Additional Information for Students Accepted into the

2005 Program

Friday, March 18, 2005: We must receive from you a letter, FAX, or email announcing your intention to attend Penn-YBRA in 2005.

On Monday, March 21, we will begin to fill any vacancies from our waiting list. Your acceptance into the course is not guaranteed after March 21.

Friday, April 15, 2005: We must receive completed Forms I and II (included with your acceptance letter), and full payment of tuition ($2,500).

If you anticipate difficulty in meeting either of these deadlines, please communicate with us by telephone [(215) 898-9191; (215) 898-5191] or by email: ybra@sas.upenn.edu

Full tuition will be refunded to any student from whom we receive a written statement of withdrawal by May 20, 2005. After May 20, a student who withdraws from Penn-YBRA will receive a full refund only if we are able to identify a replacement from the waiting list.

In recent years, many students have withdrawn from the Penn-YBRA field course late in the Spring term to accept other research or internship opportunities. On Form 1 we ask several questions about other options you may be considering for the summer of 2005. Please answer those questions as fully as you can to help us plan our field course efficiently.

If you decide to purchase a Brunton Pocket Transit for field camp, we recommend Brunton Com/Pro 90 with a 360° azimuth scale. For suggested suppliers, please check our suppliers webpage.

If you have no prior experience using a Brunton Pocket Transit, please ask a member of your faculty or another student to instruct you in using the Brunton to measure strikes, dips, bearings, vertical angles, etc. even if you are borrowing one from us when you arrive in camp. You will find that a little practice with a Brunton before you arrive at camp will make your introduction to our field exercises proceed more smoothly.

A paperback geology book, "Roadside Geology of Wyoming," (by Lageson and Spearing, 271p.; Mountain Press Publ. Co.) is good for background reading. Several copies will be at camp, but you may wish to order one for yourself. We will make available at camp several copies of a booklet of selected reprints on the field areas that we will study.

Please read the equipment and supply list and order special items from your book or supply store as soon as possible. Most of the specialty items on the list are available from the sources that sell Bruntons on the web. Make sure that you have the items on the list before you arrive in camp; Red Lodge Office Supply, which carried many of these items in past years, went out of business last Fall.

Please remember that you will be responsible to purchase your own meals, at restaurants and/or grocery stores, for the two days that we will be traveling in Yellowstone and you will purchase your own lunch supplies in Dillon (5 days). Our past experience has indicated that $200 is sufficient for this purpose. Please make sure that you bring at least that much in cash/travelers cheques to camp, over and above what you plan to bring for incidental expenses, recreation, etc.

Students may not arrive in camp earlier than the designated assembly date (Session I: June 7; Session II: July 12). Students should be in camp by 5:30 PM on assembly date to avoid missing dinner and the meeting thereafter. Because of camp obligations to other groups, there may be no bed for early arrivals, and you must bear the cost of meals at camp, if available, before the evening meal on the assembly date.

Those travelling by air should fly to Billings, Montana. (Billings is also served by Greyhound Bus.) A field-course van will pick up students outside the baggage area at the Billings Air Terminal on the first day of the course (Session I: June 7; Session II: July 12), if the student requests this. Yvette Bordeaux must be notified by email (bordeaux@sas.upenn.edu) by May 31 (Session I) or July 5 (Session II) as to airline, flight number, and arrival time so that we may coordinate pick-ups. Van space is limited and only those who have notified us will be guaranteed a ride. Call the Camp to advise of any last-minute delay or change of arrival. Ask for Jeanette on the special kitchen phone (not to be used by students for other than emergencies): 406-446-1333.

If you plan to fly, get information on fares and reservations early. Billings is not served by many airlines, and the competition that exists has not resulted in attractive fares. Flights with less expensive seats are filled early, and others do not arrive until too late in the evening (You must arrive by 4:00 pm). Billings is served by Northwest Airlines via Minneapolis or Chicago; Delta via Salt Lake City; and United via Denver. Schedule adequate transfer time. You must let us know by mail, FAX, or email when you will be arriving in Billings, if you expect a ride to YBRA.

Book your return flight for late morning (~11 am) or early afternoon of the final day (Session I: July 12; Session II: August 16), since the drive from Camp to Billings is over an hour.

