L'estasi Dell'oro

Hmmm... I am actually back in Indiana right now (more about that later), but have not posted anything for the past two weeks and thought I would finally update the blog again. Doing it late is better than not doing it at all, right? Do to some unforeseen circumstances, I left my cache of photos in Arizona, and my flash drive has now traveled to Idaho, and may be moving on to Canada soon... Until I get them back, you'll have to use your imagination for what things looked like! BREAKING UPDATE: I've gotten my photos and inspiration to post them! :)

Well, two weekends ago, on the 23rd, our dear Christine Chan left us for her own field work. She was the geologist that somehow finagled her way into the physics/astronomy REU program... hmm. Anyways, she gave us her research presentation, and then that night we decided to have a little shindig to send her off. To celebrate, we decided to go to Altitudes, a brewery/restaurant in Flagstaff. We headed over and got a table outside the restaurant. After ordering our food, the sky got progressively darker and darker... Eventually it started raining and we ran to the restaurant. The place was packed, though, so we just hung out for a while. Finally we got some seats inside! As we did, a train passed by (the place is right next to the tracks). Okay, so to say there are a lot trains passing through Flag is the understatement of the day. On average, something like 80 trains pass through in a day. Recently, they passed a law saying the trains were not allowed to honk, so that's nice. At Altitudes, they have 'train shots', which you take every time a train passes through (you can see how this can get to be crazy as more time passes...) Some of our 21 and older crowd joined the tradition.

Finally our food comes, much later. We had a fun time sitting around and talking though. I think the best part of the evening may have been the prank Nicole played on Eric. Eric is notorious for liking an obscenely excessive amount (to me) of pepper on his food. As he went to put pepper on his soup, Nicole removed the top of the shaker and a huge amount of pepper came out. Yes, we are so mature.

ALL of us at Altitudes! Finally a group shot! From left: Nicole, Eric, Sarah, Cailah, Nick, Christine, Myself and Teresa.

Finally we returned back to the apartments, where we helped Christine pack a bit. We then hung out in my apartment, playing cards, etc. and then watched 40 year-old Virgin on TV for a bit. One by one we fell asleep in various strange places/positions. The next morning, I slept in for once. It was glorious. I woke up, made some coffee, and sat in bed drinking it while listening to 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me' on NPR. Don't even call me a nerd, my mom already did.

We decided to 'take the day off' that Saturday. We do something every weekend, and it was nice to just relax for once. I made some pancakes and the boys and Nicole came over for lunch/breakfast. We sat around the apartment all day. For dinner, we all went to Lowell for a picnic. Afterward, Teresa and I managed to bribe Eric into coming to the Galaxy Diner for some swing dancing (we had to buy him some coffee afterward...) We learned the balboa, which was pretty fun. The Galaxy Diner was a cute little old-fashioned place.

SWING! Paul and Maria, two people from Lowell, dancing

When we returned home, we watched The Orphanage, a horror movie that wasn't too scary, but pretty well made. The next day (Sunday), we went to Sedona again. We had already been there, to Oak Creek Canyon. This time our destination was a place called Secret Canyon, which had been recommended to us by someone I can't remember- maybe Kathy. Well, after getting lost for quite a while, we finally found the way to Secret Canyon. Unfortunately the road was very rugged and definitely meant for Eric's Chevy Malibu... A little bit into the drive, we decided to take our losses and turn around. We came to a point where it was literally impassible with the car we were in.

Instead, we went to Bear Mountain to hike. It was pretty fun, but nothing too special. We didn't really know where else to go, though. We got some nice views after hiking to the top of a plateau, also. Not too much to say about the hike. I led the group for a bit, but led us around in circles so they decided not to let me be in the front after that...

Our short hike to Bear Mountain.

After our hike, we drove around a bit, looking for a nice place to eat lunch, but all the cool places/recreation areas required a fee. Sedona is an extremely tourist-y place. To the point where it makes you not want to go at all. In our anti-touristing anger we just stopped on the side of the road and ate our lunch. Take that, Sedona.

We got back and I had a nice run. Had some dinner, then we watched the Blues Brothers. Good stuff. All in all, it was a pretty chill weekend. Nice to have a little downtime. Although it's really fun to go places/do things every weekend, every so often a break is nice!

Ciao Utah!

