Longhorn Cavern State Park & SUP at Inks Lake State Park

Today I worked a day trip to Longhorn Cavern State Park and Inks Lake State Park with Jakub, Manuel, and Sarah R.  We had nine participants on this trip, including five international exchange program students!

We arrived at Gregory Gym at 7:30am, obtained the two new Suburbans (this is just their third trip!) from their parking spots in Jester Circle, and attached the old trailer which had already been loaded with 12 standup paddle boards to one of the Suburbans.  Manuel added his personal standup paddle board, and I drove one Surbanan with a cooler out to the front of Gregory gym to meet the 9 participants at 7:45am.

We left around 8:15am once everyone had filled their water bottles and went to the bathroom.  I drove a Suburban with five participants and Sarah R (but no trailer) out through Burnet to Longhorn Cavern State Park.  We arrived at the state park at 9:30am, and Manuel ran in to buy tickets for the 10am 'daily' tour while Jakub and I parked.  The Suburban was very comfortable to drive, and surprisingly didn't feel as large as it actually is.

Longhorn Caverns is the only Texas state park ran by a concessionaire.  Our group of about 30 people were led through the cave by a colorful woman named Amy.  She was entertaining with her jokes and stories.  The cave itself was flat and relatively close to the surface.  Apparently you can go on a 'Wild Cave' tour in which you essentially crawl below parts of the path we walked on.  Overall, I left the tour with a poor feeling of the park.  During the tour we learned that some of the bigger rooms in the cave (which were used as a restaurant, bar, and dance room in the 1920s) are now often used for large events like concerts and weddings.  I even saw folding tables and chairs being stored in some side tunnels of the cave.  The flooring of the cave was paved, and there was lighting and intercoms (including large power boxes) throughout the cave.  Some of these were done before Longhorn Cavern became a state park.  But some of these 'improvements' were done since (like additional lighting and intercoms), which just seems wrong.  Once a park is a state park, it should either be maintained as is or returned to its natural or historical state.  Neither was done here, and I left feeling like I had been to a tourist trap that was doing more harm than good.  I guess Longhorn Cavern might introduce people to nature and state parks that otherwise would not be introduced - but I doubt the introduction provided by Longhorn Cavern would encourage them to explore other state parks more.  The introduction given by our guide might cause them to come back for another tour (I felt like her talk was an advertisement for the 'Wild Cave' tour at points) or appreciate the work done by the CCC men - but there was no talk of protecting wildlife or nature outside of her comments on not touching the cave formations (yet they have large events in the cave, so one can only assume damage must occur with these large numbers of people) and on not throwing coins into a historical 'wishing well' since 'biologists told them this might not be healthy" for the endangered salamanders living in the spring under our walking path.  I left Carlesbad Caverns National Park with a similar feeling when we visited in November 2012 - it just seems that these caves could be protected/preserved in better ways while still allowing access to the public.

James right next to a bat! (photo by Manuel)

 Our group walking through the cavern (photo by Manuel)

After our tour ended, we walked over to explore a CCC observation tower on the other side of the parking lots.  The stairs leading to the top of the tower were pretty shaky, leading me to question their trustworthiness.  Then I drove the Suburban over to Inks Lake State Park, which was only 8 miles from Longhorn Caverns.

At the CCC observation tower (photo by Manuel)

I used my Texas State Park Pass (thanks Aunt Lois and Uncle Alan!) to get my entire car into Inks Lake State Park, while Jakub went into the entrance station and bought a new state park pass.  We parked by the boat ramp and unloaded equipment and pumped up the inflatable standup paddle boards (SHUBU - show up blow up brand) while the participants ate lunch, sunscreened, and prepared to get out on the water.  We quickly ate (I had two lunchables), sunscreened, and then helped everyone get out onto the water.

