Room+11B

**__//By Kelsey and Madison//__** __Bright__ __Angel Trail and Indian Garden__ The Indian Garden is 4.5 miles down from the rim of the Grand Canyon. The Indian Garden rests in the center of Bright Angel Creek. The Bright Angel Creek and trail lies on a fault line. The fault is appropriately named Bright Angel Creek Fault.



 __Grand Canyon__ The Grand Canyon’s rim is approximately 1300 miles around. The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon for 272 miles. The Colorado River is what formed the Grand Canyon, with the process of erosion and weathering. The Grand Canyon top layer consists of kaibab limestone and in some parts, fossilized ocean floors. The top layer of rock is 250 million years old this is the youngest layer of rock. The canyon is made up of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock. People traveling through the canyon used mules to carry ore from the mines. We hiked a little through the Grand Canyon. Sadly, it started to snow heavily and it was not as enjoyable to walk through the hail and strong winds. Clouds soon blocked are view. We were lucky enough to see the fossils of the top layer.

__Ocean Fossils at Grand Canyon __ Ocean fossils make a good portion of the top layer of the Grand Canyon.



__Colorado River Trip__ The water temperature is about 47 degrees year round. The Colorado starts in Wyoming and ends in the Gulf of California. The river is 250,000 in sq miles in total. The walls that tower the river are about 700ft- 1400ft high. Animals that inhabit this area are the Great Herring Bird, Big Horned Sheep, Bobcats, and Rainbow Trout. Fishermen are only allowed to catch 4 fish that are less than 12 inches long. The Colorado minnow used to live in the water before the dam was built but it could not handle the cold temperatures. Desert Garnish grows on the sides of the canyon walls. Desert Garnish is mineral that the darker it gets the longer it has been there. The gray gravel in the canyon shows evidence of where the river bottom used to be. The biggest rapids in the Glen Canyon reached mind boggling 0.2 out of 10 on the rapid scale! They made their own scale for the Colorado River. We went boating thorough the river and got splashed a few times especially Kelsey! We enjoyed this part of the expedition because it warmer that day, no snow or wind. We had a lot of fun learning about this area and enjoyed boating on those “strong” rapids! We had a very pleasant tour guide who seemed to know a lot about the canyon and made the trip more interesting. This was our favorite part of the trip because of the great river.

__Glen__ __Canyon__ __Dam__ In 1919, the Grand Canyon became a national park. Soon after, the Glen Canyon Dam was built to produce energy and store water. It took 17 years for the lake behind it, Lake Powell, to fill up. Before the Dam was built 380,000 tons of sediment would flow through the Colorado every day! But this Dam has a negative effect on the native creatures that live in the water. The Dam causes the water to be clear and cold, the Colorado River is naturally brown and warm. So the native creatures are leaving.

__ Wupatki ____ National Monument __ The Anasazi and Pueblo Native Americans lived in the Wupatki area more than 800 years ago. We do not know why some of the houses are up high but we think that it was a lookout for any predators. Out of the entire monument, only one petroglyph has been uncovered it resembles a snake. This petroglyph was covered with dirt when found. If you were being chased, you would climb up the building on ropes, and enter through a keyhole entrance, once you were up you cut the rope and be ready to kill if they made it up.

__ Amphitheater at Wutpaki __ This is the very first amphitheater ever found in Arizona and it was used for public meetings or ceremonial purposes. When you stand in it, and talk in a normal voice you can be heard very clearly form far away. This part of the trip was not as enjoyable because it was very, very, very windy out and we could not hear a thing anyone was saying. It was helpful to look at the buildings up close because they kept you warm and blocked the wind. But it was nice to see how these people lived and how they adjusted to temperatures.



__ Sunset Crater Dirt  __ We took a hike through the Lava Flow trail. We were kind of sad that we did not actually get to see Sunset Crater but its surroundings were beautiful. Sunset Crater is a cinder cone volcano. It is part of the San Francisco Volcanic Field. Hollywood wanted to make a movie and use explosives on Sunset Crater but they soon learn that the crater might still be active so they decided not to do it. We are not allowed to hike up to the crater because in 1973 was closed because the hikers caused erosion and it would dangerous.