Day 3 Grand Canyon!

Grand Canyon! Can you see a little patch of very green trees at the bottom of the canyon in a valley? That is called Indian Garden and it is where we hiked down to in the canyon.

These are the friends I hiked with; Dave, Amy, me, and Alyssa. We had fun and took it slow. We formed a train when walking. Dave was the engine and I was the caboose.

On Friday, May 20, we hiked the Grand Canyon Bright Angel trail. It took us 11 hours to hike 12 miles. It was hot and was so much work, but we did it! I felt very tired and sore from doing so much work, but it was worth it.

Sunset Crater and Wupatki

This is a picture of me overlooking a valley and mountains while standing where ancient pueblo homes used to be. What a view, huh?

This site is called Wupatki and it was an apartment style housing unit that was home to many ancient Native Americans over 800 years ago. Many rooms were used for storage of food or trash. Some of the rooms were used for special ceremonies and some were for sleeping. The buildings are made out of sandstone. There is TONS of sandstone all around the Southwest and that is the red rock that you see in many of the pictures.

This is Sunset Crater Volcano. You will notice the dark dirt in the front of the picture, that is debris from a lava flow when the volcano erupted thousands of years ago. The volcano is not on a fault line (where two of Earth's plates meet or pull away) but on a hot spot (which is where magma is built up under the Earth's surface and rises up to form volcanoes and cause eruptions. I also saw many large volcanic rocks that were hardened lava.

Day 1 Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument

Hello all! I am quite tired but I wanted to say hello tonight!

Today we traveled from Phoenix, AZ toward Flagstaff, AZ. We went to see a volcano crater and all the area around it was covered in lava rocks! It was really cool.

There are not many trees here and those that are here are mostly a type of pine. Most of the plants are shrubs and grasses. I saw big cactus today too! Like the kind you see in the movies with the big arms. They are taller than I am!

We also went to an ancient Native American site where we could see multiple structures that they built over 800 years ago. Many different tribes contributed to the structures. The buildings are built out of very red rocks and stuck together with mud and clay.

Tomorrow I am hiking down into the Grand Canyon! Don't worry Carly, I will be very careful. ; )

Hopefully I will have many things for you to read about on Monday. Enjoy your weekend!

-Ms. Whippie

Bye Bye rain. Hello Sunshine!

Well, I am leaving today! I think I have almost all of my things packed. I hope.

I leave Manchester, NH at 12:05pm today and arrive in Pheonix, Arizona after a stop in Chicago, IL to change planes.

I am excited for my trip and I hope to tell you about all the things and places and people I see very soon.

Have a great day!

Sincerely, Ms. Emilia Whippie