Grant's Blog

Chichén Itzá

4/1/2016

We were finally getting to see it, Chichen Itza, arguably the most famous and intact city of the ancient Mayans. Rising early we ate a quick breakfast of fruit, tamale, scrambled eggs, and hot chocolate, packed our clothes, piled into the car and left our cute hotel in Vallodolid. At last after a forty minute drive, we got to the parking lot at Chichen Itza, and headed into the entrance passing by the many local people hoping to sell knickknacks and sombreros.

At the ticket booth my excitement was bubbling over, so we hired a guide whose name was Eric, and excitedly headed to the original city. (The reason why I say the original city is because what we now know as Chichen Itza was built in two different stages, one during the Classic Period and the other during the Post Classic Period, the latter which was influenced by another Native American Tribe knows as the Toltecs.)

Our first stop was a building known as the observatory. We learned that the center of the observatory was the shape of a circle and had four main windows representing the four cardinal directions, North, South, East and West. On the inside of the circular shaped building, there was a spiral staircase leading up to a second floor in which the Mayan’s observed the cosmos. As shown in the drawing on the left, two of the windows are aligned with the sun during both the fall and spring equinox.

The other four corners of the building are matched up with the summer and winter solstices, with the exception of the northwest corner which matches up with Venus when the planet reaches it’s farthest point in our sky located in the northwest. This happens only once every eight years. (Venus was an important planet to the Mayans because they believed it was the sun’s brother as it was seen in the sky following the sun’s path in the morning or in the evening, hence our name the morning or evening star.)

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One last incredible thing about the observatory is that when you look at the observatory from above, and replace the circular section of the building with a square, and draw lines from the corners of the square to the four corners of the terrace, you will see the blue prints for the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, which is the main temple at Chichen Itza. I think that is the coolest thing ever that most of the Mayans main buildings are related to celestial objects.

From there we went to a nice shady spot under a tree and started talking about the Mayan calendar. The Mayans had different calendars of circular rings inside bigger circular rings of longer cycles. The Mayan calendar had one cycle of 260 days inside a longer cycle of 365 days. The 365 day cycle consisted of 18 months of 20 days and five nameless days which were considered extremely unlucky. Even though that seems complicated, there’s still more to the Mayan calendar.

Every 52 years, the calendar of 365 days and 260 days coincide and start at the same time which creates what is known as the Long Calendar. (Fifty two years is also the cycle of Pleiades, a grouping of starts that the Mayan also observed.) Finally, the Mayans believed that the earth was created on August 11th 3114 BC, over 5000 years ago.

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Then approximately every 5000 years, all of the cycles coincide at the same point and the whole entire cycle begins again. The last completion of this cycle happened in 2012 which made a portion of the public think that the world was going to come to an end. The reason why this confusion happened was because the Mayans believed that their calendar cycle was cyclical, so that it starts at one point, and eventually comes to an end, and then circles around to repeat itself again.

This is quite different from the western societies belief in a linear understanding of time where there is a defined start and end, which made certain people think the world was coming to an end when the Mayan calendar was ending in 2012, not realizing it was also a new beginning. Clearly this did not happen. Today there are sadly no actual Mayan calendars that exist but we have a tremendous amount of knowledge about how the calendar worked and may have looked like.

We then walked to the next location which is called the Nunnery, (based upon the conquistadors original impression of the building), a three story, 21 room palace. The main entrance of the palace was a steep three story staircase leading up to the top floor of the building.

I couldn’t believe that this was a real palace, so of course, I started snapping photos. My goal for this trip to Chichen Itza was to try to get photos without random tourists in the frame and I think I did a pretty good job of doing that. Realizing that I was now lagging behind, I ran excitedly to my family.

They were looking at a long wall with geometric pattern of repeating X’s on the bottom, and the top portion of the wall had beautiful carvings. An even more impressive piece of artwork was the palace’s tiny temple dedicated to Chaak, the Mayan’s god of rain. The lintel – top of the building – had beautiful and ornate carvings of Chaak.

In the artwork, Chaak is depicted with square eyes and upside down question mark nose and an open mouth with teeth. Flanking Chaak were carvings of animals who the Mayans believed held up the four corners of the sky, the animals were the bee, shell, tortoise, and armadillo. All in all it was a beautiful building to look at.

From the temple, Eric our guide, led us around and into the courtyard of the palace. Three of the rooms surrounding the courtyard were bedrooms and the fourth was an intricate entrance to the main part of the house. (Bedrooms were the only rooms Mayans had in their house because they spent most of their day outside doing different activities.)

The entrance had an intricate carving of the owners name written above the door in hieroglyphics and the remains of a massive sculpted jaguar. The door appeared to be the jaguars mouth with “teeth” surrounding the door and more teeth and a tongue on the bottom. Looking at this building I realized that I would love to see these buildings during the peak of the city, all painted and clean.

Moving on from the palace we saw the Platform of Venus which was a flat topped building where dances occurred during ceremonies. There we checked out a small ball court which had sloping sides leading up to vertical stone hoops. (More will be described on ball courts later on.)