Manuel led us to Devil's Waterhole, with Sarah bringing up the rear and me in the middle.  Jakub and one participant came along a bit behind us as she seemed to be having a bit of trouble (she said she fell in the water three time).  I saw lots of turtles out sunning during our paddle.  The park rents canoes and kayaks, so there were a number of people out using these on the lake too.  Once at Devil's Waterhole we pulled our boards on shore and went for a short walk up river.  Jakub and Sarah stayed behind to watch the paddleboards.  Manuel said there was a waterfall, but since the river level was lower than when he previously visited, it was not very impressive.  I carried the small first aid kit on this hike, but judging from what I could see through the clear window of the dry-bag, I'm not sure it would have been helpful for much besides small cuts, headaches, or perhaps heat exhaustion.  I finished my entire 1L Nalgene on the paddle out and the hike, so I probably should have brought more than 1L on the lake with me.  At least I knew I had another one in the car.

Paddling on Inks Lake (photo by Manuel)

We pulled our SUPs on shore before going to explore (photo by Manuel)

Carrying the little first aid kit on our short hike (photo by Manuel)

Most of our group relaxing in the water, just above the waterfall (photo by Manuel)

It was 3:30pm when we returned to the paddleboards, so we had to paddle back without taking time to swim at Devil's Waterhole.  The paddle back was pretty easy since the wind was pushing us towards the boat dock.  Once we landed, I got the paddle bag, pumps bag, and life jacket rope from the trailer.  We took the fins off of the inflatable paddleboards, deflated them, and put everything in the trailer except the five hard paddleboards which we strapped down on the trailer.

We left Inks Lake around 4:15pm, while let us arrive back on campus around 5:30pm.  Sarah R drove my car back, so I got to sit back and relax and enjoy the pretty Texas wildflowers on the sides of many of the roads.

We unloaded everything once we returned, and I filled out the guide trip report.  I noted my feelings about Longhorn Cavern, although I made sure I noted that these were my opinions and not necessarily the opinions of the other guides.  The participants gave the trip good reviews, with the main comments being that (1) the trip should have lasted longer - like until 7pm, (2) real caving would be better than a walking cave tour, and (3) they would have preferred to spend more time at the lake and less time at the cave.

Overall, it was a nice trip.  It was a fun group of participants (I actually knew one - Ben - through my friend Heather) and a good group of guides.  Since I rode with Sarah both ways, I got to know her better which was enjoyable and pretty cool.  I also enjoyed paddle boarding and the short hike at Devil's Waterhole, but would have enjoyed spending more time doing both. One of my comments on the guide trip report was that perhaps we should offer this as just an Inks Lake trip in the future, perhaps hiking in the morning and standup paddle boarding in the afternoon.

Grand Canyon Day 9: Driving to Austin

Today we woke at 4:30am and left Caballo Lake State Park at 5am.  I awoke at 4:33am to Emily nudging me since I didn't respond to her 4:30am alarm since I had earplugs in.  My car got left behind when two people were in the bathroom, but we caught up at the interstate entrance.

I drove the Tahoe from Caballo Lake State Park to Harper, TX with a lunch break at Sonic in Ozona (581 total miles).  Michelle acted as the 'driving instructor' and always notified me when my parking job was unsatisfactory (ie, I took up multiple spots, didn't pull in far enough, ect).

Driving so far continuously today and yesterday was probably mainly my fault.  I never asked for a replacement, and I did tend to 'hoard' the Tahoe throughout the trip since I felt more comfortable driving it than the Suburbans since it was smaller and had heated seats (although I did not drive the Suburbans at all on this trip, so I guess I can't truly say how comfortable I would have been driving them).  When I came out of the gas station in Harper, Tommy was sitting in the drivers seat of the Tahoe, so I had no choice about being replaced.  I'm not sure if they thought I wouldn't want to be replaced - perhaps that's the vibe I had given. I had thought about asking for a replacement in Ozona, but then felt better after eating lunch. I hopped in the middle left window of the 'party car' - aka the Suburban with all 8 seats, usually driven by Sebastian, Tommy, or Cole - for the remainder of the trip.

Once we returned to Austin, we unloaded all three vehicles, unpacked the food, and left the tents, sleeping bags, and pads in a pile in a cart.  The outdoor center staff will deal with cleaning and storing all the equipment tomorrow.

We had all 11 participants fill out trip evaluation forms during lunch in Ozona.  We shortly reviewed these forms before leaving today.  Overall, the feedback and reviews were very positive.  It seems that everyone had an enjoyable trip!

