Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

I know what you are probably thinking; it’s taken us this long to get to the second most visited Nation Park.  The thing is, in a way that’s the reason we waited this long to come here. After Yellowstone I had seen enough tourists to last a lifetime.  We got into Grand Canyon well after
dark.  Luckily I had just had coffee, so I had more energy than I ever had during the day.  We set up the camper, and I jogged a quarter mile to shake off the caffeine. 

The next morning we found out that we had to move campsites, so we packed up, and since we couldn’t put our camper in a site yet we had to park with it. Our first thing we did that day was bike to a place called Hermit’s Rest. Along the way we stopped at a few view points. All of them aren’t shown on this map, but we stopped at about six different spots. All of the views were amazing, but on the third or fourth they all started to blend together.  We went to Trailview Overlook, Maricopa Point, Powel Point, Hopi Point, Mohave Point, The Abyss, Monument Creek Vista, and Pima Point. At the end there was Hermit’s Rest, which ironically had the worst views.  We thought that Hermits Rest would have the best views of all.  The Abyss was the one we had heard about the most. It was supposed to have the best views, but we might have come at the wrong time of day because it was completely shadowed.

Day two was the best day, it was the worst day.  It was the day of wisdom, it was the day of foolishness.

-Charles Dickens 1859 (slightly paraphrased)

This was our sunrise

No, not really, it was not the day of wisdom. If I had any wisdom I would have stayed in the camper and taken a nap, but when have I ever been intelligent (no remarks in the comments!). We got up at the crack of dawn and started hiking. The views were best at sunrise because the sun shone on the rocks and made them glow. Also the sun wasn’t shining on us, and that was nice. We went down the South Kaibab Trail for 7.4 miles down to Phantom Ranch, where we ate lunch.  

You can't see it, but the sign says Phantom Ranch

When we were finished we started back up the daunting 4314 feet of elevation spread over 9.9 miles. Just for fun how about someone graphs what our average slope was. My dad made me, but seriously the hike was hard. By the end my legs hurt so much that I collapsed on a bench and waited for my parents. I hadn’t realized how fast I was going on the way up, but I found out when my parents came up an hour later. Before going on the hike we read that most people couldn’t do the Grand Canyon in one day. Some of those who tried either died of heat or were still hiking well after dark. The National Park Service website says “The National Park Service DOES NOT RECOMMEND hiking from the rim to the river and back in one day.” I did it in nine hours.

The next day we rested and recuperated because it hurt to walk up stairs.  At the end of the day we went to a ranger talk about things to fear in the canyon. We learned about scorpions, spiders, and snakes and how dangerous they are. It boiled down to that we shouldn’t fear these things. We should be afraid of falling off the edge.

On day four we did another hike down a steep trail. Part way down I sat, and when I got up again I whacked my head on a tree branch. After that I felt dizzy, so I couldn’t go much farther. That evening we went to an I-MAX movie about the park.

Day five we rested again and went to another ranger talk in the evening. This one was all about fire and how we need it. Forest fires are natural. They clear out smaller trees and make it so the bigger trees can get enough water. In addition the burned trees provide nutrient rich soil for the larger living ones. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put out campfires to decrease forest fires, but we shouldn’t stop them entirely. The forest needs controlled burns to give that good soil, and make sure the trees get enough water. Plus when we suppress fires the brush collects.  When brush collects, the fires can become hotter, higher, and more dangerous, so when this happens the big trees burn and fall.

I can see why the Grand Canyon is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.  The sheer immensity of it is incredible. If any of the other six natural wonders are even near as cool as this one I hope I can see them one day.  If anyone has been to any of the other wonders please tell me about them in the comments. I would love to hear about them.

For the next month we are going to be in an air B and B.  An air B and B is just like an ordinary Bed and Breakfast, just without the Breakfast. Basically someone is renting out their house to us. Since we are going to be more stationary I won’t have as many blog posts. Honestly I’m kind of glad that we are out of the camper. I was starting to go insane in that place. After Sedona we are going to Hawaii for a month and working on an all organic coffee farm. I probably won’t have many posts there either.  After Hawaii we are going to spend a week in San Diego, then fly up to Canada and ski at Whistler for another week.  Then we are going to be skiing for the remaining two months at several mountains in the west/mid-west.