Then it was time to move to the “newer” city influenced by the Toltec. Our first stop was a 7 meter four sided temple with snake heads on the side of each stairwell. We learned that the temple was built to cover the entrance to a cave. An archaeologist discovered a passageway from the top of the temple going straight/vertically down into the ground.

The archaeologists kept on digging and found the entrance to a secret cave. The cave held seven skeletons who were thought to belong to high priests since they were buried with precious objects and jade face masks, which were often worn by priests. The cave is not open to the public but it must look really cool.

Our next stop was the “Big Mama”, the main temple at Chichen Itza which you have most likely seen photographed, also known as the Temple of the Plumed or Feathered Serpent. This was by far one of the best temples I have seen and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World, not because of it’s size but because of it’s design and engineering. As mentioned earlier, the temple has the same blue print as the observatory. The four sides are facing the cardinal directions of North, South, East, West, but not exactly.

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The temple is spun 22 degrees clockwise. At first archaeologists thought it was a mistake in the planning of the building that was amplified when the Mayans actually built the temple. But….it was not a mistake. The reason why is that when the sun sets during the spring and fall equinox, the sun’s rays shine through the platforms lighting up a side of the stairs, making a snake pattern only seen during the equinoxes. There are a few other symbolic meanings hidden on temple, almost all astronomically related as shown below.

1) There are 91 steps on each of the four sides of the pyramid, making a total of 364 plus an addition single step platform which takes you to the top of the temple, making a total of 365 steps representing 365 days of the solar year.

2) On either side of the stairs there are nine levels of terraces making a total of 18 which represents the total number of months in the Mayan solar calendar.

3) There are 26 panels per each side of the stairway, add two of them together and you get 52 the number of years in the long count calendar.

4) On top of the temple there are five stone shapes per side representing the 20 days within each month

5) These five shapes also represent the five nameless days which also equals 365 days or a solar year.

The Temple of the Plumed Serpent is made up of carved limestone blocks, stands about 30 meters tall, and used to be painted red. A very steep staircase is flanked by smooth stone sides which on the north facing side has two serpent heads at the bottom and a square building with four entrances on the top. Oh and one more cool thing - if you stand in front of any of the four staircases and clap hard, you will hear the sound of a quetzal, (the sacred bird of the Mayans who represents heaven), reverberating back to you.

Wow, the temple is so incredibly magnificent and beautiful. The symmetry enhances the temple making it look much more magnificent, tall, and pretty, and while only two of the four sides are fully restored, the temple still looks amazing. I could easily spend the whole day looking at it, except for the extreme heat beating down from the sun making it a scorching day.

Next stop was the Temple of the Warriors, the temple where human sacrifices were performed. I was surprised to hear that the Classic Period Mayans did not sacrifice humans, but instead made blood sacrifices by piercing different parts of their body. When the Toltecs came and built the new city of Chichen Itza they brought the idea of human sacrifice with them. This temple earned its name due to the intricate warriors carved on each of the pillars that used to hold up the roof. At the top of this beautiful temple, you can see a statue of the messenger of the gods which is where the Mayans used to put offerings. To the right of the temple, there are over 600 columns that used to support a Palapa (thatched roof) which was thought to be the market place for the Mayans.

From there we went to another platform of Venus that was incredible to look at since some of the original paint was still there and the carvings were in great condition. The carving had the face of a priest inside the mouth of a jaguar with a snakes tongue surrounded by quetzal feathers, which represents that gods had the power over the earth, the underworld, and the heavens.

The human face represents earth, the jaguar and snake represent the underworld, and the quetzal represents the heavens. Right next to the platform to venus is the Temple of the Skulls, named after the time a rival city took over Chichen Itza, decapitated the leaders, and put their heads on spikes on top of the temple to force the other Mayans of the city to accept them as their leaders. Pretty gruesome.

Our last stop on the tour was the ancient ball court. This ball court was the biggest in the Mayan world, around 96.5 meters long, 30 meters wide, and 7 meter high walls with rings on the top. It was a really impressive place situated in an “I” shaped stadium with the court where the stem of the “I” is. The rulers of the competing towns sat on either end of the stadium.

One end had a rare depiction of the god Kukulkhan with a long beard and white skin which is only seen in four other places in the Mayan world. The wealthy people would be on top of the walls looking down at the ball court, and the commoners at the base and on top of the “I” in front of the rulers.

One thing that yet again amazed me about Mayan architecture was that the walls were angled slightly towards one another, so that when someone shout something at one end, it echoes only once at the other end. This worked as an early microphone system, amplifying the persons voice so everyone could hear. Sadly the rules of the ball game have been lost over time, but what we do know is that the players can only hit the ball with their knees, hips, elbows and shoulders.