Cole, Emily, and Tommy offered to return the two Suburbans to IM fields, so JT came to pick me up from campus at 5:45pm.  We ate dinner at Torchy's, went shopping at HEB, and then headed home.

Back home, with all my belongings

Grand Canyon Day 8: Driving to Caballo Lake State Park

Today we woke up at 6:30am, ate instant oatmeal for breakfast, packed up camp, and left Mather Campground shortly after 8am.

Driving out of Grand Canyon National Park was bittersweet. We had such an amazing 1.5 days there, and did so much in that time, but yet I feel like there is so much more to see and do, and that we only scratched the surface.  The Grand Canyon is certainly one of the most - if not the most - beautiful places I have ever been.

We stopped at Desert View, since Sebastian already had to use the bathroom.  Some of my car decided to go too, so we jogged to and from the bathroom too.

We drove through Flagstaff, stopped for lunch around 3pm 50 miles out of Albuquerque, around Albuquerque, and to Caballo Lake State Park.  I drove the rental Tahoe the entire day - 561 miles!  We arrived at Caballo Lake State Park around 7pm.

It was really windy at Caballo Lake! Emily set up our tent, and Dan and Juan set up their tent.  Everyone else chose to either sleep in the cars or out in the open.

Tommy and Sebastian cooked chicken soup with the leftover chicken, vegetables, spices, and tortillas (as well as some newly purchased rice and broth).  Cole worked to build a windbreak for the people sleeping outside.  I went to call JT.

 Caballo Lake from near our campsite at dusk

As we were eating, Emily said we were going to leave at 5am the next morning - which is the earliest we can drive under university regulations.  Upon hearing this, I decided to go to bed right after dinner.  I even skipped the marshmallow apples dessert since I didn't want to clean my dishes after that.  I felt somewhat guilty about not helping clean up dinner and pack up the kitchen, but also was really tired from driving all day and knew I'd be one of the starting drivers the next morning (with Emily and Tommy).  Everyone was still up and talking loudly once I got in the tent and tried to go to sleep, so I put in my earplugs.

Grand Canyon Day 7: Bright Angel Hike

Today we woke at 6:45am - but we had been awake for a while since the 12 people doing the longer hike had left at 6:40am. Despite sub-freezing temperatures overnight, I slept well and was not cold.

We had a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal and cookies, and added the remaining cookies to our lunches that we had packed the night before.  Most people packed peanut butter tortillas, but that really didn't seem appetizing to me, so I just packed lots of granola bars and an apple.  We all guessed when we thought the entire big group would return to camp.  The others guessed 6:30pm, 7pm, and 7:30pm - so I guessed 6pm since I figured this gave me a good chance of being right (but noted that logically I should have picked 6:29pm).

We took the blue shuttle from Mather Campground to the Bright Angel trail head.  We started hiking around 8:30am.  The four of us hiked down 4.5 miles to Indian Gardens at a pace of about 1.5 miles / 45 minutes.  I know this is a weird way to state a pace, but it makes sense since there were composting toilets and rest areas at the 1.5 mile and 3 mile marks, and Indian Gardens was 4.5 miles down.  The trail down was pretty well maintained and groomed - pretty much like a long ramp.

View from near the start of the Bright Angel trail

Composting toilets at 1.5 miles on the Bright Angel trail

Indian Gardens was really an oasis - lots of trees, grasses, and a river.  We visited the ranger station - which was an unmanned shack with books and information.  They did have a National Parks passport stamp though, so I stamped a sheet of paper and will paste the stamp into my passport once I get home. :)

Self-serve ranger station in Indian Gardens

The guest register at Indian Gardens (photo by Emily)

After wandering around Indian Gardens (our motto all during the hike was 'we've got time', since our idea was to take the shorter hike and not feel pushed), we hiked 1.5 miles to Plateau Point.  This was a neat overlook for the Colorado River.  It was pretty awesome - amazing views in every direction.  We ate lunch at Plateau Point, and took lots of pictures.  As we were taking pictures, a squirrel stole two of our cookies.  Although they were not my cookies, and it wasn't my fault, I feel guilty that it happened and that I hadn't checked to make sure everyone had secured their food.  I hate thinking that we contributed to feeding wildlife.

