travels in geology

Of all the famous fossil localities in the world, perhaps none is as widely celebrated as British Columbia’s Burgess Shale. High in the Canadian Rockies, the Burgess Shale contains some of the oldest and most exquisitely detailed fossils of early life on Earth. Visiting the Burgess Shale requires some preparation — you must hire a guide and hike 22 kilometers at high elevation — but for a fossil enthusiast, the payoff is worth every step.

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is one of the most popular hikes in the world. It’s so popular that in recent years, the Peruvian government has had to limit trail traffic by plastering the trek with a lot of red tape. You have to apply months ahead for a permit, hire a certified guide and show your passport at four different checkpoints along the way. Despite the hassle, each day hundreds of people sign up. And for good reason: The Inca knew how to lay out a scenic route.

Stonehammer Geopark lies along the rugged Bay of Fundy on Canada’s southeast coast. Centered on Canada’s oldest incorporated city, Saint John, New Brunswick, it is the first North American member of the Global Geoparks Network, 77 parks established over the past decade with the assistance of UNESCO. Geoparks strive to connect people with the landscape, highlighting the intersection of society and geology.

For breathtaking volcanic scenery, few places have the variety found in Lassen Volcanic National Park in the Cascade Range of Northern California. The park boasts five varieties of volcanoes: plug domes, cinder cones, lava cones, shield volcanoes and a stratovolcano called Brokeoff volcano (or Tehama volcano). Bubbling hot springs, boiling mud pots and fumaroles in six geothermal fields in the southern part of the park complete the picture.

As we neared the top of the West Face of Mount Shasta, my calf muscles felt like they were pulling apart, stretching to the breaking point. My crampons merely dinted the shimmering snow, leaving dainty bird-like tracks. Roped behind our guides, our group of three climbers switchbacked slowly up the 35-degree-angle slopes. Approaching nearly 4,000 meters in elevation, my lungs grasped for air.

Take advantage of the chance to explore similar-looking reefs in Western Australia: one from the Devonian and one forming now off the coast.

New Zealand has a reputation for extreme adventure — sky diving, jet boating, bungee jumping and even “zorbing,” which sends you rolling down a hill inside a transparent plastic ball. But beyond the adrenaline sports, you’ll find unique geologic features in landscapes ranging from volcanoes and alpine peaks to beaches and rainforests.

Majestic snow-capped “fourteeners,” alpine meadows carpeted in wildflowers, pristine mountain lakes. These are the images most people associate with Colorado. One of the best places to experience this rugged wilderness is Rocky Mountain National Park in the northern part of the state.

The lower part of the Chesapeake Bay offers more than crab cakes and boating. Today, the bay is central to one of country’s largest environmental campaigns. But an excursion around the Virginian coasts provides an amazing peek into the mid-Atlantic region’s rich geological, environmental and cultural history, spanning impact events, glaciation, early colonial settlements and modern struggles with pollution and rising sea level.

From cactus-covered deserts to cloud forests to the sky-scraping Andes Mountains, northwestern Argentina promises contrasting landscapes, astounding geological formations and natural beauty — and a chance to eat llama. So with no disrespect to the more geologically famous ice fields and mountains of the Argentine Patagonia to the south, I suggest heading north from Buenos Aires if you get a chance to explore the country.

Ditch the city for a week and enjoy the forgotten natural landscape of America at Canyonlands National Park, a haven for outdoor enthusiasts in southeastern Utah. Canyonlands offers ample opportunity to hike, camp, rock climb, drive, canoe, swim and much more, all while exploring a range of geological features in its three distinct districts: Island in the Sky, the Needles and the Maze.

Tanzania's natural wonders — towering volcanoes, paradisaical islands and sundry animal life — have inspired travelers from Ernest Hemingway (who hunted big game) to the rock band Toto (who rhymed “Serengeti” with “company”). Situated on Africa’s eastern coast, Tanzania consists of the mainland country, once called Tanganyika, and the exotic archipelago Zanzibar, located in the Indian Ocean 25 to 50 kilometers from the mainland.

Deepest. Oldest. Most biologically diverse. Siberia’s superlative-laden Lake Baikal is one of the planet’s great geological treasures. Located 4,200 kilometers east of Moscow and 2,100 kilometers west of Vladivostok, the lake known locally as the Sacred Sea is like no other.

“PURA VIDA!” large block letters proclaimed as I ducked in from a late afternoon downpour into the terminal at San Jose International Airport. Above my head rose a three-story rainforest mural, topped with exuberant cardboard faces pointing to fake wildlife from a wooden gondola. I had just arrived in the Disneyland of ecotourism: Costa Rica.

Mountaineers in the “High Points Club” have a lofty goal: to “tag,” or reach, the highest elevations of every country in the world. Many of the 193 summits are best left to the professionals, but at least one, the highest point in Germany, is accessible to anybody with a train ticket. At 2,962 meters, the Zugspitze towers over the German Alps. But unlike most alpine peaks, you don’t need ropes, crampons and ice axes to stand on the summit.

Australia, both a country and a continent, has geological wonders as strange and unique as the furry marsupials that inhabit the Land Down Under.

When Budget Traveler magazine named Fayetteville, W.Va., one of the “Coolest Small Towns in the USA”, it credited not just the town’s young atmosphere and unique shops, but also the local geology, which is nothing short of spectacular.