Okay, almost caught up on blog posting... remind me to never get behind again... A long post for a long story is in the future I feel.

Various news: Teresa and I learned east and west-coast swing last week at our weekly dancing. Lots of fun!!!

So, you might be asking yourself: what did Jo get herself into last weekend?

Utah!!! Seriously, I got myself into Utah. Another epic camping trip took place last weekend. This time we ventured a bit further than the Canyon, into Utah! Our first stop: Zion National Park. The plan was to drive Thursday to Zion (about 5 hours away), camp there for two nights, then camp one night in Bryce Canyon (~1.5 hours from Zion). We all left work early Thursday and left Flagstaff at about 3:30 after shoving an inordinate amount of junk into two cars. Off to Utah we go! We took the 89, which took us through Page, AZ which is right on the border with UT. Well, no road trip is complete with car troubles, eh? Eric and Teresa drove the cars. I was in Eric's. As we stopped at a scenic view near Page at the top of hill, we notice a trail of liquid originating from under his car... hmm.. Turns out the coolant was leaking and making everything smell nasty. I think we're still unsure as to why it started leaking, perhaps the drive was really taking it out on the car, but it seems to be fine now. Anyway, we hurry up to Page and stop at an auto store to pick up more coolant. We had dinner at a Sonics (I'd never been until now). Then we took a side trip to Glenn Canyon where the Glenn Canyon holds back Lake Powell.

Glenn Dam.

Eric had driven through Page on his way to AZ (from his home in Idaho), so he recommended we go look over this very sheer cliff there. It was... sheer. AND REALLY HIGH. I'm pretty scared of heights, but I'll admit that all the climbing/hiking we've done out here have really desensitized me. I'm getting a lot better! We all laid down and stuck our heads out over a nice 500-foot drop.

Heights, anyone?

After stopping to straddle a state line and taking a break to stargaze, we made our way to Hurricane, UT where the road trip gets quite funny. We see a flashing sign up ahead near the turnoff to the road that travels through Zion park. Whatever could it say?!

Nightly closures in Zion National Park. Hm. A bit of a problem. The east entrance to the park was closed. After debating a bit, we decide to drive out of the way and circle around to the west entrance. After a 3 hour detour, losing the other car, not having reception to contact them, having a cop car escort the other car to us because they were lost, and a gas and chip stop, we find Zion National Park! Hooray! It ends there, right? Well, we start driving through the park. There's lots of construction and cones everywhere, and before we know it we encounter a sign that informs us we are exiting Zion park. Somehow we missed our campground! The real kicker of the story is that since we exited out of the east entrance, it must not have really been closed all along… there was a section with only one lane open, but we were the only car in the park at that hour. Sooo, we essentially drove all the way around to the west entrance for no reason! I think it’s really hilarious, but then again it wasn’t me driving. Ok, so we turn around and keep a sharp eye out for our campground and eventually find it. By the time we find our particular campsite, set up and brush teeth, it’s 3AM. Only 7 hours later than we intended… :) The sky was fantastically clear, and we slept outside on a tarp with sleeping pads because it was pretty hot.

This is how we camp in AZ. Nicole and Teresa.

The view from our campsite.

Cliff walls in Zion.

The next morning we wake up bright and early at 7AM to start the day. We had borrowed a white gas stove from our program director Kathy. It was broken though, so we had no means of cooking our food we brought. Instead we ate bagels for breakfast and then headed to the Angels Landing trail.

Taking the shuttle to Angels Landing.

This trail had been recommended to us by someone who had visited Zion before. It was one of the most incredible hikes I’ve ever done. For the first half it was just uphill hiking through a canyon, but then we get to the Angels Landing. I didn’t seem to take a photo of the entire structure, but you can find a photo here (photo by Joe Braun) and here. It was straight uphill hiking pretty much up the side of a rock. They had chains to hold onto while climbing because the trail was so narrow and rocky. The cliff walls were sheer and the heights were dizzying.

Sheer crazy!

Shenanigans.

It was really fun, though, and the view at the top was fabulous. We ate a lunch of PBJ’s, then headed back down. It got pretty hot, so we booked it out.

The view at the top of Angels Landing.