Mohave Desert, Red Rock Canyon and Las Vegas

Honestly, I always thought it was pronounced Mohaby.  I found out that it is spelled with a V at our first stop, the Red Rock Canyon visitor center. I know, it seems like we stop at a visitor center in every place we go. Compared to some of the other visitor centers this one was decent. Outside there were exhibits about different parts of the desert.  They were about water, earth, fire, and air, and how the ecosystem is affected by them.  The only down side was that the staff wasn’t all that friendly. We asked one guy with impressively exuberant eyebrows whether there was a wifi network. He responded, and I quote, “No, you are in nature, no wifi! Deal with it!” (Honestly I don’t know how many people play wii, but those eyebrows were not from this earth. They were perfect rectangles with half inch long curls on the end.) That evening my dad and I climbed a little mountain to check out possible climbing spots for the next day.

The next day, as was to be expected, we went climbing.

 

There was a slab we had found the previous day, about 30 feet tall with a crack running down the side. We set up an anchor at the top and climbed it. It wasn’t easy. There wasn’t a straight line up the wall so I had to go way to the side. The problem with top roping is that if I went too far to one side and fell I would pendulum and hit the other wall. Luckily that didn’t happen, but my shoulders still hurt from climbing.

My dad was very careful belaying me

After that we went in to Las Vegas, (yes, again) and stayed in a hotel, (yes, again). That evening we watched the election, and my dad and I got ice cream. I was really surprised with the results of the election. Admittedly most of my political knowledge comes from Saturday Night Live. In their spoof of the third debate, one of the questions is, “Mr. Trump it has become very clear that you’re probably going to lose?” he responded “Correct.”  The next morning I worked on school work, (yes, again). 

Borax Mine, Boron, NV

On the way to Red Rock State Park near Las Vegas we did what was undoubtedly the most exciting thing out of the entire trip.  We went to a laundry detergent mine. Ok that wasn’t the main part of the visit. It was really a boron mine. A boron mine is where borates are mined to make borax. We went to a visitor all about borax and how it’s made. I know sounds like torture, but it was better than driving. The visitor center wasn’t that interesting. It was a little building all about how boron is mined and how it is used; frankly I found it a little boron.  First it is mined and crushed. Then it is washed, dried, and crushed some more. By the end it resembles cat litter.  We learned that boron is used in, (take a deep breath), cleaning products, plates, fruit fertilizer, footballs, insulation, plastic fencing, cleaning rags, rubber balls, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Sequoia National Park, Califonia

 The first day in Sequoia we enjoyed some relaxing time in the sunshine next to our camper.

The second day we went to General Sherman Tree. General Sherman Tree is the largest tree in the world. It isn’t the tallest, but it has the most mass of any tree on earth. It is roughly the mass of 16 blue whales put together.  We did a fairly long hike to get to the tree, and up close it wasn’t that impressive. After being to Redwood and Humboldt, it looked just like a lot of the other trees we had seen. It wasn’t that tall, and it was clear that the top had been struck by lightning several times. Still, now I can say that I have been to the biggest tree on earth.

San Francisco, Califonia

Our hope was to get into San Francisco before dark. Well, major fail. We drove for eight hours, so it was unlikely we would get a campsite before dark. In addition we stopped at a Bass Pro Shop for about 45 minutes, then at a Barnes and Nobel for a half an hour.  When we got our campsite in Anthony Chabot Regional Park it was pitch black, so we set up the camper and passed out.

The next day was almost as thrilling. We moved campsites, and I worked on school work (happy fun time!) In the evening we went to a movie, “What Next”.

Day three we biked to San Francisco where we went to a place called the Exploratorium. It was a science centered museum mostly about light refraction, biology, and optical illusions. We learned something kind of disturbing before we even got into the museum; bikes get stolen often.  The weirdest part was that bikes parked on the right side of the museum got stolen more than bikes parked on the left, go figure. We had two six foot cable locks and found out that the museum store lent out U locks, so we got three. By the time we were done locking our bikes it looked better than most bank security systems, but it was a necessity. My mom and dad’s bikes are high-end mountain bikes, so compared to all of the other single speed bikes next to us, anyone who wanted to steal bikes would go for ours.

