Room+21B

Grand Canyon Trip!

 By Madi Wagner and Tori Cole

Grand Canyon Hike: When we first arrived at the Grand Canyon,we hiked down the South Kaibab Trail. Thistrail received its name because the first layer on that pathway is a sedimentary rock called Kaibab. The trail was beautiful!  As far as you could see, there were plants, beautifully colored rocks, and just the most perfect landscape and scenery you could imagine. There were several different kinds of pine trees including Ponderosa, Juniper, and Pinion. The canyon walls were colored with shades of red, purple, and brown and were miles high. We  hiked down through the first three layers of rock in the canyon, Kaibab, Toroweap, and last a sandstone called Coconino. Our group hiked down on the south rim of the canyon which is actually 1,000 km lower in elevation than the northern rim. The canyon was beautiful and the hike was fun and enjoyable. We took our time hiking down into the canyon and slowly retraced our steps back up the same trail reaching the canyon rim. We saw mules after finishing our hike while we waited for others to complete their journey. My partner and I enjoyed the hike. It was a great way to truly experience the beauty of the Grand Canyon. I had been to this lovely canyon last summer, but my partner had never been before. She was in awe of the beautiful walls of color that surrounded us. We couldn't pick a single thing we disliked because the experience was so spectacular.

 -Madi

Glen Canyon River Trip: On the river trip down the Colorado River, we saw many new things. We passed a dam that was 710 feet tall. On the river, the walls were around 700 feet tall. The water was a shade of green and very cold. There were rainbow trout in the water and the water level ranged from 2 inches – 75/80 feet. The water turns green from a type of algae called cladophera that grows in it. There are a few obstruction rapids down the Glen Canyon that are created by obstacles under the water. On the trip, we went in boats that at the fastest would go 15 mph. We floated down the Colorado River in Glen Canyon and saw sights and learned about the river. We stopped at a beach along the way and saw petroglyphs inscribed on the walls. We went into Lee’s Ferry which was used a long time ago to cross the river. Now there is a bridge called the Navajo Bridge that was created to pass over the water. On the walls of the canyon there are arches made of rock. They are called alcoves. There are created when rocks break off the canyon walls and the naturally break in arch shapes. When rocks like this fall off, it is called spawling. I loved the trip on the river, as did my partner. I had taken this same river trip last summer when I visited the canyon. This was a whole new experience for my partner. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing the different rock formations and loved floating along the river peacefully. We both loved the trip and think groups that go in the future should take the same tour. It was so fun to drink lemonade, stop and see petroglyphs, and float along the river learning about the history of the canyon.  -Madi

Wupatki National Monument: On the second day, we went to Wupatki National Monument. While we were there, we hiked down and saw the old adobe buildings. The Anasazi Indians had lived there in the past, but their ancestors now live as part of the Hopi Tribe. The buildings we saw were over 900 years old. There was an old ball court, amphitheater, a few houses, and a blowhole. The blowhole was made up of underground holes and, depending on the weather, the blowhole either blows out air or sucks air in. On the day that we went, we hiked down to the blowhole and held out our hands in front of it. The blowhole was blowing out lots of air! The buildings we saw were very broken down. Everything was so fragile that we weren’t supposed to touch anything! There were old rooms with bowls where the people had grinded up things to eat. The doorways in the buildings were rather short, and the ceilings had all crumbled in. While we were there, we hiked, like I said before, saw the blowhole, also noted before, and enjoyed the lovely scenery and buildings at the Wupatki National Monument. Neither my partner nor I had ever been here before. We enjoyed seeing the blowhole for the first time. It was the highlight of the monument! Playing around on the ball court was also a treat. It was cool to stand where Native Americans have stood before! We both would recommend visiting this monument and we loved the hike and blowhole especially! No complaints could be made about this historical location!  -Madi

Sunset Crater: Our last stop during on Grand Canyon trip was at Sunset Crater. Sunset Crater is a cinder cone volcano that was named by John Wesley Powell because the colors of red sand looked like a sunset. When the volcano erupted, the lava would flow down the crater and leave lava trails. In these lava trails, no trees could grow due to climary succession. Little organisms called lichen would grow on new rock that had formed and would release an acid that ate the nutrients out of the rock.  The lichen would then die and make more matter for bigger species to grow on. The Ponderosa Pine Trees were the biggest plants that grew out there. Sunset Crater was a cinder cone volcano, but the last time it erupted was around 1000-1100 AD. It has ashes on it that are red, black, orange, and look like the colors of a sunset. It’s very tall and doesn't have much plant life growing on it. My partner and I had both never been to the crater, but we both enjoyed the lovely colors and liked seeing the old lava trails. It was interesting to see where lichen was growing and making it able for other plant life to grow in certain places. There were mosses growing where lichen had already grown and died. We hiked up and saw the mountain, but we were running out of time so we didn't get a chance to hike to the top. We saw some pictures and also took a few photos to make the memories last. It was an enjoyable last place to visit and a good way to end our long journey at the Grand Canyon. <span style="font-family: 'Bitstream Vera Serif',serif; font-size: 16pt;"> -Madi