We made a trip to town to buy a new stove then went back to the campsite. We made a delicious dinner of quinoa and veggies (classy campers, no?). Afterwards we made a fire and made… you guessed it, s’mores! I brought my harmonica on the trip, and we sat around the fire while I played some pretty low-quality renditions of various songs I learned. Everybody was bone-tired so we crashed at about 9PM. I slept like a rock until about 6:30 when the sun woke me up. On the subject of sleeping, I was thoroughly surprised that I slept so good on the trip. Every night I slept really well, and didn’t toss and turn at all. It could have been that I tired myself out every day, but I feel like I slept better there than in my bed… hm.

The next morning we woke up and made some oatmeal (and Christine made caramelized apples! See, we are truly classy campers). We set out for a short hike to the Emerald Pools. The Pools were pretty puny and pathetic, but there were a few cool waterfalls. It was a nice short and easy hike before we left Zion. We stopped for lunch at a small park and took a ‘bath’ in the creek there. Then it was off to Bryce Canyon.

Waterfall at the Emerald Pools.

We made it to Bryce in the late afternoon… sadly my camera ran out memory for this leg of the trip, but I’ll try and show some photos anyway. Bryce was, without a doubt, one of the strangest places I’ve ever seen. There were these formations called hoodoos that looked like misshapen pillars.

Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon.

The rocks were orange and pink and the landscape was just in general pretty bizarre. When we got there, we went to the Mossy Caves, which was only about a 1 mile hike. The cave was pretty unimpressive (more like Mossy Hole In A Wall), but we found a creek and waterfall to splash around in. After cooling off for a bit, we went on a scenic drive through the park. It was a beautiful drive. Eventually we made our way back to the campsite and set up for the night. We made quesadillas for dinner (gosh! Make yourself a dang quesadilla!) and lit a fire. Bryce was at a higher elevation than Zion (higher even than Flagstaff elevation), so it got cool at night. We slept on the tarp again, under the pristinely clear sky. Side note: every night we camped we set up the tents, but never ended up using them…

The next morning we ate breakfast, drank some coffee, and headed to our main destination: the Fairyland Trail. This was an 8-mile loop through the heart of the Canyon. It was an awesome hike, full of strange hoodoos, arches in the rocks, and the strange Bryce landscape. It took us about 6 hours to hike and then we were finally headed back to Flagstaff!

On the Fairyland Loop.

We decided to take a scenic route home, through the Grand Staircase Escalantes. The Grand Staircase is the order of the formation of rocks in the west. It starts with Grand Canyon, the top layer of the Canyon is the bottom layer of Zion, and the top layer of Zion is the bottom layer of Bryce. We just happened to visit all three locations in sequential order. Well, about 10 miles into the scenic drive, we encounter the unpaved road… Alright, can’t be too bad, right…? Turns out this road is about 45 miles long. At 20-30 MPH. The views were fantastic, but I felt sorry for the two drivers. The road was rocky, uneven, and in general not meant for either a Malibu or an Altima. It was pretty rough, but was a shortcut… mileage-wise! :) Pretty fun with a car whose gas gauge is at empty too. Finally we make it back to Page and eat a Subway dinner then head home! Our car stopped at a scenic view to watch the sunset. Much driving later, we arrive back in Flagstaff at about 10:30PM. Tired. DIRTY. SO DIRTY. Not showering for a few days isn’t the worst thing, but imagine hiking in dusty and hot canyons for 3 days and not showering… I imagine we were not the most pleasant-smelling crew. Not surprisingly, I can say that the shower on Sunday night was by far the most satisfying shower to date. Then… SLEEP! Work the next day was a bit rough.

An awesome and fun trip! :)

The Grand Grand Canyon Trip

Thus begins the story of the Grand Grand Canyon Trip as I like to call it. Ok, so this was the plan: veeeeery early Saturday morning on July the 10th we get up and leave for the Canyon at 4AM. We arrive at ~6, hike down the South Kaibab trail to the bottom. Camp for a night, then hike up the Bright Angel. Sounds fun, no?

