In March I went with a Geology Class to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon! It was long, tiring, beautiful, break-taking, cold, and warm! The Grand Canyon took my breath away, in more than one way! We drove a long 14 hour drive down to AZ on Thursday, hiked up and down the canyon on Friday, and then we drove back to Idaho on Saturday with a brief stop at Glen Canyon Dam. I would definitely do it again!
Our group hiked the Bright Angel Trail and then out to Plateau Point. It was a 12.2 mile hike.We did not hike all the way down to the Colorado River or the Great Unconformity; it would have added 4 miles to our round trip. The temperature change from the top of the Grand Canyon to the bottom was a little crazy. It was at freezing point at the top and near the bottom it was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The elevation change from top to bottom was about 3040 feet. Going back up was a pain. Some of the snow had thawed making sure the trail was full of sticky gooey mud!
There is a stop called Indian Garden: it was very beautiful! It was full of trees, flowers, and cacti! Indian Garden also has a place you can camp. Many people will hike up and down the canyon in two days, spending the night at Indian Garden.
Our group split up into two 10 person groups going down. Every now and then we would stop and interpret the scenery in geology terms. I was a temporary TA for the trip and I was helping the awesome class TA Lindy. We had a lot of fun!
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| I think this was somewhere in Utah! |
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| We're almost there! To get to the rim of the Grand Canyon you have to go up in elevation. |
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| Nice. |
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| The Navajo Bridge! |
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| View from the Bridge! |
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| There is a driving bridge and a walking bridge! |
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| Indian watch tower at our first view of the Grand Canyon! |
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| At the beginning of the hike I had a lot of energy! Who wouldn't be excited to hike down and up the canyon! |
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| It was 32 degrees Fahrenheit at the top! Brrr! We had to stop and put spikes on our shoes because the trail was full of snow and ice! |
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| View from the top! you can almost see the end of the trail! |
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| Don't slip! It's a long way down! |
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| That wall is sandstone! I'm such an expert! |
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| I'm pretty sure it would be easier to slide down on my behind! |
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| The view never changed much but I never got tired of looking at it! |
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| Goal just out of sight! |
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| On our way down two lines of donkeys passed us! This one was carrying supplies! The other had tourists! It reminded me of old cartoons! |
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| Some cool rock we rested on. |
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| Me and Lindy! |
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| I'm in the band! |
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| Cacti! |
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| Don't get lost! |
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| The temperature 60 degree Fahrenheit near the bottom! It was like springtime compared up the stormy and snowy weather at the top! |
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| This rock was eaten by organisms back before it was a rock! |
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| Woo! The semi-flat trail! That wasn't flat at all! |
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| Purple cactus! Need I say more? |
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| That sign equals the end! |
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| There it is! Complete with high cliffs to fall to your death to! |
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| The Colorado River! |
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| This is so cool! |
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| Fossil = Worm burrows from some of the first known life on Earth!! |
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| The class interpreting the life of the Grand Canyon! |
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| Helicopter! |
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| Who would want to walk into that? |
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| The Redwall Limestone! One of my favorite layers in the whole Grand Canyon! (It's up there with the Quartzite Island that survived the Great Unconformity!) |
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| Bright Angel Fault! Not Angel Food Cake. |
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| Shells in the walls! |
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| Indian pictographs! Cool, huh? |
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| Farwell Grand Canyon! |
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| Lake Powell |
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| Glen Canyon Dam |
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| Some animal they found |
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| Hmmmm.... |
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| Here is the skeleton of said animal they found. |
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| A painting, I'm not sure what it means. |
More about the trail we hiked and the Grand Canyon can be found following these links:
