This is quite wordy - if you don't want to read it all, pics are in the next post.
Hey everybody! April 30 - May 3 I had a geology field trip to Arizona. It was a ton of fun! We left on Saturday April 30 at 8:30 am. CLU is rumored to have decided students over 21 are no longer reliable enough to drive, so they hired a driver for us. Which is quite ironic considering I'm a MUCH better driver than this guy was. We made one stop on the way at Devil's punchbowl, which was pretty cool and had some neat rocks. Then we got back in the van (5 students including me plus our teacher) and continued to AZ. Me and my classmate Dan were the only 2 that really don't sleep in the car, so we played games while everyone else crashed out. We got to AZ around 6pm, and ate pizza on Route 66 in Williams, AZ where we stayed. Then we hung out in the hotel before getting some sleep for the next day.
Sunday morning was when I really noticed the altitude - Williams is at 6766 ft! We headed out at 8am and went to Walnut Canyon. It was REALLY COLD and quite windy. We went down about 300 steps. The canyon had some really cool stratigraphy (rock layers) in which cave dwellings were built. Those were pretty sweet! Coming back up all those steps was pretty killer at that elevation! But I made it in decent time. Then we went to Sunset Crater, which is a giant cinder cone. There were some pretty cool lava flows there. Then we went to 2 Indian ruins and after that ate lunch, and made a few more small stops, including one to grab some petrified wood along the road. We also went on to the Indian reservation to see dino footprints. Then we got dinner at Sonic, went back to the motel, and hung out in the hot tub. That's when I heard about the 'Osama' thing... some drunk chick stumbled in and said that 'OBAMA KILLED HIMSELF!'Later when we watched 'The Haunting' I jumped so bad I got a charlie horse.
Monday we finally went to the Grand Canyon! We headed out at 8am again. When I got my first view of the canyon... I was awe struck! I teared up. The hike down was pretty awesome. We hiked the South Kaibab Trail and went about 1.5 miles to Cedar Ridge. We ate lunch there, and then split up because the guys wanted to hike further. I wanted to go on with them, but I figured I would probably slow them down on the way back so I didn't. My other female classmate and I made REALLY good time on the way back up however. It was pretty difficult - uphill the WHOLE way... by the end, I kept thinking "another switchback?!" But I was proud of myself for making such great time at 6-7,000 feet (the hike dropped 1,000 feet from the rim). Then we visited another spot with fossils and a fantastic view. Then a stop at a gift shop, and we all crashed out on the way back.
We left AZ at 6am Tuesday morning, and arrived back here around 2pm. I got some errands done and wanted to do more, but I got a call at 4:40 asking why I wasn't at work... my boss wasn't supposed to schedule me! So I ended up at work last night.
Ok! So. Hope that wasn't too long... and now, the best part - pics!
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