The goal of the game was to pass the ball to the captain who then has to knock it through the hoop. A funny mistake that an archaeologist made during the reconstruction was making the wall exactly vertical instead of slanted inwards like the rest of the wall. Since they reconstructed it wrong, the archaeologist had to redo the wall and angle it slightly inwards as was originally constructed for the “microphone” effect in order to complete the proper version of the ball court. I’d hate to be that archaeologist!

Hot and sweaty, we thanked our guide for the tour and headed to the Sacred Cenote. On the way we talked about how an archaeologist along with several other people stole all the precious offerings from the Sacred Cenote and supposedly blocked up the water passage making the water green. While it is now considered dirty it is still incredibly beautiful to look at. After our incredibly informative day, we took in our last views of Chichen Itza and headed off to our next destination, the city of Merida.

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Rio Secreto

3/14/2016

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Today we went on a tour of Rio Secreto, an amazing underground river (well, not truly an underground river, more like pools of water that slowly make their way to the ocean) that weaves through incredible caves. We started out the tour winding our way along paths through the jungle, until we came to a small clearing where a Mayan blessed us because we were going into a cenote, which the Mayans believe is an entrance to the underworld. He put some incense powder into a chalice containing coals and while speaking Mayan, slowly moved the chalice around so the smoke went around us. Once the blessing was finished we continued on to the entrance of the cenote. Upon reaching the cenote we went down a flight of stairs and entered the cave. We walked about five paces in and then our guide told us to turn our flashlights on, since the flashlights would provide the only source of light. I crouched down to get a better look at the cave and passageways and when I saw one weaving off into the gloom, it occurred to me that we would be exploring passages similar to these, so I got super excited.

Our awesome guide, Valentino, led us to the first pool of water, which was a milky blue color. We jumped in and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was not that cold. We swam across the pool of water, looking in all different directions, watching the beams from our headlamps light up the labyrinth of water and stalactites. Again and again I find myself repeating: caves are so beautiful and magnificent. It seems like caves were created to amaze the eye and humble you, and this cave surpassed all of my expectations. The formations were clustered together in groups and were all over the place. After that first pool we waded over and continued our tour. Valentino was very happy and you could tell he loved what he was doing. While the ground was slippery it was not hard to walk on, but what you really had to look out for were drop-offs when walking into pools and stalagmites lurking in the cloudy blue water (Dad cracked his knee on one and we all stumbled over and around them). At one point we had to shimmy through ankle deep water with stalactites two feet above us! The only downside was that you could not bring a camera, but they had someone taking photos of and for us.

The nice thing about this cave was that we were able to closely examine the formations, allowing us to see how they form. During the cave expedition we saw all sorts of formations, from stalactites as small as soda straws to monster ones reaching down to the ground, from tall, skinny columns, to thick pillars and everything in between. Stalactites form when water seeps through the ceiling and then seeps out in the form of a droplet. When the droplet falls it leaves a little ring of calcium carbonate which, over the course of a couple hundred years builds up and forms a stalactite (it takes a hundred years for a stalactite to grow one inch.) We could walk under some of the stalactites and see the tube formed by the water droplets. Another cool formation that we saw was called “popcorn”, which basically looks like pieces of popcorn shrunk down and put all over the place. It grows on any formation that has gone dormant, because it is formed when the water droplets come out of the formation and leave a small amount of calcium carbonate behind. What was even cooler was that we saw this happening in ‘real time’. While looking around the cavern we saw that some of the stalactites were glittering, so Dad and I walked over to one and saw little droplets of water perspiring out of it.

The third main formation that we saw was called “bacon” because of its wavy thin shape looking like a picture perfect piece of bacon. Valentino described that it happens when the cave has airflow that blows droplets of water that are running down back and forth making a wavy flowing shape. One of my favorite formations to look at was this hump in the wall that had bacon running down the side forming wavy patterns all over the place with stalactites decorating the ceiling. But my all-time favorite was a grouping of stalactites and stalagmites covered in white crystals we saw at the very end of our journey. The last thing we saw before emerging from the Mayan Underworld was a collection of different stalagmites forming from seeping water droplets. These droplets create small divots in the ground that eventually grow into a mound, which then slowly forms a stalagmite.

As we walked a little farther and saw the entrance back out into the jungle surrounded by thirsty tree roots searching for water, I found myself remembering all the different caves we have seen over the course of our trip. From walking in the ‘dry’ Wind Cave in South Dakota, to wandering through Carlsbad Caverns’ water-formed wonders in New Mexico, to scuba diving and trekking across other-worldly cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula. The variety of Earth’s caves continue to fascinate me and I know I have only just started my explorations.

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Scuba Diving in Cenotes

3/10/2016

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Imagine yourself in a different world, with the noise all gone and the hustle and bustle of modern day fading away into a distant memory. Floating weightless within a cave, using only your legs to propel you as you look at all of the wonders illuminated with beams of light. This is cavern diving in a cenote and the beauty is unimaginable.