Well, it was definitely a unique and different experience, mostly because I've never really gone camping anywhere more than my backyard as far as I can remember. I had no idea what to expect. There was a lot of work/planning involved in this trip, but it ended up being one of the most amazing experiences of my life. After reading the Grand Canyon website on hiking in July, I'll admit, I was pretty nervous. It seemed like an incredibly daunting adventure. They highly recommend no hiking between 8AM and 4PM during the summer months. "People die in the Canyon! Bring lots of water! Don't get dehydrated!" Etc. etc. I guess it's not an adventure until there's some danger...We had to reserve backcountry permits for the trip in order to camp. We had to rent backpacks with frames to carry tents, sleeping pads, and lots of survival materials with us. On that subject, we had to bring all the food, water, and various things we needed for the trip. We've hiked in the Canyon before, and it is a completely different beast than anything I've ever done. I think of the Canyon as a test of every limit you thought you had. It's flip-flopped from the traditional 'climb up the mountain first, then down' perspective. What goes down must come up in the Canyon! It is incredibly hot, and the hike up is very physically tolling. There is no water. Everything you want, you must bring. No relief from the sun. No shade! In short, the Canyon is whole other kind of hike.

Alright, so we left about on schedule, groggy yet excited at 4:30 in the morning. By the time we get gas, drive, park, and take the shuttle to the trailhead, it's 7AM. We headed down the South Kaibab because it's steeper (which means shorter and quicker).

Down the Kaibab we go!

We had hiked this trail the first weekend we were in AZ, but only went about halfway down. This time it was the whole shebang. We were a bit worried about the weather on this trip because rain was in the forecast... the Canyon is known for making flash floods in times of rain, so were hoping for the best. In actuality, the weather ended up working out in our favor. It was cloudy and overcast for about 3/4 of the downward hike, which made for some fantastic photos as well as cool hiking. It was much nicer than our first hike, where it got to about 110... and that was only halfway down. This time it only got about 105 at the bottom.

Cloudy and cool hiking.

For the last quarter of the hike, the clouds wisped away in the wind and we were left with the harsh sun beating down on us at about noon. It was really freakin' incredibly hot. It got pretty miserable for a while. Soon we made it to the bottom, though, and were welcomed with the sight of the heavenly water from the Colorado River!

Hot and cloudless hiking...

The quick Colorado River! The green area to the top of the photo is our campground and the creek.

We took a dip in the creek to cool off, then set up camp at Bright Angel Campground. We spent a few hours taking naps and unpacking, then spent another few in the creek. We had a lot of time to kill because we had started so early in the day. I believe it took us something like 6 hours to hike the 6 miles to the bottom. Again, we took our sweet time stopping and taking photo ops, climbing rocks, etc... For dinner we ate chili that we had precooked before the hike. We entertained ourselves with card games. Eric and Christine and I hiked down to the beach of the Colorado, whose water was really cold! Too cold to swim in (although you can't swim anyway because the current is so strong!). We got to watch the sunset from the bridge over the river. Finally we went to sleep, exhausted and hot. Ok, so I thought: "We're in the desert, it will be hot in the day and cool at night". Right?

Wrong.

It was the most miserable sleep I can remember. SO. HOT. And we had to sleep in the stuffy tents because of the bugs or risk getting eaten alive. After a fitful ~3 or 4 hours of sleep, we woke up at 4 to start the day. Pack up the tents and stuff, eat breakfast, and it's off to the top we go! We got to see the fantastic sunrise as we hiked up.

A crappy photo of the sunrise.

This time we went up the Bright Angel trail, mostly because there were water stops along the way, unlike any other trail in the Canyon. It was 9 miles, and took us about 8 hours. Going up in the Canyon is always the hardest (I guess that is pretty obvious). It was hoooooot, but luckily we got an early start so avoided the scorching temperatures in the bottom during midday. The Bright Angel trail was originally used by Native Americans, so it follows the path of water. We hiked through the Indian Gardens which were lush and green... quite a different aspect of the dry and red Canyon!

The view from about halfway... coming up from the tipoff point down there!

Woo! We hiked from down there! Getting closer to the top...

The border of the sandstone and limestone.

Alright, fast-forward through lots of water breaks, bagel breaks, tired breaks and rigorous uphill hiking and are at the top!!!! Mother Nature congratulated us with some rain as we reached the top! Hooray! We wanted to take a scenic road home that curved around the east edge of the Canyon for a bit (we were on the South Rim), but everybody was too exhausted to go except Eric and I. We ended up stopping at a lot of scenic views, taking lots of photos, picking a prickly pear cactus (don't even get me started on this), and eventually getting back to Flagstaff in the evening.

