Think of Washington County geology as a smorgasbord with lots of tasty offerings. All kinds of rocks as well as a tantalizing variety of tectonic structures (and erosional de-structures). Lots of faults and folds, plenty of fossils if you know where to look, and for dessert, a delicious array of glacial features. The only thing lacking is a helpful server, someone who knows the menu intimately, someone who can guide us thru our geologic feast. What we need is someone like 'The Catskill Geologist'.
The Catskill Geologist is the nom de plume of Robert and Johanna Titus. They are both retired college professors. Robert taught geology at Hartwick and Johanna's speciality was biology at SUNY Dutchess. 'Once a teacher, always a teacher' seems to be this energetic couple's motto. Since leaving academia they have developed a variety of ways to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the Catskills and Hudson Valley.
For over fifteen years they have contributed columns to local newspapers, including most recently The Mountain Eagle. They have a blog and a Facebook page where people can share geologic finds and get help with identification. Robert leads field trips each summer with videos of several of them available on Youtube. In addition, the couple have at least four books on local geology that I'm aware of.
One of their favorite expressions is 'The Mind's Eye' by which they mean using your imagination to view the Earth from different perspectives over a range of time spans. Thus 'The Mind's Eye' might hover high above the Hudson Valley watching a glacier advance, only to retreat and be replaced by a huge lake over thousands of years. They want geology to be dynamic, accessible, even fun. There's none of the daunting jargon and assumed knowledge that can make much of the writing in the field so intimidating. They obviously love the landscape that surrounds them and offer a congenial "Let's figure out how this came to be."
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The raison d' entre for this blog has always been to celebrate a relationship with place, to encourage a life long adventure in knowing and caring for wherever we call home. In that sense, I feel a kinship with people like the Titus's. Now, if 'Their Mind's Eye' would only come up the Hudson Valley a ways and take a look at Washington County...