Take SCUBA diving, which is already amazing, put it in crystal-clear water with an endless array of cave formations and you get an unbelievable experience. We first thought of cavern diving when we decided to go to the Yucatan Peninsula, because there is no other place in the world that you can dive in rainwater-filled caves. Just yesterday while we were going swimming in El Jarden de Eden cenote, we saw people SCUBA diving in the cenote, and later that day Mom and I signed up for a two dive trip to Cenote Dos Ojos which is world-renowned for its incredible clarity and beauty. The next day we hopped into Jose’s truck, our guide for the SCUBA trip, so he could brief us on diving in cenotes. Dad and Ethan followed us in another car so we could stay at Dos Ojos after the dives were finished and snorkel. Even though the cenote is famous, it is not commercialized and the Mayan family who own the property have made it into an eco-friendly park allowing everyone to enjoy the cenote.

Our first dive was in the left ‘eye’ of the cenote which would last around fifty minutes (by the way, ‘dos ojos’ in Spanish means ‘two eyes’). Once Mom and I went through the laborious tasks of putting on the wetsuits, got all of our SCUBA gear on, and headed down to the entrance of the cenote, Dad took a couple of photos and Ethan, Mom, and I all jumped into the water. I was so exited to start the experience and it felt so incredible to be back in all the gear and starting to dive again. After checking my equipment, I let Ethan try breathing under water with it and he said that he loved it! My hope is to get him hooked so he can get his PADI certification in the coming years. When our guide swam over we said bye to Dad and Ethan, deflated our BCDs (buoyancy control devices) and headed down into the Mayan Underworld.

Our dive into the ‘left eye’ was awesome! We got into our formation - Jose, me, Mom -, found the guideline, turned on our flashlights and headed off into the darkness. It was a truly different feeling then anything else, using your flashlight to guide you through the cave, and watching other divers’ flashlights dance around. My best memories from the first dive were seeing Dad and Ethan snorkeling above us when we were nearing an underwater tunnel that led back to the entrance. I found it awesome to know that we were having incredibly different experiences, but enjoying the same cenote. I loved looking at the sunlight illuminate the water as its beams reached down into the depths of the cenote and making the water gleam a rich shade of turquoise blue. Of course, you have to love navigating through the passageways of the cavern, and going around the formations that seem to be sitting there waiting for people to enjoy them.

After the dive while Mom and I were warming up in the sun, we both agreed that we totally loved it and that we really felt like we were away from the world. While some people’s descriptions of cavern diving painted a picture that you would be swimming in the center of a ‘C’, a mere meter from open water, during our dive we really felt secluded and away from the open water. At some points we were swimming behind huge sections of limestone, completely enclosed in a cave for minutes at a time. During the first dive, it took a while for me to get used to the fact that Mom and I were in a totally different world, but right from the start of our second dive, the cenote felt like my home (even though we don’t have a home this year!!)

Our second dive was by far the best dive I have ever done. We headed over to the same entry point, jumped in, and were immediately cold. Once we became submerged the cold was forgotten and we were took on a whirlwind of adventures. Perhaps my favorite part of the dive was when we went through a completely submerged 30 meter cavernous tunnel which led down to the bottom of the other portion of the cenote. Arriving at the other side, we were 8 meters under clueless swimmers above us. It made me appreciate the difference of diving while watching them splash above us happy and excited, while we were below in a whole different experience. Looking up, I felt in a different world, one of silence and bubbles.

Next we came into another chamber were there were magnificent stalactites, stalagmites, and columns, some as thin as pencils and others wider than me. Mom and I swam up and over rocks shining our flashlights around, revealing secret wonders. Again looking up, I followed our bubbles as they floated and got trapped in the ceiling, forming pockets of air. Off in the distance I saw other lucky divers going through the same awe-inspiring experience while they illuminated distant parts of the cavern.

I loved looking at each individual stalactite and stalagmite, and seeing the curves of perfection designed to delight the eye.

My favorite thing to do was to take my flashlight from the ceiling of the cave and move it slowly down to have it illuminate different formations until the beam faded off into the depths. While the distance of the formations got increasingly farther, it revealed cave decorations in new, mesmerizing shades of blue.

At one point our attention got torn away from the wonders of the caves, because Jose told us rise to the surface. We resurfaced into what is known as the bat cave. We pumped up our BCD’s and followed Jose over to where the ceiling was a couple feet above the water. Jose then pointed out some stalactites that were forming because of the water seeping through cracks in the limestone and entering the cave. Since the floor was covered in water the formation of the stalagmites go dormant, but when sea levels change due to global warming or cooling, so does the water level in the cenotes because almost all cenotes are connected by a network of subterranean rivers which together determine which cave formations will grow and which ones will be covered in water. As our gazes scrolled across the ceiling, we spotted cute bats that were nesting among nooks and crannies. The species of bat that dwelled in the cave were fruit bats, which are very tiny and cute. Since at some parts the ceiling is so close to the water, we were able to see tiny features of the bats such as their nose, eyes, ears, and feet. The only natural light in the cave was from a hole in the ceiling a foot wider than a manhole, and it cast a beautiful glow into the water. After a couple of minutes, Jose, Mom and I sunk down into the water and continued on our journey. It felt like just a minute had passed when we rounded a corner and saw the incredible turquoise blue water that meant we were near the exit point. I started swimming slowly towards the bottom of the cave, and stayed there for a minute trying to remember every part of the experience.