 Interesting purple cacti on the way to Plateau Point

At Plateau Point, looking back at the trailhead

Looking north-west from Plateau Point

Looking back at the trail head from Plateau Point

Looking north-east from Plateau Point

Looking north from Plateau Point

We hiked back to Indian Gardens, used the composting toilets, and filled our water (and I preemptively used my inhaler).  As we were getting ready to start uphill, we spotted the first people in the fast group reaching Indian Gardens after coming up from the Colorado River.  This certainly added a sense of urgency to our small group - we didn't want to be completely passed by the bigger group.

The other three in my group started up the hill around 1pm at a quicker pace than I wanted - so I just stuck to a comfortable, consistent pace and focused on keeping my breathing consistent.  For a while I would catch up to Emily, Diana, and Andrea when they stopped for breaks, but eventually they disappeared. I continued to move steadily up the hill slightly slower than 45 minutes / 1.5 miles - so only slightly slower than we had descended.  When I reached the trail head at 3:25pm, I was really proud of myself, but not exhausted.  My group, as well as a few people from the longer hike, were waiting at the trail head.   I stretched, and then my small group took the blue bus back to the campground.

Looking back into the Grand Canyon from near the Bright Angel trailhead

My victory picture, immediately after hiking out of the canyon on the Bright Angel trail

We gathered clothing and shower supplies at the campground.  As we were getting in the car to go to the general store and then the showers (at the camper services building), the two cars with the larger group returned.  They returned around 4:10pm - way earlier than any of us had guessed (but I was still closest).

I bought some Cheetos from the store, and then we went to camper services for showers.  I broke a $5 bill into quarters to feed to the showers - they cost 8 quarters for 8 minutes.  I opted for a 16 minute shower.  It was great to wash my hair (and body) for the first time since leaving Austin!  They supposedly had towels you could borrow for free, but I didn't see where to get them so I used my little quick-dry backpacking towel.  Everyone was happy after showering - it was an incredible morale booster.

Once back at camp we found that one of the neighboring campsites had boy scouts from Austin who had spent the week backpacking in the Grand Canyon.  The UT branded Suburbans do seem to be a conversation starter for us!

We left camp at 6pm to take the blue shuttle to go eat dinner together at Maswik Lodge.  There were plenty of options in the cafeteria, but the food was overpriced and not great.  I opted for chicken with mac and cheese and a baked potato.  I was still hungry after finishing this, so I went back to get fries.  I hurried to eat these, and ended up burning my tongue so bad that I got a blister.  I was hurrying because I wanted to go to the 8pm ranger program 'Night Rim Walk' at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center.  Andrea, Diana, and I left at 7:40pm to take the blue shuttle to the visitors center.  We ended up arriving at 8:05pm, and saw no one in sight.  We decided to walk towards the rim in an attempt to find the group. It worked!

The ranger program was crowded - we had to jockey for position at each stop to be able to hear the ranger.  The canyon looked beautiful in the light of the full moon - you could see much more of the canyon by moon light than we had expected.  The ranger actually didn't focus on the features of the canyon much, and mainly talked about constellations and park facts instead.  It was still an interesting talk.

The 1-hour ranger program went by quickly even though I was pretty cold the entire time.  We took the blue shuttle back to camp after the program, and arrived to find everyone sound asleep.  We all went to bed as soon as possible too, since we were tired after the long day.
 
I'm happy that I did the shorter hike.  Although I know I could have done the longer hike, it would have taken me longer than anyone in the larger group took.  Being in the shorter group allowed me to actually enjoy the time instead of just having to hurry the entire time.

Grand Canyon Day 6: South Rim Day 1

Today we woke up at 6:30am, broke down camp, ate a quick breakfast of bagels and instant oatmeal, and were ready to leave Lee's Ferry Campground shortly after 8am.

After saying goodbye to Steve and his dog Pepper, we were on our way to the South Rim.  I drove the rental Tahoe with 4 participants, tents, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads.  I was surprised to see pine trees appear in the desert as we neared the Grand Canyon.

We followed Josh to Grand Canyon National Park, where we got in for free since we had been doing volunteer work at Lee's Ferry with Josh.  We stopped at Desert View for our first look at the magnificent Grand Canyon.  It was really beautiful, but some of us were slightly put off by the many visitors (which apparently are significantly less than during the summer).

