The ride from Missoula was snowy and rainy, so we took our time. We stopped at Nine Pipes Museum in Montana, near Kalispell. We learned about Native American history in the area.
We got to camp where it was raining, so we set up a tarp village to put the tents and cooking area under. The next day, we went to Lake McDonald to check out the hike we might do. Because of the weather, we decided to leave Glacier a day early. The park is beautiful, but there is nothing much to do in the rain. Our Junior Polar Bear Club members Keith, Nerney, Kayla, Tori, and Brian jumped into the cold Lake on our way out.
We headed near Bozeman, Montana to camp. The morale of the group was lifted due to the sunshine and green grass. We did a small hike the following day to learn about the local geology. The town is very proud Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea had stayed in this area and ventured down the Missouri River.
We have a hotel in Sheridan, Wyoming before our last national park in the Rocky Mountains.

The drive to Yellowstone was beautiful. Green rolling mountains, blue skies, cool weather. As we got further up the mountain, the flurries started. Snow in June!! We got to our campsite late in the evening and there was at least six inches of snow on the ground. The group works very efficiently together and we set up camp quite quickly. The wet snow was also a big motivator. It it quite intense to go from the desert to snow.
We packed up early to head to our second campsite, where there was no snow on the ground! It snowed and rained the entire time at Yellowstone, but at least it never stuck to the ground at our campsite. We were able to stay pretty dry. We were not able to do as many of the hikes as we would have liked to because of the weather. We saw Old Faithful and hot springs. Bison and elk were very common in the park. As we were leaving, there was a bison walking down the center lane in the road. A female moose was spotted crossing the river.
On to our hotel in Missoula, then Glacier Park.

Well, there’s enough energy built up in this group to accomplish almost anything! I wish I had Professor Michael Cronin with me right now; he’s a professor of Social Work at Stockton College. The students are so very frustrated due to very harsh and dreary weather in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Very cold and wet - making for dangerous conditions, so no real hikes, and needless to say, few rocks to view. We did our best, and the team is now a very well-oiled machine when it comes to setting up came and breaking it down: this is in good weather or awful weather. Camping in snow is no small feat, and camping in rain for days with wet tents and bags is a real bummer, yet they are all doing very well now we are at the hotel in Sheridan, Wyoming. Alissa will write more tomorrow from a student’s perspective. I will say that we saw the most spectacular of large bears from the safety of our vans: it was huge and running up over a snowbank when it caught sight of us. It “freaked” and turned around mid-stride, mid-air. I don’t know if I have ever seen anything more magnificent in my life!

We got to camp at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with enough daylight to set up camp and make dinner. The next day, we loaded up our packs with heavy gear and did a ten minute hike up and down the Kaibab trail of the North Rim leading into the Grand Canyon. This was a preliminary hike to prepare us for the real deal. Five students stayed back at camp so they could enjoy other activities the North Rim had to offer and to watch over camp. Because of camping permits, we had to split up into three groups. Two groups did the Rim to Rim in two days, one night and one group did it in three days, two nights.
We woke up at three in the morning to start the hike and get to our first campsite before nine. The heat in the Canyon makes it almost impossible to hike past 11 am. During the heat of the day, we dipped into the Bright Angel and Colorado River and took naps. It was important to keep hydrated and eat salty snacks. Hyponatremia is the loss of electrolytes because of sweating and heat. One doctor recommended 500 mg of salt an hour. Every sip of water had to be followed up by a handful of junk food. A typical dinner consisted of cheez whiz with chips, crackers, beef jerky, and tuna. We discovered that cheez whiz + bacon ranch Pringles = baked potato.
Going up the South Rim was probably the hardest part of the hike. But the immense accomplishment felt at the top of the South Rim made every step of the 23.9 miles worth it. We definitely earned bragging rights and other hikers on the trail were quite surprised we came from the North Rim.
We were all so happy to be reunited!!!
Next stop… Yellowstone!

We stopped at the cool hippie town of Flagstaff, Arizona to grab dinner and a cheap hotel. Then we kept on truckin’ to Bauer’s Ranch Campsite in Utah. We did a short hike in Zion National Park. The next day, while the vans were getting a check-up, the rest of the group spent another day in Zion. We hiked Angel’s Landing, which is over 6,000 feet in elevation and a 5 mile hike. But the spectacular view at the top was worth every step. The tour buses below us looked like ants! We started our hike early, to beat the heat of the day. We were stunned people were going up around noon and with no water! Our group is very good about making sure each other are staying hydrated. After our hike, we packed up camp and headed back to Arizona to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!!!

Oh my gosh: this is the first time I was glad to leave my favorite place. Last year we had dangerous rain and thunderstorms, which was unusual for this time. This year, no rain, but no rain for a very long time….so it was not only extremely hot (in the hundreds all day and most of the night), but it was dusty. The wind blew every day. It blew so hard that the fine silt on the ground penetrated our tents daily. This led to some serious dehydration problems, including headaches, dizziness, and nausea. I cancelled the 19 mile hike, as the second spring that we needed to find for water on day 2 was most likely dry. I am glad we did, as I got a heat/dehydration headache, too, and we found out on our 10-mile round trip hike up the Rancherias Canyon to the “waterfall” that there would not have been a second spring. Deadly. ONe group went up to the Oso loop, and one group biked into the solitario. One group got to hang out at the ranch house to keep out of the heat.

We saw big horn sheep, javelina, one rattlesnake, outrageous frogs in the one oasis we visited, and plenty of strange new things the Jersey gang had not experienced. Two tents broke in the last night’s wind storms (but no rain, mind you). The Mexican food has been great, the Vegan on the trip is surviving with a great attitude!

We made it out of the Trans-Pecos Texas region to Carlsbad just in time to fully tour the cave. We LOVED the 56 degree temperature with 90 percent humidity after our week in Big Bend Ranch State Park. The cave is as fabulous as ever, with phenomenally weird rock formations that have grown over time simply by dripping water that has calcium in it. The food at Whites City is as awful as expected for a place with a monopoly in the middle of nowhere. We watched the bat flight and were terribly disappointed. No swarm. Last year the students got to see a full blown whorl of about 400,000 bats come out at once.

We made it from Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico to Tucson, AZ by maybe 10 pm. We made it up into the Catalina Mountains to Mt. Lemmon by 11:30 and set up camp late, once again. This morning we were joined by one of Stockton’s Alumna, Ms. Phyllis Berger. She is a graduate student (just completed year 1) at the University of Arizona. She and I toured the mountain today while the students rested. Tomorrow Phyllis is going to lead the group on a tour of the mountain and she will explain the geology to us!

All is well in camp. We are about to work out the kinks in getting set up at camp and working together as a team. This is the most adventuresome bunch I have ever taken out, which means I have to keep a close eye. The students are doing an evening desert hike to beat the heat tonight.

 you can reach Professor Davis at :  

 cell phone:  609-317-0055

email:  linda.davis@stockton.edu

I’m packing, I hope I pack the right amount of socks and underwear. I’m probably going to drive everyone nuts: tomorrow (if you are reading this) with the chaos stop and start of the day!