinking needs for the entire group, 2) cooking needs, and 3) cleaning (bodily and cookware; forget laundry or vehicles).  For cleaning we have a pretty good system to ensure hot water IF the daytime weather is sunny.  However, for whatever use please do NOT take more than your "ration" lest someone else go without and the whole group later suffers delays and impediments.

  • LODGING:   Many nights we will sleep in tents.  Some of these may be loaners, so we must be extra careful not to damage them.  Of more immediate concern will be our tent occupancy; in cold weather (which we must expect) a tent is more efficient at conserving heat if fully occupied, but concurrently there must be room left for personal gear and nothing touching the tent walls (lest they leak).  Winter camping requires extra gear, and therefore extra space.  My own guideline is to divide the advertised tent occupancy rating in half, then add one person.  [BACK]

  • PARTY SIZE:  In Wilderness there cannot be more than eight persons in a traveling group.  Therefore, on some excursions we may have to split the class to comply with this rule.  Anytime we have multiple parties traveling the same trail, radio communication must be continuous.   In some instances we may achieve compliance by alternating visit days between groups.

  • DATA:   All raw data (measurements, photographs, handouts, summarizations, etc.) are joint class property available to everyone, regardless of origin or condition.  For data there will be a departmental server repository at \\GeoDept1\classes\gg393\2001w\.Data Collection  [BACK]

  • INSUBORDINATION:   Like it or not, the instructors of this course bear the responsibility for ensuring the safe conduct and academic performance of all participants.  Therefore, an instructor's demand on any matter during this trip requires obligatory, and immediate, compliance.   While we shall attempt to minimize our exercise of this, when it does occur there is no exemption.  Again,  I have recourse options for anyone disregarding conduct instructions, and violators will find them extremely costly in dollars and grade.  In nineteen years of teaching I have never had occasion to initiate this option; keep it that way.

You are visitor # to this Web page since 01JUL02.

Heywood [email] maintains this page, last updated 01SEP02.   We monitor our cell phone from 6 to 8 PM CDT each day when in range.  The number is (715) 340-1347.