While I thought the adventure was over, I was wrong! Later on, while my family and I were eating lunch, an iguana was chased out of a tree by another iguana, landed on me, slid down my back, and then skittered off!! It was the weirdest feeling ever. I heard a noise, looked up, and saw something falling towards me. Then I felt this scratchy scaly weight land on my back, squirm around and fall off. Meanwhile, I jumped about five feet into the air, spun around, landed, and saw the two-foot iguana that had landed on my back run away from me. A pretty crazy ending to a breathtaking day.

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Born to Run

2/18/2016

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“Running was the superpower that made us human-which means it’s the superpower all humans possess.” I just finished the book, Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. This book has brought to light so many incredibly aspects of running, but one thing it unveiled stands out to me and makes me mad. There is a whole running shoe industry created to protect our feet, when in fact the running shoes do nothing but hurt us and out feet. I have just learned that two million years of natural selection can not be beat by thirty years of running shoes and cushioned pads.

“The New Balance… excels with its… responsive ride combined with the support of the dual-density midsole and a plastic bridge under the arch.” (Runners World). This is a summary of the favorite shoe of 2015, but its “dual-density midsole and a plastic bridge” actually make our feet weak leading to multiple running injuries. I have learned three important things about running shoes from McDougall’s book born to run. First of all, people who wear the most expensive running shoes are actually a 135 percent more likely to get injured than someone wearing cheep running shoes. Secondly feet instinctively want a solid stable surface to run on, so, when you add a spongey surface to protect them in the form of a shoe, your feet then pound down harder to find a solid surface, therefore putting more stress on your body. Finally the modern running shoe actually makes our feet weak, it is similar to a cast in the fact that all of the muscles in your foot become weaker from the unneeded support, leading to a weaker arch, or a flat foot. The running shoe has turned out to be an accessory that is not only unnecessary, but makes injuries more likely to happen.

Of course running shoes does not help humans since we evolved to run barefoot and free just like our ancestors evolved to do. Influenced by McDougall’s born to run I have started doing barefoot runs down the beach with my family, and wearing minimalist shoes who’s sole job is to protect your feet but still let you run naturally. At first “barefoot” running felt strange, but after a couple of weeks I stopped feeling any of the knee pains that have recently been plaguing me. The freedom and benefits I get from running barefoot has motivated me run with minimalist shoes, and spread the idea of barefoot running to my friends, cousins, and cross country coach. By spreading the idea of barefoot running I hope to help everyone find the joy in running. One step at a time is all it takes to bring running into our way of life and hopefully everyone else.

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Learning Through Experiences

1/20/2016

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I chalked up, let out a shaky breath and started climbing above my last piece of protection. Making the initial moves flawlessly, I rearranged my feet high up on a ledge, went for the first of three crimpers, and cried out in dismay at how small it was. Going for the next hold I realized my mistake: my hands were in the wrong positions. Knowing that I was going to fall, I yelled, “Take!” as my fingers slipped….

My 2015-2016 school year has been a little unusual because my family has spent the fall traveling around and exploring the western US which has changed my personal outlook on life, on nature, and my future goals. I have learned that it is very rewarding to push my limits, struggle through something scary, and take controlled risks. Lead climbing embodies these concepts and each time I finish a climb, my idea of what I can accomplish changes and I want to push my limits even more. As our “Careyvan” travels continue, I have also come to appreciate the beauty of nature and nature itself much more then when I started this trip. This realization was spurred by a small spark which blossomed into an ember and possibly into something that I would like to pursue further in life: protecting nature from the people who want to abuse it. Thanks in part to the encouragement of my family, I have become aware of many environmental activist groups and am happily supporting Greenpeace in its various goals in trying to protect and save the environment. Additionally, through this trip I have seen how a perceived risk such as introducing wolves into Yellowstone National Park has turned out to benefit the ecosystem, and how conservationists like John Muir devoted their lives to protect a piece of land, which many years later would be treasured by Americans all over the U.S. In essence, this trip has made me appreciate the benefits of taking risk, the beauty of nature and how protecting our environment is the greatest gift we can give to future generations.

The fall, while only six feet, felt like eternity. Shaking out my arms, I looked around to take in the beautiful landscape of the Cochise Mountains in southern Arizona. With a sea of knee high grass extending out to the horizon, the picturesque countryside is dotted with trees and an occasional cactus. Thanking the people who enabled this mountain range and valley to be protected, I looked up, took a deep breath, and started climbing.