First views of the Grand Canyon at Desert View

 First views of the Grand Canyon at Desert View

Then Josh took us to Shoshone Point, which is technically open to everyone but requires a decent hike if you don't have a key to unlock the access gate.  I enjoyed driving the Tahoe off-road on the dirt trail too!

Josh unlocking the gate to Shoshone Point

Shoshone Point was incredible.  Such a great overlook, with no tourists or human-touch in sight.  So amazing.  We took group pictures, a guides picture, and individual pictures here.  The panorama was marvelous.

 Our group looking around at Shoshone Point

Emily chilling on a ledge at Shoshone Point

At Shoshone Point

Group picture at Shoshone Point (photo by Malika)

Guides picture at Shoshone Point (photo by Jena)

Then we said goodbye to Josh.  He's a really cool guy, and having him on the trip was a huge asset.  I wish I had been less sick and fatigued each night, and had been able to sit up and talk with everyone more.

Bye Josh! (photo by Joao)

We arrived at our two campsites on the Aspen loop of Mather Campground around 1:30pm.  We prepared lunch while everyone set up their tents and settled in.  Somewhat interestingly, all the participants set up their tents in the site containing the kitchen, while all the guides set up our tents in the other site. Lunch was pitas with peppers, hummus, chicken, salmon, and sausage, as well as cookies and Sunchips.

After cleaning up lunch, we had free time for a couple hours.  I drove the Tahoe to the general store, where I bought postcards, a magnet, a tee-shirt (a Grand Canyon Life is Good shirt!), and a mini bottle of milk.  Then I wrote and mailed the postcards at the Grand Canyon post office.

Then I decided to walk out to the Rim Trail while chatting with JT.  After walking a short while, I decided to just sit off trail a bit on a piece of rock sticking out into the canyon, and relax and blog.  As I was sitting there, it began to lightly snow! So cool!

 The view from my perch just off the Rim Trail

Then we all took the park shuttle bus to watch the sunset from Pima Point (recommended by Josh). Some people said it was the best sunset they had ever seen.

 Grand Canyon at Pima Point

 Grand Canyon at Pima Point

 Sunset at Pima Point in the Grand Canyon

Once we were back at camp, I started preparing my quesadilla meal. Lots of people helped by chopping vegetables. Emily and I grilled the vegetables, and then let everyone prepare their own quesadillas. We had corn and beans, grilled peppers, zucchini, and onions, chicken, sausage, and cheese. The cheese ran out too quickly since the cheese for this meal was not in the cooler and we instead took the cheese from Thursday's lunch. We're not sure if it was never bought/packed, or if it was used in another meal. Everyone liked the meal, but it left me somewhat hungry. I worked the grill the entire meal, but Emily prepared me a quesadilla so I did get to eat. After dinner we had smores and discussed plans for hiking the next day. We decided that one group would leave at 6:45am and hike quickly all the way to the Colorado River, while the other would leave at 8am and hike slowly to Plateau Point. Emily, Diana, Andrea, and I opted for the shorter hike. Emily and I finally got into our tent at 10:30pm. Since it was going to be a very cold night, I used two sleeping bags.

Grand Canyon Day 5: Service Project Day 3

Note: This post reflects my memories of this day.  The original post remained in the 'publishing' state for 6 days, until it finally disappeared.  Hence, I'm rewriting this post one week later.

Today we awoke at 6:30am, ate non-instant oatmeal for breakfast, and reported for our final morning of invasive Sahara mustard removal at 8am.  Josh started the day by telling us some facts about the Grand Canyon - including facts about invasive plant removal, national park jobs, and visitors.

Two people went with Josh, while the rest of us went with Steve.  Steve's group searched along the road leading from the campground to the landfill, and then we walked along a wash leading from the landfill back to camp.  We found a few plants along the road, and found some truly massive plants in the wash.  We took a short break in the wash near the landfill - it was a pretty area to just rest and chill.  Many people ended up taking a short nap in the sun.  Once we reached the campground, we searched every site and removed a good bit of Sahara mustard from the campground.

