Room+9B

Grand Canyon Trip! By: Christian Sandoval & Elijah Nichlson

Here is a picture of the grand Canyon!

Grand Canyon Hike: Native Americans lived at the Grand Canyon for over 12,000 years. In The Summer the Native American people would climb to the top of the Grand Canyon because it was cooler. There were eleven different tribes that lived in the Grand Canyon! The different tribes would trade items for other items. They looked for pine nuts and acorns to eat. The people that lived in the Grand Canyon knew the right plants that could help with sicknesses and plants that you could eat. That is really cool to me, because now days we have medicine that already has labels on that and the labels tell us what the medicine helps for. But people in the Grand Canyon didn’t have labels they used their knowledge. And there medicine was all natural. There are over 700 different types of plants in the Grand Canyon. People would use an animal called a Mule. A mule is a mix of a donkey and a horse. Mules would carry logs, people, and many other things up the mountain. When I first entered the Grand Canyon and saw it for the first time, I was mind blown. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it was a breathtaking scene. I learned that Squirrels are the number one most dangerous animal in the Grand Canyon. This is because they tend to walk up o you and steal your food or bite you! When I first heard this it was hard to believe but it is true!

Here is a picture of the Colorado River!

River Trip: The river trip was a very thrilling experience. When the trip started we got to see the giant Glen Canyon Dam. Throughout the trip I mostly saw Blue Herron birds. I learned that there is a variety of bids that live by this river. The water was a greenish clear color. From above the water looked like neon green. But when you were on the water the color was a dark green. The water depth can range from 5in-80ft. The Grand Canyon has its own range of rapids! Instead of being 0-7 there’s is 0-10! And that is because here in the Grand Canyon, they have some of the craziest rapids that only professionals can past. Rapids are caused by erosion or cracks in the river floors surface. We got to go through a rapid but it was only ranged at a 0.5, which is extremely small. On our journey we saw a lot of fishermen. The river has many types of fish, but my favorite was the Rainbow Trout! This fish had rainbow like scales. If you go fishing, you can’t catch a fish over 13 in. We also saw a tiny waterfall, caused from water leaking from the rocks. Waterfalls are made by cracks in the Canyon’s wall. And when it rains, the rainfall can create some big waterfalls. We also saw a very long Limestone rock line, it was a very nice color. It was made from when the water level use to be high! The river trip was an awesome experience. I enjoyed it a lot. At one point we got to go swimming in the 47 degree water! I jumped in and it was very cold.

Here is a picture of the house in Wupatki!

Wupatki: In Arizona’s Northern desert lies a Native American Settlement called Wupatki. These Native Americans left behind their gorgeous adobe house that was made from hand, and has one hundred rooms! They also left behind these two ring like areas called ballcourts, they are very interesting. The first ring was said to be a place for the Native Americans to have their traditions and meetings. This ring had seats compared to the other one. The second ring was used for sports and games. The Native Americans played a ball game. This game used a ball that was made out of rocks. Then they had a curved like paddle and would try to get the ball in the goal. The Wuptaki’s ballcourt areas are 78ft wide and 102ft long! These ballcoutrs were very common from A.D. 750 to 1200. There was also a blowhole that would either give out air, or suck in air, depending on the weather. For more than one hundred years the Wupatki people farmed in the hottest and driest Colorado plateau. Their decendants, the Hopi, Zuni, and Pueblo people are still around. The Wupatki people picked a great place to build their territory because you could see from all directions if any other tribes or anything else was trying to attack them. It is quite amazing how these ancient things are still standing after all of these years! While I was there, I was trying to imagine how to live in this hot dry weather, it must have been extremely tough.

Here is a picture of Sunset Crater!

Sunset Crater: Sunset Crater was a cinder cone volcano that erupted. It left ashes flying 180 miles away! The whole entire ground is covered in tiny pieces of volcanic rock. The whole place was grey with only a few living trees. The last time it erupted was 1,000-1,180 years ago. Sunset Crater reminded me of a haunted place, there was no color compared to the Grand Canyon. There were also many giant lava rocks. As we crossed the bridge we saw a path of hardened lava that looked as if it were traveling away. It kind of reminded me or a coral reef. The volcano looked like a giant hill, with other hills surrounding it.