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Rock Climbing Blog

12/22/2015

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With all of that running through my mind, I chalked up, let out a shaky breath and started climbing. I made the first couple of moves flawlessly, at the side pull rearranged my feet up high on a ledge and went for the first of three crimpers and cried out in dismay at how small it was. I went up to the next hold and just as I got to it I realized my mistake: my hands were in the wrong positions. Knowing that I was going to fall, I yelled take, and my fingers slipped as my Dad quickly yanked in the slack. I fell six feet, yet it felt like eternity. After a couple more tries, falls and a lot of nervousness, I managed to get to the sloper. From the sloper I did the dead-point, and to my relief, I made it. Knowing that I was really high above my last bolt, I definitely did not want to fall, so I climbed up onto the roof and precariously balanced while making a clip high above my head.

“Click”. At 18 feet off the ground the reassuring sound of a clip is always nice. I told Dad to take and rested out. I have a tough section ahead of me, and a big fall if I make a mistake, because when you’re lead climbing you climb above your last piece of anchored protection, and if you fall, you fall the distance to your last piece of protection and then the same amount below until the rope catches, oh and then there is the rope stretch. So, if you fall, you generally fall at least 10 feet, but sometimes you can fall greater then 25. I know that falling doesn't seem that bad because a rope is going to catch you, but since I have just started leading climbs that are on the verge of my limit, leading is nerve racking every time.

Yelling take, I let out a huge sigh of relief, because I made it past the crux of the climb. Anyways, in this next section ahead of me I have to start climbing from this crummy side pull to another side pull, use that side pull to move my feet up and reach for a crimp. After two more crimps, that you have to hang on to by your fingertips, you move up to a sloper. From that sloper you have to lock off and and get ready to do a dead-point, a move that you ether make it or you fall, over to a ledge.

The US has one of the most varied rock climbing in the world. From big walls at 3100 feet, to fun 12 foot tall boulder problems. From granite spires, to red rock gorges, the US is the place to go. On this trip, we have climbed on all sorts of rock, from sandstone to monzogranite and volcanic tuft (ash that has turned into rock). While we had a sweet climbing afternoon at Cathedral Spires our true climbing adventure started with John Williams at Rodeo Wall near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We had a fun couple of climbs, and got pumped up to climb again. It was a couple of weeks before we climbed next, and that was a Smith Rock State Park where I did my first lead of the trip as we had lots of fun.

The next time we climbed was couple of weeks after, and it started our climbing streak. We went to Yosemite National Park, then Bishop, where we bouldered at the Buttermilks and Happy Boulders, then Joshua Tree National Park, Red Rocks State Park and Snow Canyon State Park. After a short time off, we finished our streak at Cochise Stronghold, a mountain range in southern Arizona, yet the place looked like it could be in the middle of the African savanna.

Of all these incredible places, my favorite three places were Joshua Tree, Red Rocks, and Cochise Stronghold. The three places were so different, yet all of them spoke to me and allowed me to fall deeply in love with climbing. Joshua Tree was a great spot because we were able to climb all day long, every day. The monzogranite coarse rock took a lot of getting used to because you had to trust your feet on minuscule holds, but, surprisingly, and through some foot cramps, almost every time your foot was able to grip on the rock. By far one of may favorite climbs was at Bell Campground. The rock was in the middle of the campground and had all day sun so in the morning we had a fun couple of climbs, went to the camper, had some lunch, and then went to the other side of the rock, and that is were we found Mom and my favorite climb. It started in a dihedral with an awesome layback crack.

At some points I had to fully lay back and other points I had to stem and find ledges above my head. The next few days at Joshua Tree we had a long hike to get to a secluded wall and the other climbing spot had a couple of fun climbs right next to the car. Over all, I loved all three spots at Joshua Tree.

Another of my favorite spots was Red Rock State Park. Red Rocks is INCREDIBLE!! We had two awesome days where we climbed and climbed. The first day we did about 7 climbs and all of them between 5.7-5.9 and we also met on of my dad’s colleague’s sister from Baltimore. Small world, right? The next day we went to “The Gallery” which had bunch climbs that go from a 5.9, then 5.10 and the hardest one was a 5.13b or something crazy like that. At “The Gallery” I did my first 5.10a and 5.10b lead. I was so stoked. Red Rocks was my favorite place because of its uniqueness and because of all the fun climbs.

Last but not least is Cochise Stronghold, Arizona. Cochise Stronghold is an awesome place to climb because we could climb 10 feet from our camper, and there were lots of fun climbs, in which I did four difficult and exhilarating leads. The first day we led a 5.9 and Dad tried leading a 5.10d. Since he led the whole thing cleanly to the crux his arms were too pumped to finish it. Later on I tried climbing it and made it one more bolt up, but wasn't able to do the last hard and tricky moves. Then Dad zoomed up it and completed it! The next day we leap-frogged around, and had an awesome time doing lots of interesting and thrilling climbs. To top it off we woke up early the next morning, and did this fun climb in the brilliant morning light. It has been so much fun climbing and I can’t wait to get back on the wall.

