It is our big day today. The breakfast in out hotel was amazing and we all packed up 4 liter bottles of water, sandwiches and snacks to get ready for the hiking at the Grand Canyon today. We met with Jon and his students from Arizona and we had a little 'lecture' together. He shared with us a couple of traditional ideas about the formation of the Grand Canyon and then gave us his theory that he worked on for his dissertation. It basically states that there was a large basin that filled to the point where it spilled over and the Colorado River formed and drained into the Colorado Plateau after the uplifting and cut through to form the canyons. Pretty soon after the lecture, we started our hike on the Grandview Trail. The trip one way was 4.31 miles long, which is together 8.62 miles (13.8 km) in total. The way down was relatively easy, and we were all hiking together except for Harry. Phil shared with us a lot of information about the different layers of rocks as we moved down the canyon and back in time through geologic history. The turnaround destination gave us an absolutely stunning view of the Grand Canyon from the inside. Phil gave us a small lecture on the geology and formation of the canyon after we ate lunch. From there, we packed up and headed back up the trail. Things got a lot more difficult for all of us on the way up. Pretty soon, the group became seperated and most of us got really tired of climbing up. People like Dave and Mary looked to be energetic and never got tired, but the majority of us were exhausted and the trail seemed endless and almost impossible for us to climb. The entire hike back up the canyon took 2-3 hours and we barely took any breaks. It was all worth it once we got to the top. Generally speaking, this 8.62 miles of hiking was amazing, great exercise and all in all, an experience of a lifetime.
We drove directly to the Pizza House for dinner and then many of us went to the hot tub. Tomorrow will be our last day and we will be ending up in Phoenix and leave by midnight.
Picture Together
The Grand Canyon and the Colorado Basin
On the way down was a lot easier
I was exhausted and wet from climbing up the Grand Canyon
No comments:
Post a Comment