Today we woke up just late enough to see the sun turn the night sky pink outside our windows at Cliff Dwellers Lodge. But we were still early enough to get the water boiling on the fussy Coleman stoves at Lee’s Ferry campground before our stomachs growled too loudly. Today’s breakfast felt like the fastest yet. By the time I had all my heavy layers on and was out of the van, people were pumping the pressure and carrying pots full of water. After the oatmeal warmed our bones, we piled into the van and said goodbye to Lee’s Ferry, a recreational area more picturesque and stunning than any postcard.

Lee’s Ferry taught us a lot of good lessons, like how important teamwork and supporting one another when hiking difficult terrain that pushes our confidence in ourselves as well as our physical abilities. We learned about preservation and resilience when the lighters were too cold to start and when we were hiking straight up for an elevation change of around 1400 feet. But resiliency also emerged in our discussions on environmental politics specific to the region, such as the conservation of native fish in the Colorado river and the issues of water scarcity and energy sources. Such complex issues require a resiliency among those willing to solve them, and looking around our discussion group, I saw many people willing to try.

So we wound back through the canyon walls, but before we headed south, we decided to give California Condor spotting on the Navajo Bridge one final attempt. California Condors are some important birds, they been around for roughly 40,000 years and are a highly endangered species, with population dropping as low as 20 and now is climbing to the mid-200s. The bird raises a number of conservation questions, such as the genetic consequences and how much money is too much to spend on a species.   

We stood in the winds of canyon rims and moved our slightly frozen binoculars through the sunny rocks, until we heard Dr. Baack’s voice call out “Condor!” We all went running to catch sight of the ancient giants. A pair sat on the beams of the next bridge over, they were hunched up, sunning themselves while looking about as cold as we felt. One turned to look back at us after ten minutes of our eyes glued to him, unbothered.

After our encounter with one of the rarest birds in America, we drove south to the Grand Canyon, stopping at a trading post in Cameron filled with tourist commodities. We drove further and then through the toll of the Grand Canyon National Park which despite the government shutdown was still bustling with tourists. We ate arguably the coldest meal so far at picnic tables near Desert View on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, which sits at a balmy 7000 feet above sea level. We then took the highly anticipated botany quiz, after a few days of mumbling the scientific names as we hiked along and testing each other using any plants we recognized. We then split apart to explore the rim trail. I walked along and took in the view of one of the seven greatest natural wonders of the world. We could see 62 miles away over the Arizona landscape. Tourists were everywhere around us and from every part of the world, languages intermingled as photos were taken. It was a bit of a culture shock for people who had been each other’s only company, if you don’t count the sagebrush and the red dust coating our belongings.

We left the national park and headed south towards Flagstaff, AZ. The ride felt like a minute long as I had passed out into a deep sleep. I woke up to Flagstaff, when Dr. Baack, jumped out of the van to pick up detergent for laundry and a few fruits. Some pleas for potato bread came from my van as he went inside. We got settled in our Super 8 rooms, and then split for the restaurants nearby to fill up on food before we begin to camp tomorrow afternoon. Due to the government shutdown, the wonderful landscapes of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument are beyond our reach just as Mesa Verde had been. We’ll be at a campsite outside Scottsdale, AZ, roughing it after the luxury of various motels. We’ll also be without wifi for the next three days, and immersed in the experience of the outdoors. We’re all very excited to see when the new landscape brings as weather forecasts promise 50s and 60s. But I think the imagery of red canyon walls guiding me upwards, and how my fingers felt gripping the sandstone, and the blue waters of the Colorado, will stick with me for a very long time.