Woo! Without a doubt the most physically tolling thing I've ever done. Also, without a doubt the most amazing thing I've ever done. Hiking up and down a mile in elevation up through the Canyon with 50 lbs. of backpack? I feel like I totally kicked Mother Nature in the face! We conquered the Canyon! Next up, Mt. Everest?

Ruins, Mountains, and Caves Oh My!

Alright!!! Still catching up on late blogs...

Two fridays ago, we threw a huge party to celebrate Canada Day and Eric's birthday (he is also Canadian). We grilled out and had Canadian Burgers (they just looked like burgers with Canadian bacon to me...) and lots 'o yummy veggies and corn. It was really good and we had an extreme excess of food afterwards. We played rock band and cards to finish off the night.

The next day we went to Sunset Crater and Wupatki Indian Ruins, which are about 20 miles from Flag. Sunset Crater was not what I expected, but it was still really cool. I was picturing something like Meteor Crater (which I have not seen yet), like a big hole in the ground essentially. Sunset Crater is actually a mountain that blew it's top. It's not a crater at all; it was a volcano! Such a misleading name.

Look! We're in a small crater!

Sunset crater!

Still, it was a nice and really easy hike, and there were free book guides that told you about the area. After walking around there for a bit, we drove on over to the Wupatki Ruins. It's a beautiful drive, as the Painted Desert is visible on the horizon, and the fields around the road were an interesting shade of golden wheat color with the classic forest green AZ shrubs. The ruins were really interesting and cool.

Wupatki Ruins.

There were two 'basketball courts' that Native Americans used to use. There was also something called 'The Blowhole' that was a hole where air from a low-pressure cave came whooshing up. It felt like A/C coming out of the ground! A brief relief from the desert heat... We stopped at a few side ruins on the way (including a 'Citadel' ruin). Then it was back home again! We got to drive past the scorched side of the Peaks from the infamous Schultz Fire, although you couldn't really see too much.

Playing basketball in The Ballcourt... :)

The view from The Citadel... Painted Desert in the distance.

Sunday was, of course July the 4th, Independence Day. To celebrate our country's birthday, a few of us including myself set out to hike to the top of Mt. Humphreys, the highest point in Arizona. The view was fantastic!!! It is a grand total of 12,637 ft above sea level. For comparison, the average elevation of the state of Indiana is 700 feet... The view was a bit hazy because of the smoke from the fire still, but it was nonetheless quite impressive. It was incredibly cold and windy on the hike up, but the most surprising part was that it was warm on the top of the mountain. I would have guessed that it would windier and colder since there are no formations to block the wind, but apparently I don't know my climatology very well? It was a fun hike and took us about 7 hours to hike 8 miles (and we lollygagged like nobody's business). It was a nice change to hike the Snow Bowl trail without having to run from a fire!!

Independence day on Mt. Humphreys. From left: Nick, Eric, and Christine. And yes, that flag was actually there!

The view from the top...

Once we made it back to the apartments and showered it was off to Prescott, AZ to enjoy some 4th fireworks. Flagstaff wasn't showing any fireworks because of the fire danger, so we traveled south. After a dinner stop at In 'n Out, coffee stop at Starbucks, and wandering around Prescott looking for the fireworks, we settled down for the show. The fireworks were admittedly a bit puny, but better than none. Afterwards we stayed to enjoy the clear skies for a bit, doing some stargazing before heading back to Flag.

The next day I had off work, so I finally got to sleep in! In the afternoon, we went to a lava river cave, or as I prefer to call them, lava tubes! At first I thought it was going to be a bit lame. I was just picturing a circular tube in the ground that was really small. Luckily, they turned out to be much cooler and actually very fascinating. The cave was about a mile long at which point it becomes to small to walk through. You can find info about lava tubes here, but the basic gist is lava erupted from a vent and as it flowed across the surface of the ground, the top layer solidified. The underlying layers, however, continued to flow as a hollow tube was formed from the path of the flowing lava.

The only picture I have from the caves... our dorky group at its best. :) From left: Teresa, Christine, Nick, Eric 1, Eric 2, and Sarah.

