Grand Canyon - North Rim

       Two adventures in one weekend, boy, am I exhausted!!! But so happy I went :). Today, I took a trip to the Grand Canyon, which is a little more than 90 minutes away from Kanab. It's a beautiful drive through thick forests and meadows; it reminded me of PA actually! Once I got into the Grand Canyon National Park, there was a photo op right away! 

These pictures are not zoomed in!!! There were bison grazing about 20 feet from my car! They're so huge ...and fuzzy.

     After I got done admiring the bison, I drove farther down until I got to the Grand Canyon Lodge. I decided to park here and find a trail to hike. My first hike was on a short trail called Bright Angel Point. Definitely a good place to start :)

       After I finished walking the Bright Angel Point Trail, I decided to follow the Transept Trail, which is close by. I probably walked along this trail for about 2 miles until I realized it wasn't taking me anywhere interesting, so then I turned around and made my way towards the lodge so I could drive to the next trail. Once I got in my car and started driving, I decided I would try the Kaibab Trail; which I saw on my way in. The Kaibab Trail, if you want it to, can take you all the way down to the bottom of the canyon with the Colorado River! (Starting at 8,250 feet, ending at 2,400 feet!) In the brochure I was given upon entering the Grand Canyon National Park, there's an entire page dedicated to the Kaibab Trail and all of the risks and dangers of this trail! They strongly recommend that you don't try to do the entire canyon in one day. Knowing my own limits, I decided to only go down to the first tier, which is at 7,450 feet elevation and about 3/4 of a mile into the canyon. And I was perfectly content with my decision! :)

Just walking down the canyon was fairly tiring, so I decided to sit down and enjoy the view for a few minutes! It was an awesome spot to take a break! Once I felt energized again, I trekked back up the canyon! Although it's a short distance... 3/4 of a mile feels like 34 miles when you're climbing up the side of a canyon! My legs were shot by the time I reached the top! Then I got back in my car once more, and I decided to do one more short hike on the Cape Royal Trail. On my drive to Cape Royal Trail, there's a few scenic overlooks that you can stop to take pictures.

This was my first stop at Vista Encantada.

This was my second stop at Roosevelt Point.

And this was my third stop at Walhalla Overlook! After I stopped here, I went to the Cape Royal Trail. The rest of these pictures were taken while I hiked there!

      In the last picture, that hole in the rock is called Angel's Window. Pretty cool!! God only knows how many miles I walked today, but who cares... I got to see the Grand Canyon! It was such an awesome experience, and who knows when I'll get the opportunity to be out here in the Southwest again! Please don't ask me what my favorite park was because I honestly can't answer that question! They're all so drastically different and unique, it's impossible to pick a favorite. I'm beyond blessed that I was able to make it to Zion, Bryce, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and the Grand Canyon!! I know that I'll never forget these experiences. I can't believe I'll be home in less than a week. Woohoo!!!! :)

Bryce Canyon

      Today, I took a trip out to Bryce Canyon which is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away from Kanab! It's been pretty hot in Kanab all week, including today. But for whatever reason, it was much cooler in Bryce today! It was like the mid 70s. And unfortunately, as the day went on, the clouds got thicker... So my pictures don't look as cool as they should! I definitely missed the sun today. 

       
       So once I got to Bryce Canyon, I decided to start out by hitting all of the "View Points" before I went on a hike. I'm just going to show you a string of pictures in the order that I made each stop! (The elevations are all over the place, just so you know! They don't go in ascending order.)

      All of these views were absolutely gorgeous. Even with all of the cloud cover! After I was done being a tourist, I decided to go on a hike at Sunset & Sunrise Points! (They're only about a half mile away from one another!). At Sunrise and Sunset Points, you're looking down into the canyon and seeing all of the Hoodoos. Hoodoos are the oblong, vertical rock structures; and they are magnificent!

So all of these pictures were taken from Sunset Point, looking down into the canyon! Then I decided to hike down to the bottom of the canyon on a trail called Queen's Garden. It's about a mile long, and you basically just follow a very steep path that winds down through the canyon, it's awesome! Here are some pictures I took on my way down...

That line of trees towards the top of the picture is where I was taking pictures from Sunset Point!

       Then I finally made it to the "bottom" of the canyon...

I'm sure there's a cool name for this tunnel, but I do not know what it is!

       Climbing back up the canyon was definitely more challenging and tiring! Hence, why I did all my picture-taking on the way down! But overall, it was a really great hike! And very peaceful to do it all by myself :). My pictures DO NOT do Bryce Canyon justice... And the overcast sky didn't help me out either! If you have the opportunity, I definitely recommend scheduling a trip to come out and see Bryce Canyon, it's an extraordinary place. There's nothing else like it in the entire world! It's amazing how small and insignificant you feel when you're looking at something so spectacular :). Yet another humbling experience!