Your Name
c/o YBRA Filed Camp
Box 630
Red Lodge, Montana 59068

Upon departure from camp at the end of the course, leave a forwarding address; otherwise mail will be returned to sender.

There is a phone in the main lodge, which is for the use of students at the camp. However, you will need a calling card or credit card to use the phone for long-distance calls. Do not use the special kitchen phone number for regular use. That phone is for camp business and emergencies only, and must be kept free.

If you plan to send items by UPS to camp, mail to:

Your Name
c/o YBRA Camp
Howell Gulch Road
Red Lodge, Montana 59068

The YBRA Camp is nestled in the pines and quaking aspen trees at an elevation of 6800 feet. Accommodations are rustic and consist of the main Lodge, where we eat and relax; a research library on local geology and natural history; study halls; wash houses with toilets and hot showers; a volleyball court; and dorms and cabins on the surrounding steep terrain. The nights are generally cool (35 to 65 degrees F) and the days generally warm (65 to 95 degrees F). June is in the cooler range and August a bit warmer. The only heat is from the fireplace in the Lodge, rarely used after July 1, and the natural mountain climate. The camp supplies you with a bunk bed with mattress only. There is a Laundromat in town; most students manage to do laundry about once a week. There is a lot of hiking involved in the course, much of it at high elevations where the partial pressure of oxygen in the atmosphere is lower than in the atmosphere where you are spending your school year. Please make an effort to prepare for the field course by getting in hiking shape before travelling to Red Lodge. This will also ensure that you have the opportunity to break in any new field boots you plan to use.

Montana is meat-and-potatoes country, but our cook, Jeanette, does an excellent job of providing balanced meals with a reasonable variety of vegetables and salads. When there is sufficient demand, we offer a vegetarian table. Most students in the follow-up evaluation rate the food as first class. There is always plenty of peanut butter and jelly, cheese, and whole-wheat bread available. Fresh fish is not available in Red Lodge and is never on the menu. You will pack your own lunch from a selection of bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and cookies everyday for the field. In operation of our camp it is not possible to arrange for the kitchen to prepare special diets, nor is it possible to provide cooking facilities for individuals.

On the trip to Yellowstone Park you will need your own tent. At night it gets cold, sometimes damp or rainy, and in Yellowstone the temperature may fall below freezing at night. A personal, one- or two-person tent works best. At Dillon we live and eat in facilities at Western Montana College. During most of the course you will live in dorm space at Red Lodge or Dillon; thus, you will need a duffel bag or pack for major travel and to hold your gear while you live in a dorm. Do not bring a pack frame or a suitcase. They are very bulky and difficult to pack in the vans for trips away from camp, and they generally get in the way. It is best to bring a duffel bag for most of your gear and a small back pack for daily field use. When you are not at YBRA or Western Montana College you will be responsible for buying your own meals and you will be responsible to buy food for your lunches while in Dillon. We suggest you bring about $200 to cover all meals.

Penn-YBRA does not carry medical or travel-accident insurance for field-course participants. If you will not be covered under a family or school medical insurance policy for the summer, contact an insurance broker and purchase your own policy. Medical facilities are available in Red Lodge. Students are reminded that, under many hospitalization plans, dependents over the age of 19 are not covered under their parent's family policies. You are responsible to make sure that you are covered by medical insurance. It would be advisable to be covered from the time you leave home until you expect to return home, rather than just during the field course itself.

Current tetanus protection is always desirable for field work. If you tangle with barbed wire, the doctor will ask for your shot record. Make sure your tetanus immunization is up to date. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a disease of the western U.S., transmitted via the bite of a tick vector. Doctors in Red Lodge have advised us that drugs now available for the treatment of RMSF are quite effective; thus, the need for RMSF immunization is not as great as it has been in the past. You should consult your family or school doctor about shots recommended for field work in Montana and Wyoming.

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PERSONAL CARS:

Some students bring personal cars to Red Lodge. Cars should be put in good mechanical shape before leaving home. It is understood that these cars will be used only during designated free time. When these cars are used during "off hours" they are not under the jurisdiction of YBRA or the University of Pennsylvania. Field-course students who ride in private cars do so at their own risk.

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