Geologist Dr. Robert Titus led a captivating workshop last Saturday at Sloan Gorge Preserve, joined by 10 participants and one enthusiastic dog. Over the course of “A Journey Through Geological Time,” Dr. Titus guided the group through hundreds of millions of years of geological history. He asked them to see the world in three stages: the landscape of today, the landscape at the end of the last ice age and the landscape of a quarter billion years ago. The latter two eras are recorded in the bedrock.

From the Devonian stratified rocks that help us understand how 385 million years ago the Sloan Gorge site sat near the equator in a tropical setting to the geological joints that show how 250 million years ago Africa collided with North America to create the Appalachian Mountains, Dr. Titus showed the group how each Sloan Gorge geological marker helps us to see the progression of history.

There’s information about the Ice Age, including the torrents of meltwater from a massive glacier that eroded the bedrock and shaped Sloan Gorge itself. As Dr.Titus reminded the group, “the hardest thing in science is seeing what is not here,” but at Sloan Gorge, the bedrock and ice-carved scars make that ancient history astonishingly visible.

This workshop was one of the more popular events in our 2025 lineup, and we’re thrilled to share that Robert and Johanna Titus will be joining us again at the Scarecrow Festival Sept. 20 for a Bedrock Geology workshop for elementary-aged kids. If you can’t make it to the festival, we encourage you to explore Sloan Gorge on your own with “A Field Guide to the Geology of the Sloan Gorge Preserve Nature Trail,” a self-guided brochure by Dr. Titus that brings the hidden history of the landscape to life. It’s available at the kiosk and on the Sloan Gorge webpage.