Week Four: Complete!

   

       My last day in horses was filled with many different things so I was super busy today! I started off my morning by walking around the lower canyon to fill all of the water troughs. It was nice to walk around and enjoy the cool, beautiful weather! (If only it stayed that way all day!!!) I thought I'd snap a picture of the beautiful scenery...

Gorgeous, right?

      After I got done filling the troughs, I went over to the goat barn to help Alice with the morning feedings and the mucking. Soon enough, I had to go to a presentation at 10:30 with the rest of the interns. Today, we had two presentations! The first presentation was on adoptions. Sherri, who mainly does cat adoptions, gave the presentation. She just explained all of the different fees and policies that Best Friends has, as well as, some of the numbers from 2013. Last year, Best Friends adopted out over 560 dogs and 300 cats! WOW! To adopt a dog, Best Friends asks for a $100 donation, and for cats, a $65 donation. For those of you who aren't familiar with Best Friends, they also have a return-guarantee policy. If something happens, or if you can no longer look after the animal, Best Friends will always take that animal back. Most shelters don't have the ability -- whether it be financial or physical limitations -- to deploy this kind of policy. So it's pretty amazing that Best Friends' animals truly have a forever home!

       Our second presentation was from the manager of the Volunteer Department, Lori! She informed us of all the ways that we can stay involved with Best Friends even after we leave. Best Friends has programs and events all over the country that constantly require the help of volunteers. Each year, they have an fundraising event called Strut Your Mutt that is held in cities across the US, and they're expanding every year! Here's a link so that you can check it out!

http://bestfriends.org/What-We-Do/Events/Strut-Your-Mutt/

      Once you copy and paste that link, on the left-hand side of the page, you will see other events that are happening, like Pet Super Adoptions! Although there aren't too many events located closely to Reading, PA... I still want to find a way to stay involved and help out Best Friends in anyway that I can! You guys should think about getting involved too :). It's really easy! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me!!

       So after our two morning presentations, I ate lunch, and went back to horses. This afternoon, I was scheduled to shadow Ann, who is a horse trainer. Ann has over 20 years of experience in the 'horse world' and she's an established trainer using the Parelli method. Parelli is a natural horsemanship program for training horses. And although I don't know much about Parelli itself, I know that it's an extremely humane and wildly popular training method. Today, Ann wanted to work with Jewel. Jewel arrived at Best Friends just three weeks ago, and she was not a happy horse! She was extremely stressed out, and to let everyone know that she was stressed out, she would bite, kick, and strike. When she first arrived, staff members, including Ann, couldn't even be in her pen with her because she was so unpredictable. But in these three short weeks, Jewel has made tremendous progress. She's no longer doing any of the harmful behavior, and she has become approachable. Ann wanted to do Parelli with Jewel because she thinks that no one ever took the time to train Jewel and give her any sort of stimulation. Throughout the afternoon, Ann gave me so much information on horses! I really feel like I've gained a better understanding about their body language, their nonverbal cues, and just their behavior in general. I'm so amazed at how receptive and sensitive horses are to everything. Jewel did exceedingly well on her outing today! Here's some pictures of her... (she's such a pretty girl!)

In this picture, Ann is playing the 'touch game', which is part of the Parelli program. Ann wanted Jewel to touch the sign with her nose. Using the rope that's attached to Jewel's halter, she swings it quickly back and forth, and by doing so, it lets Jewel know where she's supposed to go. After a few tries, Jewel really started to pick up on the touch game! It was awesome to watch her improve so quickly.

Here, Ann wanted Jewel to do a figure-eight around the two cones while still being lead by the rope attached to her halter. Jewel had practiced this task before, but she remembered what to do right away!

     Overall, my afternoon was jam-packed with information about horses! They are such fascinating animals and I am beyond happy that I got the chance to spend a week with them! Now that my week is done, I definitely feel more comfortable around horses, and that's simply because I understand them more! I can't even begin to tell you how much I learned in the past week. Out of the twelve people that run the horse and pig departments, eleven of them are women!!! If that's not amazing, I don't know what is. I am beyond impressed by how hard-working and passionate all of these women (and Ron!) are about their work, and they do such a phenomenal job! You guys have heard me whine all week about how tough the work is, but I have no right to complain, because these women do it day in and day out! I think I'm just a wimp :).

       FINALLY, I will be in my element next week!!!! YAY! I am so excited to spend some time with dogs before I leave. I'm sure my last week of this internship will definitely end on a good note! I'm going to try my hardest to not bring another piece of "luggage" home with me! :)