AMANDA’S
SOUTHWESTERN ADVENTURE
Day 1: Arrival, Oak Creek Canyon, Flagstaff
My fellow adventurers (Dave, Lee Anne, Pat and Fang) and I all arrived at
RDU airport at Way Early in the Morning O'clock for our flight to Phoenix. Phoenix is a mysterious town in that 1)
People actually want to live there and 2) These people don't need to consume
any water. I mean, it's this city out in the middle of the desert; There is no water. It must be that the people of Phoenix have magic
organelles in each of their cells that mash hydrogen and oxygen atoms together
using solar energy. We sped out of this strange town as soon as possible.
After fondling (Ow!) some of the plants in the Sonoron desert (Saguros,
mesquite, sage brush), we made our way to Oak Creek
Canyon, north of Phoenix. We
hiked the West
Fork trail. We were introduced to some pretty
desert plants and their adaptations.
This hike was around 3 miles in total, though it did go on after the river for
another 2.5.
We arrived in Flagstaff
in time for dinner at an excellent Mexican restarant
where we crammed ourselves full of chips and salsa.
Day 2-4: The Grand Canyon
On the way down to the Grand Canyon, we
hiked (1 mile) around Walnut canyon, where we saw Indian
Paintbrush and Yuccas.
Walnut Canyon is a National Monument and houses
700 year old Indian cliff dwellings. No really, these Indians lived in these
little cave thingies and had some kick-ass views to wake up to every morning.
No picture
can do justice to the awe that you feel the first time you see the Grand Canyon in person.
The first instinct everyone has when they walk up to the lookout is to take as
many pictures as possible. To hurry up and document it as if it wasn't around
for millenia and is going to suddenly disappear.
Then everyone goes home and looks at their film and says "It doesn't look
like that!"
The first day we were at the Grand Canyon,
we took the shuttle up and down the South rim. This is a very popular thing to
do and it's a great way for people who aren't into hiking to see a big chunk of
the canyon.
A few spots have some cool fossils buried in the sandstone.
Although we heard coyotes while camping this first night, we didn't see much
wildlife on the trip. Squirrels, some lizards , one horny toad, a possible chipmunk. The plant
life sure was awesome though. Especially this
man-plant .
When going to the Canyon, it's useful to brush up on your geology. People
talk in layers."Soon we'll be up to the (some indian name)
sandstone/shale!!!" At certain points while hiking, looking at the
sandstone made me think about sunbathing with the dinosaurs.
The second day was pure, unadulterated canyon hiking. Canyon hiking is
different from normal hiking in that it involves a downhill trek before the
uphill. So your knees and feet are throbbing before you even start your ascent.
Also, people are constantly worried about you. So they tell you to drink water,
eat salty food, wear a hat. A few times my party was a
few switchbacks behind or ahead of me, and people I passed were worried that I
was alone. There are over 200 rescues in the Canyon per year. People die who
aren't adequately prepared. But it's really not that bad. I mean, don't bring
your kids. But I was able to make it and I'm a GIRL (hahaha).
We hiked the Bright
Angel Trail
down to Plateau point and back up. It took 12 hours, 6 liters of water, 1 liter
of Gatorade and endless amounts of cashews and M&M's. The Plateau isn't the
bottom of the Canyon, but it's close. At the plateau,
you really understand how vast
the canyon really is . It's dry as a
desert down
there, and you dread
having to climb back out. Once you reach
Indian Gardens, there's still 4.5 miles to go. But when you reach
the top, you feel so good about yourself. Until two guys pass you who tell
you that they've hiked rim to rim and back (46 miles). Then you just want to
die.
The third day at the canyon, we took it easy. We hiked a little of the
Hermit's trail, we browsed the gift shops, we drove out to the Desert
View and took some pictures . We drove through Navaho territory (motto: Buy
stuff from the Nice Indians) and drove across the canyon to Marble Canyon.
Finally, we were able to wash the dust off of us at a lodge.
Day 5: Cathedral Wash and Kaibabobobobobobob
We did some slot canyon hiking at Cathedral wash. If you've never done slot
canyon hiking, I highly recommend it. It's hella fun.
Mostly flat with a few major
drops where you have to figure out the best way to get down (sometimes
there's a cluster of rocks indicating a good path. If you're 5'1" like me,
you might want to bring along a tall guy to pull you up in spots. At the end of
the hike we were rewarded with the cool breeze of the Colorado
river.
Next we drove to Kaibob National
Forest to meet with a ranger. On the way we saw a
nice Desert
Rainbow. The ranger talked to us for a while and then we all had a nice
sunset barbeque on the North Rim of the Canyon.
While driving through the forest, our minivan got a flat tire. Oh gravel
roads, why you mock us so? Fortunately, there were people in the car more
experienced with car malfunctions than myself (e.g.
they didn't just stand there and panic) and the spare was on in 20 minutes. Enterprise, of course,
gave us some grief about this, but finally let us buy
a new tire in town and reimbursed us for it.
Day 6-7: Zion National Park Zion is a big park full of big rocks. The
Mormons settled here to escape prosecution or something. No one can really find
you when you're covered with all that desert dust. People prosecuting them
probably died of nosebleeds and watery eyes.
The first day we did a short hiking along Zion Narrows
(the river hike) to see the hanging gardens: columbine
and Shooting
Star abounded. We also met up with one of the park's botanists and she told
us about some of the restoration programs in the park. So uh, hey people: Stay
on the trails.
The next day we hiked up to Observation
Point and back. It was also
full of wild
flowers.
Pretty awesome view at the top. After this hike, we
tried to go horseback riding, but it was too late in the day. Dave hiked up
Angel's landing, but stopped near the top where it got perilous and scary (hahaha). The girls stayed grounded and did a short hike
near Emerald
Pools.
Day 8: Back to Phoenix
We said goodbye to big rocks and headed back to Phoenix to make the next day's flight,
looking at Joshua
trees on the way . We stopped by the Valley of Fire with it's
red red rocks and petroglyphs. And since we had to go through Nevada anyway, we just HAD to stop by Las Vegas.
UGH, Las Vegas.
Las Vegas is
this weird place in the desert where you give machines away all your money. The
city "comes to life" at night, which must mean that during the day it
looks worn down and sketchy. In the casinos
for example, the Ceasar's Palace that we ate
lunch in), it's night all the time! So you try to
gamble the night away, but it never does, so you just end up staying there
forever. Anyway, after being outside for 8 days, the thought of spending a
vacation inside seemed strange and unappealing.