Kate and Daniel’s Grand Canyon Trip

0 Commentsby   |  07.29.10  |  Fun

[Contribution by Daniel Pamplin]

My wife and I traveled to Los Alamos National Laboratories for the summer because I was offered an interning position by the laboratory. The work at the lab is great, but what really excited me when I got accepted was the proximity of the Grand Canyon. I have wanted to visit it for some time now.

The opportunity arose on the Fourth of July weekend. My schedule has me off every other Friday and the government gave us that Monday off giving my wife and I a four-day weekend. We packed the car and drove the eight hours to get there. We set up camp, and then a little bit before sunset we struck off to see the canyon. Words really fail me here. It is hard to explain how immense the Grand Canyon is.

Daniel Pamplin at the Grand Canyon

Daniel Pamplin at the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is about 4000 to 6000 feet deep with a 6-mile trail that leads down into it. While the temperature at the top is usually around 80 at the height of the day, inside the canyon it gets up to 115 degrees!

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

The rest of the time we were there we camped, hiked into the Grand Canyon, hiked around the edge, interacted with the very bold squirrels that live in and around the canyon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdGTNKdTilU), and climbed out onto a peninsula of rock. This peninsula was only about 4 feet wide and there was a good 300 to 500 foot drop on either side of it.

I am a physics major at ACU and it has definitely made my life a little bit more exciting.

-Daniel

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