The cave looked like a huge subway tunnel because the bottom was flat and the ceiling was rounded into a half-circle shape. It was much larger than I expected, sometimes 30 feet high. There was a small section where we had to crawl on our hands and feet as well. It was quite cold in the cave! It usually gets down in the 40's inside. Even as we were entering it, you could notice a drastic change in temperature. There was ice at the mouth of the cave!

The following Wednesday Teresa and I went to Dancing on the Square, a weekly event on Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff. Every week they teach a different style of dance then have a couple hours of music and dancing. We learned salsa! It was a lot of fun, and before we knew it, it was time to leave. Unfortunately we couldn't get any of the other REU students to join us, but have high hopes for the future!

Also this week, a few of us headed downtown on Thursday to see the Burnett family play some good ol' bluegrass/folk music. The music was great and it was a beautiful day.

Some good ol' hometown music.

Lots o' photos in this blog. Next up... The most epic camping trip ever!

A Long, Long Time Ago...

Hello! I apologize for the lack of posting lately. Been a little behind I suppose. I guess there is a lot to say now, to make up for the lack of updates! It's going to be hard to think back so far, but here's a try... Going to split this up into multiple posts, for each week, as I'm that behind!

OK! So, two weekends ago (I think...?) on Friday a few of us and two people I don't know went to a restaurant called Granny's Closet to have dinner and do some... KARAOKE! I had never done karaoke until this time... it sure was an experience. Teresa and I sang 'Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. We were probably the third people to go... as the night wore on, I found that people were more receptive to bad singers the more drunk they got. Next time I'm going to try and go later! Eric and I sang 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush, and the crowd didn't really get into it (Rush ain't so popular I guess...). It was really fun and quite embarrassing! The way I see it, though, I'm never going to see those people again, so I might as well make a fool out of myself. Eric lost a bet to Teresa (she ate a habanero suicide chicken wing) so the two of them sang 'Oops I Did It Again' by Britney Spears... Remind me to never lose a bet to Teresa.

The next day we went to a few thrift stores. Some random junk I scored: 3 records, 2 pairs of earrings, a cool shirt, and a psychedelic red mug. Somebody bought a really tough puzzle of a gorilla sitting on a river made of stars... it's really strange. We're still working on the puzzle!

Sunday we went to Fossil Creek Springs, where we found water in AZ!!! Who knew it existed naturally here?! It was a good hike down to the springs, and once there we went swimming. The water was fantastically clear and cool, and it was really nice to get out of the heat for once. There was a pool you could swim to if you swam underneath a rock and came up ~10-15 second later... I was too chicken to do it. I hear it was really tough though, so I'm not too bummed about my irrational fears this time. In my defense I did jump off the side of a cliff/rock that was a good 25-30 feet high. Lots of fun! I'm slowly getting over my fear of heights! I fell on some slippery rocks and then had a wicket nasty/cool cut and bruise on my toe for over a week! I just can't manage to do anything without hurting myself.

At one point on the hike back up, we stopped to refill water at the source of the springs (it was clean). There were two middle-aged hippy-esque guys there who had a shrine with incense and candles set up. They were pretty funny, but really friendly. They gave us a pair of goggles, and you could look down into the source of the spring. Only myself and another guy in the group jumped in and stuck our faces into a hole in the ground. It was pretty neat, but I couldn't see very far. The hippy guy kept saying it went down forever and would be a life-changing experience. I'm pretty sure he was, shall we say, feeling a little more insightful than usual. If you use your imagination, though, it was pretty cool, I guess.

Okay! So that Tuesday we were invited to go observing on the 32-inch reflecting telescope at Anderson Mesa (Lowell's telescopes are there). It was pretty neat, but it was almost all done robotically, so the observer just had to push a few buttons and sit back. It was still pretty fun to 'drive' the telescope, AKA tell it what kind of filter to expose on and how long, and then look at the images, etc. Somebody went and got pizza and we sat around eating and chatting about possible deaths in the Canyon for a while we waited for clouds to pass. They never really did pass, but we salvaged a few images before giving up at about midnight. A small teaser into the real world of astronomy!

Sadly, I forgot my camera on every trip except for the observing... Hopefully later I can grab some from somebody else and upload some! For now, enjoy some photos of the telescope!

From left, Kathy (program director), Teresa (IU homedog), Christine (geologist that somehow got in the astro/physics program...), and Eric (the crazy one).

Some views of the scope.