When we got into the museum we were advised to start at the back.  The lady at the counter where we checked in told us that a school group was coming so we should stay at the back.  She said that school groups never stayed for more than a few hours, and they almost never made it to the back.  About ten minutes after we got in, a small army of fifth graders flocked the museum. It proved wise to stay at the back of the museum. The school group was loud, obnoxious, and they took forever to look at one exhibit (no offense to you readers in school).  After the school group moved through we went to the front and checked what there was there.  There was an exhibit that looked like a geyser and was demonstrating the formula PV=NRT.  If you want to know what that means look at the bottom, it’s confusing. We saw a plant called Mimosa Pudica, or the Sensitive Plant, that curled its leafs when I touched them. There were a lot of other exhibits, but I can’t describe, (or remember) them all. There was a ten foot whirl pool, a twenty foot twister, a sandstorm, a fog generator, and an exhibit that dropped dry ice into a pool of water. Dry ice is made of frozen carbon dioxide rather than water.  When it makes contact with water it generates a fog. In this case the reaction caused the ice to speed around the tank and spin around. 

In the front of the museum there was a triangle of mirrors that reflected each other and made an infinite room. Another mirror made it appear that the room behind me was distorted and upside down, but I was in perfect focus. That one almost made me puke. Yet another mirror created an illusion that there was a spring two feet in front of me until I put hand through it.  One of my favorite exhibits involved magnetism. There were two pieces of metal that looked like elbow macaroni facing each other. All around them was black sand. Black sand is made of iron ore so it can be magnetized. When I sprinkled the sand on the pieces of metal it magnetized and made little spikes. Overall I really liked the Exploratorium. It was more interactive than a lot of museums

After the Exploratorium we biked the Golden Gate Bridge.  Since it was getting dark we couldn’t go all the way across the bridge, but that was probably a good

thing. This bridge is shown collapsing in so many movies I almost hyperventilated.  The view off the bridge was amazing, and if not for the cars and trucks going by at 40 miles an hour, it would have been very peaceful.  On the way back we saw something that I wished I had recorded. 

There was a guy on a bike with an Australian accent screaming at a group of tourists for walking on the wrong side of the path. Right after that little scene I saw something I hadn’t seen on the way up. There were about a dozen bronze plaques saying Gun Positions 1, Gun Position 2, etc… I learned that these were where the defenders would place their cannons in the case of an attack.

The next day we went to an observatory and space museum. We watched two movies and explored the museum. Near the end we went to the telescope section where there were the two observatories and a room full of old-timey telescopes. I poked my head into the observatory just to check it out, but as luck would have it there were a few astronomers in it, so I got to look through the telescope and see Jupiter.

PV=NRT is the ideal gas law. It means that pressure times volume equals the number of moles of a substance times R, the universal gas constant times T, temperature.  This means that if one thing changes something else has to change as well, (what you do to one side of the equation you must do to the other).  If there is a tub of water and the temperature increases either the volume will increase, or, if there is a top on the tub, the pressure will increase.  

Redwood National Park, Califonia

Our first experience in Redwood was one of the most famous attractions in the national park, Tall Trees Grove. Tall Trees Grove, as the name implies, is a grove full of tall redwoods.  The entire place was covered in green. The trees were coated in moss, and ferns dangled from the tree branches.  There were some burls that were 

over twice as big as me, on trees that took me a good 30 seconds to walk around at a leisurely stroll.  Near the end the moss became thicker. It looked really cool seeing the moss up to a few inches thick. I could have slept comfortably on one layer of the moss just fine. There was one tree branch that was covered in bright green ferns.

 

The next day we went through a place called Fern Canyon. As the name implies it is a canyon that is full of ferns. The part that I didn’t expect was that there was a freezing stream running through the canyon. We tried to avoid the stream for as long as we could, but eventually we had to cross on a log about two inches thick and not at all stable. Luckily the water was only a few inches deep, so when I fell I didn’t sink up to my knees. Unfortunately that was enough to soak my shoes and socks.  The walls were the most interesting part. They were 20 feet tall and completely covered in ferns.  Little streams created miniscule waterfalls that dampened the walls, so the ferns could grow.

