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Location: Rocky
Mountain National Park
Written by Katelyn Shank
June 10, 2005
The bright lights of the gym woke us up for another
early morning. What we thought
would be a three hour drive to our destination in
Rocky
Mountain
National Park
turned into an eight hour drive. Inclement
weather, such as hale, sleet, snow, and ice, closed the trails that we
were going to hike for the day. We
were super excited about this though, because of course we wanted to hike
in inclement weather! We took
a detour around the north end of the park so that we could come in from
below the trail we wanted to hike. This
route was definitely a scenic one! We
winded through the
Rocky Mountains
that started out with plush green vegetation and turned into protruding
rock packed with snow and dense, tall, slender Lodge Pole Pines.
The coach followed the
Colorado River
as the sky dumped sleet and snow on us.
We finally arrived to our trail and our ranger Barb met us there.
The group hiked along the
Colorado River
learning about its history as well as The Ditch.
The Ditch is a three foot wide channel that diverges half of the
mountain water for human use. While
we hiked we spotted a moose, many elk, bison, and Mule Deer.
Mr. Blosser helped us take water samples from three different parts
of the
Colorado River
testing for salinity, TDS, conductivity, and checking the temperature.
We drove another two hours to
Sylvan
Lake
camp ground and ate a dinner consisting of taco salad and pie.
Most of the group sought sleep right away.
Mattias, Ian, and I decided to brave the cold and slept under the
stars. There are hardly words
to describe the beauty we experienced.
As we lay bundled up in layers of clothing, sleeping bags, and tarp
on top, the domed navy blue sky, sprits with more stars than I have ever
seen in my life, reigned above us. The
constellations glowed bright as many shooting stars glided in our view and
then disappeared behind the silhouette of the mountains that surrounded us
on four sides. No city lights
loomed to intrude on the brilliance. Finally,
when our eyes grew weary from the piercing radiance, we drifted to sleep.
The next morning a layer of frost sparkled on our tarp and on
unlucky parts of our sleeping bags that happened to be sticking out.
The rest of the group thought we were crazy, but it was most
definitely a sign of God’s glory and creativity.
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Location: Colorado
Written by Max Weaver
June 11, 2005
Yesterday we left the school gym at
6:30 a.m.
Our travels took us up into
the stunning
Colorado
Mountains
. After several hours of
driving we had planned to stop and take a long hike into the mountains.
However, we were informed of the inclement weather surrounding the
trail. That hike was cancelled
because of snowstorms, so we relocated to a new hiking destination. Barb
King was our guide who showed us around. She lectured us on the history of
the
Colorado River
and the Grand Ditch which was built during the 1890s until up until 1932.
As we meandered through the forest there were sightings of elk and
deer. We collected our sample
of water from the river and left for
Sylvan
Lake
State Park
where had planned to stay. Upon
arrival the temperature had dropped into the 30s-40s.
During the night the temperature fell into the 20s.
In the morning the tents were completely frosted over.
We left the campground at
6:30
for
Utah
in anticipation of our upcoming three day rafting trip on the
Colorado.
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Location: Colorado River
Written by Mattias Clymer
June 13, 2005
We woke up to the sound of our long haired
bearded instructor playing a mystic melody on his double necked Indian
flute. We all drug ourselves
out of the tents desperately trying to pull our eyelids off the ground as
we made our way to the breakfast line.
There we ate a modest breakfast of cereal and bagels.
Then we finished packing up our gear into dry bags and set of into
a still clear morning. Jutting
up around us were majestic sandstone plateaus that were stretching up
towards the heavens. Our minds
were soon were yanked back into reality as the invigorating sound of
rapids seeped around the bend. Our
instructor yelled for us to lean into the rapids as waves slapped our
faces. This struggle continued
for a while until we broke through to more tepid water.
We stopped in a long narrow island where we ate tuna burritos.
Then we packed up and made the final stretch of the river.
At the loading dock some of us helped unload the boats while some
of us did back flips off of sand pits.
We said goodbye to the instructors and headed out on a different
quest to find showers. We
searched the town stopping at different campsites until we finally came
upon a pool with showers large enough to accommodate a group our size.
After the hot showers we went to a laundry matt in which we cleaned
our much disserving clothes. By
the time we conquered our quests we had developed a healthy appetite so we
went to the Moab Brewery and ate a fine meal.
Finally we set off on the road again but this time to
Arches
National Park
were we settled down underneath the stars for the night.
