After waking up on another beautiful fall morning in Luverne, MN, the Gophers drove north to the Van Grootheest property near Hardwick (thanks Eric!) to describe soils on a loess-mantled pre-Wisconsin glacial landscape. The team was back on the road to Lincoln by mid-morning on Sunday, stopping at the Murray Hill overlook near Little Sioux, IA in the Loess Hills to get an up close perspective of the hills and their source, the broad valley of the Missouri River. We reached Lincoln by 3:30PM, checked into our hotel, and drove to the University of Nebraska's Hardin Hall, where we broke bread with other Region V teams and received an introduction to Eastern Nebraska's geology, soils and landscapes by Dr. Paul Hanson (thanks Paul!). Tomorrow we begin our practice pits - we appreciate all of the hard work that has gone in to organizing this contest and are looking forward to learning and expanding our horizons this week! We are at one with our textural triangles.
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| UMN Soil Judging at the Murray Hill overlook near Little Sioux, Iowa. |