Leaving the campground in search of Sahara Mustard.  I can almost hear the chants of 'Kill the Mustard'

Many rested in the wash leading back to camp...

 ...while Dan took the opprotunity to climb high above us!

Then we had lunch, which was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Emily started toasting the sandwiches, which led me to make a grilled cheese out of the remaining deli cheese.  So good!  It was at this point that we realized that grilled cheeses might be a good lunch (or dinner) idea for the future.

After lunch we drove over to the river launch at Lee's Ferry, and started our afternoon hike up the Spencer Trail.  The trail was about 1.75 miles to the top, where we were rewarded with amazing views in all directions.  I hiked up in the back of the pack.  Tommy stayed with me, and interestingly enough all the guides ended up reaching the top last!  I felt like I was out of breath the entire way up.

Once we were at the top, we all explored for a while and took lots of pictures.  I found a ledge to relax on that looked upriver towards Lake Powell.  The climb up was tiring, but the view at the top was certainly worth it.  I could have stayed at the top for much longer than we did - I'm not sure why everyone was in a hurry to get down.

View downriver from the top of Spencer Trail.

 View upriver from the top of Spencer Trail.

Group picture at the top of Spencer Trail (photo by Andrea)

I walked down near the end of the pack, walking with Emily for the first part but walking most of the hike alone.  It was a good time to think and reflect, while also focusing on footing to be sure I didn't fall off the cliff at points.  There were a few sketchy points, where the trail was either really narrow on a cliff or a small rock-slide had made the trail a bit unstable - but I never felt like it was really unsafe.

Once we all reached the bottom, we drove back to camp.  There was some debate among with guides about whether we should drive into Marble Canyon and eat or eat the planned stir-fry meal.  We eventually decided to eat the stir-fry meal as planned.

Josh had us all gather together before we began cooking the meal.  He gave us Oreos and Steve presented us each with a NPS volunteer sticker and a Vegetation Crew bandanna.  Apparently one of Steve's friends had designed the bandanna a few years earlier, just as the Grand Canyon vegetation crew was starting to actually go 'below the rim' in the canyon. It was a pretty nice presentation by both of them.  Then we filled out evaluation forms for the NPS volunteer experience.

Overall, I was happy with our volunteer experience.  I expected that we would work longer hours, and likely find more prevalent Sahara mustard.  But apparently due to the weather this past winter, Josh thinks that perhaps the Sahara mustard will not really begin to appear in Lee's Ferry for another couple weeks.  But the other option is that volunteer work like ours is actually starting to put a dent in the amount of Sahara mustard that is appearing.  Although I had planned to work longer hours, I was happy that we did get so much time to relax and do neat things (like hiking Cathedral wash on Monday, relaxing at the beach and seeing Lonely Dell ranch on Tuesday, and climbing Spencer Trail on Wednesday).  Especially considering it was our Spring Break, this seemed reasonable and certainly helped morale.  As I said in my evaluation, I will consider doing this trip again if UT RecSports offers it next year.

Dinner actually ended up being really delicious - Sebastian made two excellent sauces to go with the vegetables (one spicy and one sweet).

Despite wanting to hang out with everyone after dinner, I instead decided to just clean up the dishes and camp and then head to bed.  Being sick is no fun, as it forces you to cherish your sleep over getting to know everyone better.  Apparently the other guides talked with Josh and Steve after I went to sleep about hikes to do in the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Day 4: Service Project Day 2

Today we awoke at 6:50am after a windy, cool night.  I awoke many times coughing or extremely congested. Poor Emily (my tent mate).

For breakfast we had toasted bagels with butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese.  Then we drove down to Lee's Ferry and searched for Sahara mustard for about 3 hours. We found a good bit of trash, and saw a decent bit of native mustard, but found no Sahara mustard. We also saw multiple groups setting up rafts for 2-4 week Grand Canyon trips.

We headed back to camp for lunch at 11am, as we were supposed to have an interpretive talk at noon. We ate tortillas with hummus, tuna, pepper jack cheese, and leftover ham and roast beef.  I could only stomach one roll-up with ham and cheese.  After lunch a bunch of us laid down and napped. I'm feeling pretty sickly and drained today (worse than the previous days).

