Fifth (and final) Week: Dogs

       This is where I will be spending the last week of my internship at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary! Maggie's Mercantile is where they keep some of the dogs that need some 'extra love & attention' for training purposes or behavioral issues. All of the dogs are super sweet though! Today I worked with Hayley, she's one of the caregivers at Maggie's, and I also worked with a 4-month intern, Chelsea. I spent my morning taking the dogs on walks! First, I took Nugget for a walk. She is such a sweet girl.

I promise she has ears... They're just not visible in this picture for some reason!

After I walked Nugget, I took Fillmore for a walk. He's a crazy, high-energy pit mix! He's really goofy and really affectionate! Then after Fillmore, I took Rainey for a walk. She's a hound mix. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture of her! I will get one at some point this week!

This is Wallie. This picture is misleading because he is an enormous pittie!!! I've never seen a dog with a bigger head. But as big and powerful as he is...

He's just a teddy bear :)

After I got done walking the 4 dogs, Chelsea asked me if I could take Pepsi on an outing. Pepsi has some joint problems, so he doesn't really enjoy walks. But he loves car rides! So we hopped in my car and drove around Kanab for about half an hour. He was very happy in the car, as you can see! I brought Pepsi back to Maggie's just in time for lunch. So in the afternoon, when I got back from lunch, Hayley and Chelsea told me to come with them to take Pepsi to his laser treatment over at the clinic. We all hopped on the golf cart and went over to the clinic, which is only a few minutes away. Every so often, Pepsi gets laser treatments on his front legs/elbows because of his degenerative joint problem and his arthritis. Everyone, including Pepsi, has to wear goggles to protect their eyes from the laser. Pepsi doesn't seem to mind wearing Doggles whatsoever :)

He's such a big, dopic goofball. He was extremely patient for the duration of his laser treatment! After Pepsi was done, we also had to take Fiesta to get a laser treatment for her Spondylosis. Fiesta is a small, nervous pittie. She didn't enjoy the laser treatment nor did she want to cooperate for a picture!

       After we were done at the clinic, Chelsea and I prepared the afternoon feedings for the pups. I could be wrong, but I believe there's 13 dogs at Maggie's right now! After they were done eating, we did some cleaning/sweeping in their runs. It was an easy day in Dogtown. In a way, I felt at home. Being with dogs is second nature to me, so it was nice to feel so comfortable today! I definitely think it will be a great week, and an awesome way to end my internship!

       To end my day, the interns had a presentation on Breed Discrimination. It was basically a conference call and a powerpoint with Lola Handzel; she is a legislative lawyer who works in conjunction with Best Friends! Her main focus is to totally end breed discrimination altogether, and in turn, put herself out of a job! As many of you already know, pitbulls are today's most misunderstood breed in the US; receiving unimaginable amounts of prejudice and discrimination. Ridiculous laws exist all over the country restricting people from owning a pitbull. Although progress is being made, Lola said there's many states that won't get with the program. Halfway through the powepoint, Lola showed us a slide of about 15 pictures of dogs, and told us to identify the pitbull. The tricky part is that every single dog more or less looked like a pitbull! This example that Lola gave us should totally discredit breed discrimination in its' entirety. If we can't even identify one pitbull out of a few pictures, how can we possibly have state laws that prohibit the fair and equal treatment of an entire breed? It's ridiculous. Here's a link that pretty much sums up everything that Lola touched on today. It's extremely important that we're all informed on this issue.

http://bestfriends.org/uploadedFiles/Content/Resources/Resources_for_Rescuers(1)/Adoption/608Pit%20Bull%20hand%20out.pdf

       If you'd like to take it one step further, and I hope you will, please take the time to join the Action Network on Best Friends' website, or send an email to your local officials (Copy & paste the link below). There's so much you can do to help put an end to breed discrimination, and it won't take much of your time at all! By simply being more informed and aware of the current issues, we will make a difference. Please share these links with everyone! :)

http://bestfriends.capwiz.com/bestfriends/home/

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!