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Yosemite Journal

11/18/2015

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El Capitan is one of the most amazing rock formations I have ever seen. A 3,500 foot tall piece of granite towering above the Yosemite valley floor; the first time I saw it I was speechless. A part of me wants to climb as I see climbers perched on a rock ledge 2,000 feet up it, but another part of me is way too scared. One morning we gave a ride to a couple of climbers in the bed of our pickup to their site, and one of the guys unfortunately put both of his gloves on the greasy 5th wheel hitch. Despite that, they were nice to us and let us follow them to the base of El Cap, which was all the more massive when looking up at. Even right now, as I am thinking about it, I cannot believe that such a magnificent thing exists.

By far one of my favorite parts of the trip to Yosemite was a long yet rewarding 9.6 mile round trip hike up to Glacier Point. We had an amazing view of at El Capitan where we stopped for lunch and spent a good half hour chilling and found the time to draw a picture of El Cap. When we were getting nearer to the top we saw two rocks perched on the edge like diving boards that people “base jump” off of, which is literally jumping off of a huge cliff with parachutes on their back. When we got to the top of the hike there was an amazing view of Half Dome at a priceless angle, I was so glad we did the hike.

The next day was Mom’s Birthday where we had a nice morning topped off by a fun climb at Swan Slab. That afternoon we went to a new campsite, and Ethan and I had a great time playing and gathering firewood and got the fire roaring just in time for when the Ramsey’s came. Ethan and I hadn’t seen Ben since the summer and we spent the whole next morning fooling around, biking, and having a blast, which we could have done all day. We eventually jumped into the car and drove along the beautiful and scenic Tioga pass and ended up at Lembert Dome. Lembert Dome was a really big dome which had slopes which were super deceiving because before you knew it you were really high up a steep slope.

Interestingly enough, we found some polished pieces of granite which made for very good slides. When sliding down you could get going very fast, and sometimes you had to come to a quick stop or else you would shred your pants once you hit the rough stone. Ethan learned that lesson the hard way by ripping a big hole in his pants. (When we were in Bishop the next week my mom told Ethan, “Don’t wear those pants in public because people might think we are homeless!”) My favorite part on Tioga pass was when we got to the top of the Lembert Dome where there were huge glacial erratics and snow. We chilled on top of the erratics, had a quick snowball fight, and scrambled down the steep slope. When we got back to the campsite we were sent to gather fire wood, which really means that we played with Ben for a good 39 ½ minutes and spent the other half of the minute gathering wood. We had so, so much fun! We ended the day with a grand dinner at the Ahwannee Hotel to celebrate Rachel and Mom’s birthdays, a great end to an amazing time in Yosemite National Park.

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Wildlife Overpasses

11/4/2015

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Did you know that around $8 billion is spent each year covering expenses from cars that crash into animals while they are trying to cross a road? In Europe hundreds of overpasses have been built over the past 50 years to prevent these collisions. The idea of overpasses is slowly moving all over the world and is having profound effects on preventing collision and connecting land that was separated by an almost impenetrable barrier, roads. While we were in Missoula visiting my mom’s cousin Marcel the biologist, we learned about one of Marcel’s recent projects building one wildlife overpass and multiple underpasses in the Flat Head Native American Reservation. The U.S Government wanted to expand the road going through the reservation, so the Native Americans required the government to build crossings for wildlife and have wildlife fencing along the road. For over ten years the Native Americans fought to have the U.S. Government build the crossings, and finally the government agreed.

When we went up to Glacier National Park with Marcel we happened to be passing through the Flat Head Native American Reservation and he showed us the overpass he had consulted on. We got to walk up to the fencing and see how animals are funneled into the over and underpasses. The overpass is a really practical solution that is a simple wildlife bridge that goes up and over the road. The scientist are seeing lots of positive results and tons of animals are using it and also teaching their young how to use the overpass too. Similarly the underpasses are also successful with lots of animals using them and teaching their young. The reason why the scientists put in both over and underpasses is that different animals have a preference for their crossing. For example, grizzly bears like the open overpasses, whereas bobcats like the shaded, covered underpasses. We also saw something we never heard of called an animal jump, which is a mound that has a ledge on the side facing the forest. If an animal somehow gets stuck on the road there is a ramp so the animals can get back to the forest, but there is also a ledge facing the forest so animas can not get out. These are some really great ideas that have been implemented because they connect forests that have been scarred by this previously impassible road, and they prevent the destruction that road kill causes to animals and humans.

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Salmon

10/16/2015

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The other day we were at our second cousins’ house, Natalie and Luke’s, who live outside of Seattle in Issaquah, WA. In addition to playing outside in the rain and getting soaked with our cousins we just met, we also went to the salmon fishery. Even though it was at the end of the salmon run, we still saw these unbelievably determined salmon swim up the fish latter. I was amazed that the salmon never stopped, they just kept swimming and jumping out of the water into the next pool where they would rest, conserve energy, then do the same process again, and again, and again. Once the salmon made it to their final destination, they would spawn, and then die.

