GMS Field Trip August 2022

GMS Field Trip
Virtual Adventure
Thursday, August 4, 2022

Instead of marinating in sunscreen and battling biting bugs amidst horrendous heat, the August field trip took a turn into the virtual world. Members zoomed in to hear about GMS field trips in general and to learn about some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of trips. In addition to the work necessary to develop a site for a field trip, it is a continuous process to keeps those sites open and available.

We talked about DMC field trips and what they are – trips hosted by other clubs that are members of the DMC field trip sharing program offered by the Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies (SFMS). Many members were unaware that because DMC field trips are hosted by other clubs, GMS field trip people are not involved with DMC trips any more than other GMS members. You can read more about DMC field trip sharing program here: https://www.southeastfed.org/sfms-field-trips/dmc-field-trip-program.

We also discussed field trip registration. Before the pandemic, most trips did not have limits on the number of attendees, so registration was rarely needed. Now, we find that many property owners prefer limits and by having registration, we can notify attendees if any attendees report testing positive for COVID-19 after a trip. The best thing that you can help with is if you register and can’t go, please let us know as soon as possible. When a trip is full and there is a waiting list, this gives other people a chance to go. Another important thing to note here is that members tend to assume a trip is full and decide not to register. While it is true that some trips fill up quickly, please remember this: when a trip is full, the field trip entry on the calendar on the GMS website will say “Full”. If not, there are at least a few slots open. Plus, even with a waiting list, most of the time everyone who wants to go will get to go. And, if there are enough people on the waiting list, we will schedule a second trip to the site if we can. Bottom line – if you want to go on a trip – register!

Next, we reviewed the statistics from the on-line field trip survey. As we discussed the survey, members gave more context to their responses to help bring clarity to field trip leads. The information was very helpful and all of the survey responses are greatly appreciated. For the people who asked questions in the survey or had comments that we can address, we will be responding to you individually via email.

The virtual field trip ended with a drawing for a fabulous door prize. Members who submitted a survey form were entered into the drawing. Gilligan, our resident rockhound, poked his nose into a bowl and picked the winner who won a super pretty 25mm tall charoite egg!

So far, the conclusion is that there are very few things we can improve upon, so we will continue to work diligently to meet the field trip desires of all members. But, we still want to hear from you, so, based on what we learned from the first survey, we made another survey (see the September newsletter for the link). If you fill out the new survey, you too could win a fabulous prize – a jar full of fire agates!

Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, Field Trip Chair
e-mail: