Room+20B

Josie & Erin

= __ Grand Canyon __ =

The Grand Canyon looked like a beautiful painting. Most people believed that if you threw a rock, it would fall down. Part of the Grand Canyon has trees on it, this part look rough. Another part of the Canyon looks smooth, although it doesn’t feel that way. The trail was a skinny path, enough room for one person to go into the Canyon, and for someone to come out. You can also ride a mule down, but my group had to walk. Our tour guide told us that the reason the Grand Canyon looked fake is because your mind doesn’t believe that it is real! Part of the Grand Canyon has layers, as you might say. Although these are miles long, it starts at the top and then goes down, then out, then down, until it reaches the ground. And this is what I thought was the best part, it had different colors in it, so it has different rocks from different time ages in it.



Trail


 * My group went on the Bright Angel Trail. While going down you saw different** **types of rocks. About two minutes in, you come up to a small little man made** **cave, there we stopped and took a picture. On the trail, you see about two** **little man mad caves. A while farther if you look very closely, you might be** **able to make out some rocks that look like a statue from Easter Island. About** **a half an hour in the canyon, a bunch of turns appear. It goes sharp right,** **sharp left, sharp right, sharp left. Once you get there, you know you are more** **than half way to a checkpoint! On the path there are little steps that you can** **have an easier time going up and down. Although you might want to watch** **out for rocks, (a lot of people trip on the steps and rocks.) Once you have** **reached the check point (Mile and-a-Half House or Three-Mile House) there is** **a place where you can fill up your water bottle, and go to the rest room. The** **hardest part of the trail was going back up, so make sure you take lots of** **breaks and drink lots of water.**



Environmental & Geological Facts

•The Grand Canyon is the only natural wonder you can see from space. •It was once all underwater. •Giant Ground Sloths, which are now extinct, use to live here. •Because of the elevation, it is colder the higher you are. •The oldest rocks are about 2 billion years old. •The newest rocks are about 270 million years old. •DUDE is used to remember what the canyon is made up of •The D stands for composite. EX: red rock= iron white rock= calcium •The U stands for Uplift. EX: Brought back to the surface •The other D stands for Down cutting. EX: the Colorado River •The E stands for erosion. EX: Weathering

Historical Facts

•**Part of the Grand Canyon was formed by the Colorado River.** •**It was also formed by erosion.** •**John Wesley Powell was the first person to raft the Colorado River** •**The oldest human artifacts are over 12,000 years old.** •**It has recorded over 4,300 archeologist resources.** •**It contains 11 traditional associated tribes.** •**Some of those tribes are Paleo-Indians, Archaic, to the Navajo, and the Euro-****American.**

Thoughts

I thought that the Grand Canyon was beautiful! The colors and the facts that this canyon can tell is remarkable! Although it does not contain the oldest rocks, it is fairly old, and if it could speak, it would tell marvelous stories. There are many tribes that live in the canyon, and most have different stories that tell how they think the Grand Canyon is formed. Many believed it was formed by a spirit or a God. I like these stories because they all explain that the canyon is a beautiful site. I thought the trip was fun! Although I wish we could have gone farther down into the canyon, it was fun to go down as far as we did. Next time I go I hope to go all the way down the canyon to the Colorado River!

Photos

= __ Colorado River __ = = =
 * You started on the top of the canyon, and took a bus down a long tunnel, to** **get to the platform. From there you went down some steps, onto a bridge** **(wearing a hard hat.) Once you get of the bridge you go down a couple more** **steps (after you put on a life jacket) and board the raft. The water in the** **Colorado River is really clear. You can see the bottom (as long as it’s not to** **far down.) On the trip, we got to go river rafting on the river. The raft goes** **about 30 mph. Our tour guide stopped at curtain points and had us look at** **the wall and say what we saw. He also told us that the water use to be higher.** **You can tell because you can see on the canyon a black line where the water** **once was! We stopped on a beach for a couple of minutes, but then we** **continued. We never went on the wild part of the river, it was always calm,** **but it was still a lot of fun. The water was really cold though. You sat like you** **wee riding a pony, and if you were the front two people, your feet would get** **wet!**



River Raft Riding


 * River raft riding was a lot of fun, even though we never went on any wild** **parts. We mostly sang songs on our raft, but we learned a lot. We learned** **that the darker color rock, that looks smooth, is over 1,000 years old. And** **that is the rock that the tribes use to “write” on. They use this because it not** **just looks smooth, it is. When we arrived at the beach, you took a trail up to** **where you actually saw some “writing” from a tribe. Then we were aloud to** **go into the river. Once we got back on the raft we rode on it for about 30** **more minutes, where we got off at was actually the beginning of the Colorado** **River!**



Environmental & Geological Facts

•**The river was once higher than it use to be.** •**There are 5 dams in the river.** •**Down cutting is caused by the river.** •**The older rocks can be found near the river.** • **Is still used for irrigation** •**Also used to hydroelectric power to supply water** •**It contains 2,000 pound of salt per acre-foot**

Historical Facts

•**John Wesley Powell was the first person to raft the Colorado River** •**The river helped form the canyon** •**1997 marks the 75** **th** **anniversary of the signing of the Colorado River** **compact.** •**Melchior Diaz was one of the first people to explore the river**

Thoughts I thought that the Colorado River looked almost as beautiful as the canyon itself. I like how you could see the bottom (where it was shallow) of the river, to me that it pretty. When we got closer to the beach you could see large pieces of algea (which did end up wrapping around my ankel at the beach.) Seeing the tribes "drawings" on the wall was pretty neat. Although you could not tell what they were trying to say, they were good "drawings", and it is remarkable that people could have preserved such a thing. The river rauft riding was a lot of fun too. If you were one of the first two people, your feet would get splashed alittle bit. When another rauft would pass you, a wave would go under you, which felt really going over it. Even though most kids only saw the raft ride as a race, I thought it was cool to see the different rocks inside the wall. The whole trip was fun, and I think everyone from all ages will be able to enjoy all the beauty the canyon, and the river, will have to offer

Photos



__ Wupatki National Monument __ Wupatki National Monument is a warm, dry place on the Colorado Plateau. Wupatki National Monument is Northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona and is North of Sunset Crater. When we were at Wupatki National Monument, we walked around the ancient buildings and saw some of the rooms. We also went into the meeting room and sat down to talk quietly. Wupatki National Monument used to home 85-100 people. Wupatki’s pueblo is called “Tall House” because it is the tallest and largest pueblo around. Wupatki has a ballcourt that is 78 ft. wide. Wupatki also has a blowhole which blows air out of it. Wupatki has a meeting room that is in a circle and if you whisper from one side of the room you can be heard on the other. Wupatki National Monument was something new for me where you can see inside the pueblo. I liked Wupatki National Monument because of the cool artifacts you can see at the site but disliked the heat at Wupatki National Monument.

This is the Wupatki National Monument with the Pueblo and Meeting room.

= __ Sunset Crater National Monument __ =

Sunset Crater is a Volcano that is different colored which is like a sunset. Sunset Crater is South of Wupatki National Monument. At Sunset Crater we looked at the Volcano and we saw the lava when it cooled. Sunset Crater is a cinder cone volcano and has different colors down the sides. Sunset Crater is one of the youngest volcanoes in the USA. On May 26, 1930 Present Herbert Hoover made Sunset Crater a National Monument. Sunset Crater is considered a holy place by the Hopi. Sunset Crater is 1,000 ft. tall and its base diameter is 1 mile. It was new for me to see the Sunset Crater and the lava flows. I disliked that we couldn’t walk the lava flows and I liked the volcano and how beautiful.

Here is Sunset Crater where you can see some of the different colors on the volcano.