Room+11A

Sabrina Schneider & Makayla Cox =Grand Canyon Trip 2011=


 * "Ooh Aah" Point - South Rim of the Grand Canyon**

On the Grand Canyon trip we learned a lot of fun and interesting things. One of the interesting things we learned about the Grand Canyon is that it is about 4,000 ft. deep at its lowest point, but at its deepest point it is about 6,000 feet deep and 15 miles at its widest. One of the interesting things we did is we went hiking into the Grand Canyon down the South Kaibab Trail along the south rim of the canyon. We saw a lot of interesting things on are trip down the Grand Canyon. We had a guide to talk to while we were on our journey. He gave us very interesting facts about how the Grand Canyon was formed. He also talked about the different layers of the Grand Canyon. One of the layers in the Grand Canyon is the Limestone. Limestone is a sedimentary rock. There are many types of limestone because of the variety of conditions under which it is produced. Coral reefs are examples of limestone produced in the form of the skeletons of the coral invertebrate animals. When we were on our hike we saw a lot of coral fossils and sea shell prints and fossils. The next layer we talked about on our hike is the Sandstone. Sandstone is a category of rock made from sediment. It is composed mostly of sand. Shale is the last rock layer that we talked about while hiking down the Grand Canyon. Shale is a type of sedimentary rock made from clay being pushed together. This was beautiful scenery to look at while we were hiking. On the way down the hike was easy but on the way up it was REALLY HARD! When we got to the top of the canyon again we went to look at some very stinky, cute, and noisy mules. I saw a white one that I really liked and I named him Butterscotch.
 * __Grand Canyon Hike__**
 * Pac Man Ghost and** **Hieroglyphics**

The river trip down the Colorado River was a lot of fun. We got to see a lot of cool things. We went on a raft ride with a really cool dude. He works in the military. While we were on the river we had a little bit of river rage. Before we got on the rafts we had to go through a 2 mile long tunnel through a mountain. I don’t know about the rest of the kids but I was pretty scared. While going through the tunnel we saw 8 or 12 holes through the mountain. They were big and awesome. Once out of the tunnel we unloaded on a platform. We put on hard hats and walked to the rafts. Along the way our guide showed us some very interesting objects. One of the objects he showed us was the “Pac Man Ghost”. It had a smiley face just like the ghost in the game “Pac Man”. The next thing he showed us was Horse Shoe Turn. From up high it looked like the shoe of a horse. We looked at the people who were on top of the rig and from the river they looked like tiny ants. The last thing that he showed us on our raft ride was the hieroglyphics. The hieroglyphics are very fascinating. Our teacher told us to try to figure out what they were trying to say. When we were walking back to the raft I fell over some rocks and scraped my hands and I tore my pants. Before we got in the rafts though some of the kids started to play around in the water. Mrs. Wilkening told us not to so the kids were all wet the rest of the day. After that we were all done with our raft ride. I am glad that we went on the raft ride. At first I thought it was going to be boring but it was a lot of fun.
 * __River Trip On The Colorado River__**


 * Wupatki Pueblo, Blow Hole, and Ball Court**


 * __Wupatki National Monument__**

The next place we visited was the Wupatki National Monument. The Wupatki National Monument was an interesting for us to see. It was like a mini city. It had a house that had about a hundred rooms inside. Next to the Pueblo there was a meeting room where the people who lived there could have a dancing ritual or where they gathered to have a big announcement. At Wupatki, we hiked around the little adobe houses and we saw the ball court where they played ball games. We then walked to the blow hole. It was amazing because instead of sucking in air it was blowing out air. We took a baseball cap and put it over the hole, and the hat flew up into the air. After we did the baseball cap Mrs. Wilkening said that we should try and pour some water into the blow hole. When we poured the water into the blow hole none of the water went into the blow hole. It looked like little drops of water floating above the blow hole. Then the water dropped to the side of the blow hole. The blow hole was probably the most exciting thing we did during the trip.

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 * Sunset Crater **

Our last stop was Sunset Crater National Monument. Sunset Crater is 1,000 ft. tall and a mile wide at the base. It is a cinder cone volcano. When I first saw Sunset Crater is was so beautiful. People would climb to the top of it until the 1960’s but the trails were causing the crater to erode so they were closed. There are ¼ million visitors to the national park each year. If you walk on the crater now you will start sinking. There are around 600 volcanoes in the national forest. All 4 types of volcanoes – cinder cone, shield, dome and startle are in the park. As we walked through the park over the old lava path I was amazed at the way the trees looked. If you smell the trees there they smelled like popcorn and butterscotch. During the summer if you go to Sunset Crater the whole forest smells like that. There was also a place called the wind tunnel. You can go a little bit into the cave but the rest was blocked by bars. Only the people who live there can get through the bars. When we were standing in the tunnel it was much cooler than outside.
 * __Setset Crater National Monument__**