I came into Zion National Park pretty unaware of why it was a park. The narration on the public transportation said people were in awe at the canyon, but I soon realized there was much more that it had to offer.
We came into Zion to look at the incision rate of the Virgin River, which is responsible for the topography we see today. In order to figure this out, we measured the [Ca] in the water--a product of chemical weathering--at many stops as we went up canyon. As we moved up and up canyon, the walls got tighter and tighter to us. By the time we got to the Narrows, the path disappeared and we continued through the water up the canyon.
On the way back down canyon, I bumped into a new desert friend...a tarantula. Yes, this was my first encounter with such an animal and it definitely hit home that I was in the desert.
That night, we all set down to crunch some numbers, which was quite the site: 14 of us all with computers in the light of a propane lamp. To end the evening, a few students read their first assignment that they handed in to Carl: write a tabloid-style article about the history of Yellowstone Park. Three were chosen to read by firelight, and we all appreciated their creativity.
No comments:
Post a Comment