Schedule – CGS Meeting and Field Trip

2025 Schedule – updated August 26, 2025

Important! – A hard hat is required for the quarry visit on Sunday. All participants must wear hard hats, pants, and closed-toe shoes.

Important Parking Information:

• Parking at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Morganton is available for overnight guests only. For free public parking options nearby, please visit https://www.morgantonnc.gov/main-street/page/parking-downtown.
• For Friday night’s dinner and business meeting, public parking is available across the intersection of Queen Street and N King Street, diagonally across from the Morganton Community house. The meeting hotel is a 10-15 minute walk from the Morganton Community house. 
• Free public parking is available nearby! To see options, please visit https://www.morgantonnc.gov/main-street/page/parking-downtown and use the “View map fullscreen” link.
• Google Map Link – https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1gMkQm-gsiqPrK_mICtcGGGWztqlT_Uw&ll=35.7468313172657%2C-81.6903626&z=18

Friday Evening: Annual CGS business meeting and dinner at the Morganton Community House (parking is available or walk from the meeting hotel)

Annual Meeting and Registration, Friday, November 7, 2025

Friday Night Schedule:

5 pm – Registration opens (use N. King Street Entrance)

6:15 pm – Dinner buffet opens

6:45 – 7:15 pm – CGS Annual Business Meeting

7:15 pm – Field trip overview and discussion

8:00 pm – End of Friday events

In the Field, Saturday November 8, 2025

Important Parking Information:

• You can not leave a car at the bus loading parking lot unless you are a hotel guest!
• Free public parking is available nearby! To see options, please visit https://www.morgantonnc.gov/main-street/page/parking-downtown and use the “View map fullscreen” link.

Buses start loading 7:45 am with departure at 8 am – Please be on time.

Busses will load in the parking lot for the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Morganton, and return there at the end of the field trip each day. Only overnight hotel guests are permitted to leave vehicles in this parking lot (one vehicle per hotel room).

Fairfield Inn & Suites Morganton Historic Downtown : 400 N. Green St., Morganton, NC 28655

Saturday full day field trip: Depart from the meeting hotel to visit Wilson Creek in the morning and Camp Creek, Brushy Creek, and the Linville River in the afternoon.

Physical requirements: Opportunities to explore will be provided in the Wilson Creek area but participants may choose to observe the impacts of Helene as close to the bus as they would like. Any other walking would be on a dirt road on flat ground. The Camp Creek and Brushy Creek stops requires no walking. There may be an optional hike (~2 miles) to Linville Falls but that will depend on time.

In the Field, Sunday November 9, 2025

Buses start loading 7:45 am with departure around 8 am – Please be on time. Planned return to hotel at 12 noon.

Depart from the meeting hotel to visit one of the QuartzCorp quarries in Spruce Pine to observe joints and faults of the Laurel Creek Lineament. 

Participants will walk ~0.5 mile along a gravel road into a quarry. All participants must wear hard hats, pants, and closed-toe shoes. These are not provided by CGS or the quarry.