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Location: Arches National Park, Utah
Written by Monika Burkholder
June 15, 2005
The bright
Utah
sun woke me up from a beautiful night beneath the stars in
Arches
National Park
. After quickly packing up our
sleeping bags and eating breakfast, we packed up day packs for a big hike
called The Fiery Furnace. We
realized there was time to spare before we had to leave, so some of us
decided to hike a short ways behind our campsite to see an arch the guys
had found. We all climbed up
on rocks to see the arch Mr. Blosser called “Discovery Arch”.
We boarded the coach again to travel to the trail head.
The ranger Jerry informed us that it was imperative for us to wear
sturdy shoes and be able to have our hands free as we were going to be
scrambling over rocks. The
trail immediately took us down over rocks, giving us a hint of what was to
come. Jerry stopped us
intermittently to explain desert life, how arches formed, and rock
formations as we wound along the rough trail to see a few of Arches’
2200 arches. We even got the
chance to crawl trough a tiny arch named the “crawl through arch”.
At one point on our hike Jerry gave us the option of going on the
main path, or taking one that went through a crevice between two rocks.
We loved crawling through the tiny crack, imaging what it would
have been like if we were the first explorers and not knowing if the crack
would come out on the other side or not.
The way out of the furnace was interesting and even more
adventuresome as we scrambled over rocks, shimmied through cracks, waddled
over crevices, crept along narrow trails with a steep drop off on the
other side and mastered steep stairs cut into the hard rock.
The hike was beautiful, and mostly in the shade of the massive rock
formations rising above our heads.
As we finished the hike and walked out of the furnace we once again
saw for the last time our favorite La Sal mountains, snow capped and
ironic in the dry brown desert rocks.
Lunch was well deserved and delicious as we ate in front of the
furnace that bordered the La Sal Mountains.
We pulled out of
Utah
and moved on toward Native American country, headed to a Navajo
Reservation in Chile Arizona. Arriving
to the campsite for the night, we used the bathrooms, refilled water
bottles and haggled prices in the gift shop.
We didn’t spend much time there, however, because we were headed
to another hike in the Canyon de Chelly to the White Ruins.
The hike went down into a Canyon where people have lived from the
Anasazi to present day. The
hike was beautiful as we climbed down among the red rocks with the evening
sun bouncing off, passing Natives who lived at the bottom of the Canyon.
Arriving at the White House Ruins we gathered to do a journal entry
about the stories of the Canyon. The
time spent in the bottom wasn’t long however, the sun was setting and we
needed to return to the camp for supper.
Supper was ready by the time we returned to the campsite; it was a
delicious meal of mashed potatoes and chicken gravy.
Tents were set up, dodging mangy stray dogs, as the bright stars
started to show up in the night sky. Someone
hollered ice cream and we quickly gathered around the picnic tables to eat
desert. Sleep was well
deserved as we fell in to our sleeping bags, tired but satisfied from our
beautiful hikes.
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Location: Las Vegas,
Nevada
Written by Steven Stauffer
June 17, 2005
What Does Happen in Vegas?
So we woke up in the dust of the
Grand Canyon
, packed our bags, ate a quick breakfast, and headed out of
Arizona
. Next stop – Hoover Dam.
Unfortunately, the guards at the Dam felt threatened by the look of
our crowd – especially being a Mennonite high school, and wouldn’t let
us get within a mile of the dam. Their
excuse was that they couldn’t let buses with luggage close to the dam.
Disappointed that we couldn’t carry out our plans of holding the
dam hostage, we continued on to
Las Vegas
. And what’s the first thing
anyone would do when they get to Vegas?
Hit the
Southern Nevada
Water Authority! We sat in on
a presentation about how the
Las Vegas
area is managing their water, and what is being done to help the
situation. After this, we went
to the Stratosphere, where we planned to take several exciting rides 108
stories above
Las Vegas
. Unfortunately, it seemed
that the Stratosphere had caught word from the Hoover Dam administration,
and closed all but one ride. They
claimed they did this because of the wind, but I figure that our group has
a reputation following us. Maybe
they were suspicious because our group just looked too normal.
Anyway, we took a ride on “Insanity,” which spun us out in the
open air, horizontally, facing down towards the city below.
Just to show that we were in fact a weird group, we had more fun
after the ride, entertaining ourselves in the howling wind, then on the
ride itself. We then descended
at three floors per second to the bottom of the Stratosphere, where we ate
dinner. At this point, many
lost track of time and place as we bathed in the glory of an amazing
buffet that put Golden Corral to shame.
At last, night had fallen. Night
in Vegas – time to hit the STRIP. Alas
for us, this meant a short tour from the comfort of our own coach.
While the city life was just beginning, we were ready for bed, and
were dropped off at a Travelodge, where the beds and showers eagerly
awaited us, and we settled down under the lights of
Sin
City
.
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