by Teresa Shipley

Our week in the Grand Canyon has come to a close, and a few of the numbers are in:

• We pulled over 12,000 weeds.
• We spread nearly ½ acre of mulch (which doesn’t sound like much, until the shovel is in your hands).
• We collectively hiked 27 miles (that doesn’t include our fun-day hikes) in the Canyon.
• We surveyed and GPS’d about 9 miles of National Park boundary fence.
• We de-winterized the native plant nursery and installed a rodent-proof fence.
• We made dozens of new friendships.

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by Teresa Shipley
Tents unzipped to bright blue skies this morning. Eager students were divided into three hiking groups. The mission: eradication of graffiti within the Canyon and hand-pulling invasive weeds along the way. We also welcomed two visitors: Mike and Brian, videographers from Phoenix who joined us for a few hours to document all this hard work for SCA, AE and, possibly, MTV.

Our group trekked down the Bright Angel trail, one of the Canyon’s busiest routes. We soon discovered we had our work cut out for us; nearly every rock face boasted scratchings of “Eddie Was Here” or “TM + JF.” We used water spray bottles to soften the yellow limestone surface and then gently attacked the graffiti with soft bristle brushes. Other participants patiently rubbed pencil erasers on graphite or charcoal graffiti. (more…)

by Teresa Shipley
What’s red, green and white all over? The Grand Canyon under 5 inches of snow.

Fifty degrees and above had been the normal daytime temperature at the Canyon for several weeks—until, that is, 25 SCA Alternative Spring Break participants showed up.

On their first morning as a team, SCA participants woke to a dusting of fresh snow and leaden skies. The white stuff kept falling throughout the next day and into Monday morning, giving new meaning to the word “alternative” in Alternative Spring Break. Somehow, everybody’s still smiling. (more…)

Degrees of latitude I cannot measure but I picked up at least 40 degrees of Fahrenheit between Gateway Nat’l Rec Area and Padre Island Nat’l Seashore. PAIS, in the shorthand of the National Park Service, is one of two SCA Alternative Spring Break sites sponsored by American Eagle this year. Grand Canyon is the other.

Twenty-five college students from around the country are building an ADA-compliant boardwalk on this Texas barrier island; next week another 25 will put an addition on a sea turtle research building some 40 miles downshore. (more…)