July's Adventures

Workin out at the canyon. I found this great spot with a deep maroon tree that matched the earth it grew in. It was seen right at sunrise, and was simply spectacular!


Fire can do strange things... You got to be careful that things like that don't fall on you!


There were three elk with antlers just as big! Its not easy to get a night shot of them, but I tried! There are animals EVERYWHERE! Especially in the night.


Uh... I locked my self out of the car? I almost knocked myself out trying to get in. HaHA, no joke. I got witty and grabbed my gerber out of my pack... got a piece of barbed wire... and tried for like an hour to hit the switch.

Well I pryed the door back a bit so that it would be easier... it was!! Then the knife broke, and I wacked myself in the head with the gerber. OUCH!! I had a huge bump for about a week.

I got in... eventually. Now I try to keep the spare key on me instead of INSIDE the vehicle.

Photos at Sunrise and Sunset at the Canyon

Thunderstorm and Miraculous things at the Canyon

Last night there was the most stunning thunderstorm . The sky was a creamy orange and red as the sun began to set, and deep purple clouds melted back to the red rusty dirt, deep into the canyon. Lightening light up the sky and would curve for miles in the most unusual ways. A picture would never do it justice.

I spoke with my only neighbor, a lady who is a lookout in the fire tower down the road. She told me that there is an albino mule deer living near my camp. I haven't seen it, but I sure hope I do.

Blurb.....

Its hard to believe my time here at the Grand Canyon is nearly over... The summer just flew by! Its strange to think that I have so few photos or blogs for this time, and memories and experiences are so many!

Ever since I left New Zealand, I've had a difficult time re-adjusting to the American Lifestyle. I just needed to get back to Nature! It's hard when you make tons of friends and have the best time of your life... and then just leave it all behind. Its like I left my life. It was nearly 5 months of intense studying and 'adjusting' before I started this job. I MISSED MY FREEDOM!!!

Thank you David Willey, my boss, for giving that back to me! I am loving my time here at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon! I am hosting Couch Surfers, who are as happy to see me as I them! I've been on the prowl to find an albino deer that lives near me. There is a Great Horned Owl that lives near my campsite... I call him Earl. I don't know why.

One night he was hooting right by my tent for over 4 hours... I lye awake, and came up with that name for him. " Excuse me Earl... I'm trying to sleep!" I would yell at him. Haha, he got quiet. "Thank you Earl"... then he continued. Haha. I think he was telling me that I was a guest in HIS home.

I've been seeing many signs of Cougars around my camp site, including scat... and CS'ers reporting a "large animal" checking them out at night. Well... I teased them, but that cat decided to check out my tent while I was sleeping too. It put a paw up, about a foot from my head, probably playing with the tent material.

I was less concerned considering the food was in the other tent. But I'll tell you, I finally got the courage to sit up and shake my tent and yell at it "Hey get outta here". I didn't have the courage to open my tent and look, I really want to believe it was just my imagination. Well then the next night I spotted it crossing the road about a mile from my camp. Since, I've been told that I am directly by of the most concentrated areas of cougars in the park. Hmmmm... Here kitty kitty kitty...

I saw a set of ring tails (like a raccoon) when I hiked into the Grand Canyon a couple of days ago. The canyon was incredibly hot, about 150 F in the middle of the day. By 2am it finally cooled down below 90 degrees.