Apparently the person who was supposed to give our noon talk was delayed when her plane couldn't take off due to wind, so we just went down to the Lonely Dell Ranch to explore.  I was really dragging during the 1 mile self-guided tour.

Orchard at Lonely Dell Ranch

 The Paria River, by Lonely Dell Ranch

We got back in the cars and went to remove more Sahara mustard. We walked by the river for a bit, where we were thrilled to find 2 Sahara mustard plants.  Then we got to a beach, where we napped, got in the cold Colorado River, and played Ultimate Frisbee.  I stayed in the water the longest - it felt good and I'm glad I got in, but now everything is so sandy. It was relaxing to sit on the beach for a while and just chill.

Hunting for Sahara Mustard in a small wash

 Beach at Lee's Ferry

Once we returned to camp, Josh noted how helpful having 17 other people out here helping him grid and remove really is.  Apparently he is the only Grand Canyon front-country invasive species person.  He also noted that it really is a victory when we grid an area and find no Sahara mustard.

We made a quick trip to the gas station convenience store tonight. Most people got lots of snacks and ice cream.  Everything was pretty overpriced.  I got a little bag of Cheese-its and a Marble Canyon hiking tee-shirt.

We made potato and garbanzo bean soup for dinner.  The soup seemed like it would not be tasty for a while, but eventually we added enough spices for it to actually be pretty good.

It seems like it will be another cold, windy night - probably worse than the previous night.  We'll see how it goes.

In general, everyone seems tired but happy and relaxed tonight.  Today was a pretty cool day.

Grand Canyon Day 3: Service Project Day 1

Today we awoke at 6:30am and had non-instant oatmeal with toppings (apples, brown sugar, almonds, honey, ect) for breakfast. We met with Josh and Steve at 8am to be briefed for our day. We learned how to recognize and remove Sahara mustard.  The plants had small bumps on their leaves, fuzzy undersides to their leaves, a distinct smell, and the mature ones also had yellow flowers on stalks.  We were also reminded to always wear our PPG - personal protective gear - when using our geopick to remove Sahara mustard.  Then we split into two groups and conquered different areas.

My group walked from camp and walked along the road to the boat launch looking for Sahara mustard. Then we climbed a steep hill with lots of loose rocks, before looking for Sahara mustard near the ranger residences.  We were pretty 'unlucky' in the morning - which is depressing, but also very positive for the park.

Looking from camp towards Lee's Ferry (photo by Malika)

Such a pretty backdrop for our service project (photo by Andrea)

We stopped for lunch at 11:45am. Lunch was my deli sandwiches (roast beef, turkey, ham, cheddar, and Munster) with apples, chips, hummus, avocado. Everyone laid down to nap after lunch.

We worked on finding and removing more Sahara mustard from 1pm to 3:30pm. We had much more success after lunch - I removed probably 60 plants myself.  However, apparently we are finding many less than last year and are way under the 2000 plant daily estimate for our group. During our search, Tommy found some wire, and shaped it into a longhorn - pretty cool.

 Working to remove Sahara mustard

Sebastian remembering to drink water!

Then we left to hike the Lower Cathedral Wash at 4pm. It was a pretty neat hike though a canyon to the Colorado River. I enjoyed scrambling around in the canyon. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, but it seemed to tire most of us out.  It wasn't as epic and difficult as Fern Canyon in Big Bend National Park, but it did push some people out of their comfort zone and was indeed beautiful and fun to explore.

Something about me loves exploring canyons...

Pepper easily made her way through Lower Cathedral Wash

Hiking through Lower Cathedral Wash (photo by Andrea)

Hiking through Lower Cathedral Wash (photo by Andrea)

Determining the best path in Lower Cathedral Wash

 At the end of the Lower Cathedral Wash trail, next to the Colorado River

Josh climbed up this crack, and two participants followed. :)

We arrived back at camp as the sun was setting, and I started my tortilla soup (black beans, corn, tomatoes, chicken broth, cream of chicken, avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips). I made a regular version, as well as a no-dairy and a vegetarian version. I also made celery and peanut butter snacks before dinner. All the guides helped me prepare the dinner, which was cool.

I'm still feeling sickly.  I'm more congested, but overall am doing better as long as I take the DayQuil or NyQuil.