03 Jul So Much to Learn, so Little Time.

Ten weeks is not enough to learn all the history of the Grand Canyon. I love this place and am trying not to think about my last day of work here. I have learned so much about the Grand Canyon this past week. This week the kids have to go to all the ranger programs to get some inspiration on what they want their programs to be. I went along with them and have learned so much about the park. For example, on the fossil walk I learned that it is hard to become a fossil, that we only see a very small fraction of what has existed in the past.

A fossil has to be in the right place at the right time to be preserved the way we see them today. We saw some fossils on one of the walks and up on the south rim, and found some shells and sea sponges. That tells us that the Grand Canyon was once underwater, that the rims rose to the surface and those clams and sponges were somehow preserved for billions of years at the Grand Canyon because of the uniqueness of the air and temperature. On the geology walk, we learned about the different formations that make up the Grand Canyon and how it took billions of years to form. If you were to make a bridge across the canyon from the South to North Rim, it would be around 10 miles long. It is a 4-5 hour drive to get to the other side of the rim by car, and to be able to see all of the Grand Canyon you would have to be in space. Some other things I have learned are that the California Condor is one of the endangered species we have at the park. There are about 74-90 of them here at the Grand Canyon, and around 400+ left in the world. I learned that the main water pipes at the Grand Canyon were built around the 1970’s and they were only meant to last 30 years. Because my job is to teach visitors new information about the Grand Canyon, I have become somewhat of a Grand Canyon history nerd. I love sharing what I have learned with others. Granted, I’m only a rookie compared to the other rangers who have spent years working here, but I’ll get up to their level soon!