Afterword, since our shoes were wet, we went to the ocean. The waves were pretty big. Not as big as some of the ones we saw in Costa Rica, but they were big enough to soak us and cover us with sand. I always like my shoes a little loose, unfortunatly by the time we were done I couldn’t move my toes through all the sand in my shoes. 

Humboldt State Park, Califonia

I don’t know if my parents were trying to get out of a three hour drive by saying Humboldt was pretty much the same as Redwood National Park. If so it didn’t work. I’m not saying Humboldt wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t the same as Redwood and I really wanted to go to Redwood.

When we got into Humboldt it was late and drizzly. We set up the camper and went on a mile long walk on a loop through the forest.  We saw a lot of big trees and huge burls, (those weird lumpy things that grow on the side of the tree).  We learned from interpretive signs that burls were full of clones of the tree.  If the tree gets damaged the burl sprouts hundreds of new tree saplings, so eventually one or two of the saplings will become trees. Sometimes several trees grow and the tree they came off of dies and rots. When the mother tree is gone there is a ring of trees called a fairy circle.  Another thing we learned about was called a goose pen. A goose pen happens when a fire burns partway through a tree and leaves a burned out alcove in the tree.  These goose pens can range from a few inches across to big enough to camp in.

Lake Tahoe, Califonia

Our stop in Lake Tahoe had very mixed results.

It was too cold to camp so we decided to check into a hotel for the night. While there we learned that there was too much snow to hike or bike at any of the places we planned. The only place that we could bike was a bike path that went around the lake.

That evening we took advantage of everything in the hotel. We all took showers and watched as much TV as we could. The only bad part was that my bed was lumpy and uncomfortable.

The next day we went out on the bike path. I decided to bike while my parents walked. Eventually I got bored; the entire path was paved and relatively flat. Even worse, there wasn’t a view of the lake, so I couldn’t get a good picture. I decided to turn around, and that’s when things started going wrong. I just turned around when the sun came out, and I started getting hot. I unzipped my jacket but realized that I looked like an idiot. I was going 20 miles per hour, and my jacket was flying around behind me, making me look like a peacock having a spasm. I slowed down to zip up my coat and was putting up my hood when there was a sharp curve in the path. Instinctively I slammed on my brake which was a good thing and a bad thing. If I hadn’t hit the brake I would have ridden into the highway and probably gotten hit by a car. Lucky me, I only flipped over my handle bars at 15 miles an hour onto solid concrete. In the end I needed

five stitches in my chin and a capped tooth. Also, a week later as I write this, my right arm, the one I landed on, can’t lift up anything heavier than ten pounds.  In addition it hurts to drink hot and cold. Plus, I can’t get my chin wet, which as one might imagine is hard in Redwood National park, a place that gets 90 inches of rain per year. I am constantly in fear as well because tomorrow my mom takes out my stitches.

Mono Lake, California

Mono Lake was like being in another world. Admittedly

almost all of the reactions that I have read seem to say that, but it is the only description I can think of.  From above, the water glittered turquoise.  At water level,

Mono Lake was no less amazing. The calcite tufas (more on them later) loomed like something from an alien planet. Since the lake was significantly lower than usual the tufas were more exposed than they would be normally. 

Before we even got to the tufas there were several signs regarding the ecosystem of the lake and how the tufas are formed. Just a heads up, this is the educational part, brace yourself.  Fresh water springs bubble up under the lake. These springs have lots of calcium in them, and the lake around them is full of carbonate. Now this is some pretty tricky chemistry, but bear with me. What do you get when you mix calcium

and carbonate; wait for it, calcium carbonate. I know- no one saw that coming.  Since calcium carbonate is essentially limestone it builds up around the spring and forms the tufas. 

After we saw the tufas we went to a museum about the lake and tufas.  We learned about the Native American tribe that lives there. One strange thing that we saw was a thing called a brine shrimp.  They are tiny little shrimp that was one on the main food sources for the Native Americans. There was a scale that would show how heavy someone is in brine shrimp.  I am the equivalent weight of about 770,370 brine shrimp, so just imagine how many shrimp it would take to satisfy someone’s hunger.  We also learned that there are three types of tufa: glacial, sand, and limestone.

My favorite was sand tufa, it was really delicate looking, and it made the coolest shapes.

As we drove away, the tufas looked so small. This was really weird because when we had been next to them, they were easily twice as tall as me.