Sunday, July 3, 2011

Stats for the day:

·          20231 steps (on pedometer)

·         77°F at 6am at about 6:12am

·         Miles hiked by noon: 6

·         Times today we scurried up onto the rock wall behind our campsite:2

·         Number of flies Matt killed on our morning hike: 6

We got up early to watch the sunrise from up on our rocks.  It was neat to see it hit various parts of the park, and then it quickly became warm.  We’d decided to head out as soon as possible after the sunrise for our hike, since it was going to get hot fast. 

This morning we were tackling the Chesler Park Trail and a beginning portion of the Joint Trail.  Our trailhead left from Elephant’s Hill, which also has a pretty cool looking off-road trail for 4x4 vehicles and adventurous mountain bikers.  The trail was marked by cairns (small piles of rocks) and this is the first trail I’ve done where I had to follow cairns.  It definitely makes you even more present than you are when you’re just watching for snakes and scorpions.  The hike takes you through sandstone rock paths and very desert-like scenery to an open field (Chesler Park).  There’s a 5-mile loop around the park, but we opted to do only part of it, as our hike was already going to be 6 miles, and we thought we’d avoid the mid-day sun beating down on you hiking. 

The Needles

 

We spent the afternoon seeking shade and doing some catching up on chronicling adventures until my battery died.  We looked at some books and maps and made more specific plans for the next few days, and ended the day with a hike back up onto the rock wall to watch the sunset.  It wasn’t as impressive as the day before, but there were thunderstorms moving in and it was fun to watch those clouds.

Math thoughts for today:

·         How many species can survive in this heat?

·         Of the established National Park Service trails, what percentages are dirt paths, paved paths, gravel paths, primitive paths, cairn marked paths, etc.?  And the question for my students: what would be the most appropriate graph to use to represent this data?

Shout-outs:

·         Michael – You would love some of the hikes I’ve done in the past week.  Plus, you’d love the scampering over the rocks we’ve been doing.  No real path – just see how high you can make it.  Safely.  You do have to come back down eventually!