Room+17A

= = Cami Lopez: Grand Canyon Hike, Wupatiki Loriann Olson: Glen Canyon River Rafting, Sunset Crater

//**Grand Canyon Hike (Day 1) 4/21/11**// ==== Our Grand Canyon trip started off with a hike. We hiked a mile into the Grand Canyon and along the way learned a lot about the history and geology of the Grand Canyon. As we walked into this great wonder, we saw three types of rock. The three types are sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Also, looking around the Grand Canyon you will notice two main things about the rock structure. The structure could either be a cliff, or a slope. The cliffs are made up of limestone, which is a form of sedimentary rock. The slopes are made up of shale, which is a form of sedimentary rock as well. We continued our hike into the 277 mile long canyon and studied some layers of the cliffs. We saw a layer that had ocean fossils on it which tells us, as well as scientists, that the layer was one the layer of the sea. It was amazing learning all about the Grand Canyon's history and geology. But you can't forget the wildlife! We also saw some mules! They were amazing and were a great way to top of our hike. ====



River (Day 2) 4/22/11

On this trip we rafted down the Colorado River. We had lots of fun learning about the history of the river. Our tour guide was really nice and smart. He gave us lots of information about the river and Glen Canyon. The location was a beautiful sight! It was educational and fun at the same time. Lake Powell was named by John Wesley Powell. The lake has 16,000 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS) of water. It has 1900 miles of shoreline throughout the whole lake. Lake Powell is 90% full and it gets water from 7 different states. Did you know most of the water comes from either snowfall or rain? It is an average of 25 feet deep and can get up to 85 feet deep. There are a total of seven camp sites along the river. The Navajo sand stone is 180 million years old. It is so soft that if you took a chunk of it off, you could break it with your knee! The Abandoned Meander is a hanging canyon which 100 million years ago the river ran through it. Throughout the whole canyon there is only a small line of limestone. Along the river there is a trail that was used by big horn sheep and the Anasazi long ago. The Anasazi also drew petroglyphs that were done by carving it into the rock. There were four types of fish in the river. They are rainbow trout, humpback chub, razorback sucker, and Colorado pike minnow. Only one of those four is left; the rainbow trout. All of the trees in the canyon are called tamaris. They are nasty trees, but they hold the beaches together. All of the walls that are in the canyon are plates that have uplifted which caused them to move up. Fredrick Delenba was 17 years old when he went on another expedition with John Wesley Powell. He climbed up a hill and shot a bullet to see how long it would take to echo. It took 24 seconds to echo. John D. Lee settled in 1863. Lee participated in the Mountains Meadow Massacre. John D. Lee created Lee’s Ferry.   **// Wupatki (Day 2) 4/22/11 //** ==== On the second day of our Grand Canyon trip, we got to visit Wupatki. Wupatki is a Pueblo Ruin that is 900 years old. A long time ago, the Hopi lived in this Ruin and they built amazing buildings. One building had 100 rooms and was four stories high! We walked around a little bit and found a blow hole. A blow hole is where there is a crack in the earth letting all of the pressure out. It was really cool. Another thing that was really cool was learning about the Hopi's living conditions. They had minimal food and other resources. Other tribes would come to the Hopi's land and they would all have to live together and had to share all the resources that they had. Learning about Wupatki and the Hopi really makes me thankful for everything I have. I can get food, water, and clean clothes super easily but the Hopi couldn't. It must have been difficult to live at Wupatki. ====  Sunset Crater (Day 2) 4/22/11 At sunset Crater we witnessed a beautiful volcano. The location of the crater was beautiful! There was molten rock everywhere, and the actual volcano was huge! Sunset Crater is a giant cinder cone volcano that has a crater at the peak. There was lots of rock that came out of the volcano long ago. The volcano is 1,000 feet tall and 1 mile wide at the base. The volcanoes are no longer active, but when they were the lava flow would be very slow and it would ooze out the side of the mountain. Did you know there used to be a trail going up the side of the volcano? The trees that are around the volcano are called Ponderosa Pines. They smell like butterscotch! There is an ice cave by the mountain. The ice in the cave is formed by moisture in the air freezing. 