I could sit there all day and watch the salmon swim upstream, it is almost impossible to describe, especially the struggle they go through to get upstream. One of my favorite parts of the hatchery was the glass panels in which you could look into the tank. Every once in a while a monster sized salmon would swim by and sometimes you could see a salmon try to jump out of the tank. The hatcheries are so great because they stock fish into the ecosystem which then allows humans to catch the salmon and not worry too much about overfishing. The process in which the hatcheries raise the salmon is straight forward, the workers take the eggs of the salmon, raise them into the stage called fry, and then release them down the river so the salmon can go back to the ocean. The hatcheries cut a small fin on the fish to allow people to know if they catch either a hatchery salmon or a wild salmon. The hope is that fishermen will only keep the hatchery fish and leave the wild ones to stay in the wild. Over all I found that the hatcheries are a really smart way to bridge the gap between conservationists and fisherman.

Another reason why I find salmon interesting is that even though they are a water species, the salmon play a huge role in a healthy ecosystem in the water and the area around their spawning grounds. Salmon are crucial for the environment and people in general because they have provided humans with food for centuries.

Also, salmon allow other fish, mammals and birds to survive because they are an important part of the food chain. A recent study from Olympic National Park showed that around 175 different animals also feed on salmon, their eggs and the fry (fry are young salmon). Nowadays, not only do they provide us with food but also provide us with the opportunity to fish for fun. Most recently humans have pushed salmon to the brink of extinction, and now we have to double our efforts in order to save this species and restore balance to the force… just kidding, the ecosystem. The hatcheries seem to be providing a major role in accomplishing that, and we can now enjoy fishing the salmon, and watching their unique and incredible commute up hundreds of miles of steams.

A second interesting way people have helped salmon and the whole environment is to take down dams. The largestdam removal project was on the Elwha River which flows from Olympic National Park which we just visited a few days ago, and we got a ton of rain, but we weren’t to surprised because it is a temperate rainforest there.

It was really informative learning about the river and the positive effects the removal had on it. We went to where the Gilnes Dam and Lake Mills use to be (oh, and did I forget to mention there was a torrential downpour?)

At the site of the old dam and out on the spillway the National Parks Service made this really informative and well put together series of signs explaining the process of the dam removal. The location was awesome, and the spillway and signs were perched on the edge of the cliff over looking the canyon where the dam used to be. The signs talked about what it took to take down the dam, how the Native Americans, conservationists, and individuals got together and fought to free the Elwha River of its dam.

After years of fighting and planning, in 1992 Congress made a bill saying that the Elwha River dams would be removed so the river could run free again. Even though the bill was passed it took 22 years till the dams were removed, but even more amazing was that in 2014 (the year after the Gilnes dam was finally removed) the salmon and other fish started to come back. It was so fun learning about how the whole dam removal happened, and it gave me hope for the freedom of all rivers. Also, the National Park Service made these really informative and well put together Videos about Elwha River dam removal. I just loved learning about salmon and it was fantastic to hear about dam removal. It lit a spark in me that makes me want to be a conservationist, and I hope you feel it, too.

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Life as a Cowboy

9/25/2015

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Wow. It has been so much fun that I haven’t had time to do a blog entry! While we have been doing so many things, with so much to talk about, in this blog I am going to talk about being a cowboy.

We spent two incredibly fun days at Kevin and Amy Warren’s house in Daniel, Wyoming. The second day we went on a hike to the source of the Green River in the Wind River Mountains. It was am amazing hike along two lakes and a river that had incredible views. At the top of the hike we were all feeling nice and warm than we decided to take a skinny dip in the lake. It was FREEZING!!!! As soon as we got in we ran right out of the lake and laid on some warm rocks.

After we got home from our Green Lakes hike, Ethan and I were waiting eagerly for Kevin’s return so that we could do “boy stuff”. When he got home he grabbed a beer and a lariat and told us to follow him to the horse enclosure. We crawled through the barbed-wire fence and then the horses came galloping past us! It was such a graceful thing to see. Kevin called Strider (his horse) over and put a harness around the horse’s head so we would only be able to control Strider through the reins. Ethan and I traded turns riding the horse, and while one was riding the horse the other practiced using the lariat.

The first time I went on the horse it was so incredible that you could feel the legs and muscles more with each step. As we got more comfortable we were able to go farther and farther without Kevin leading us. Then Kevin then told us to go to and around objects, and we learned how to control the horse on our own. In doing so we learned that if you act comfortable then the horse will allow you to control it. Then for our last ride we were able to canter to the fence and back. It was the most thrilling and joyous thing I’ve ever done. All of a sudden, Strider went fast and his gait felt very natural. It was just beautiful and hard to describe in words.

Afterwards, we learned how to throw knives. It was super fun. We learned that you don’t need to used your wrist at all; just point to where you want the knife to go. After having some fun doing that, Kevin brought out the bullwhip. It made a really, really loud noise, louder than a gunshot! He left us to fool around with that while he went to get his BB gun. We had some fun trying to hit some plastic things and as it got dark we went inside for a much needed dinner of chili and cornbread. Yum!

I want to thank Kevin and Amy for sharing their house and life with us and for inspiring Ethan and me to become cowboys!

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