We at woke up at eight and got our hiking gear together. Then we dined at Best Western's breakfast, except for me because I used that time to sleep more. Then Scott drove us to the Bandelier Mountains so we could hike. When we got there we went into the visitor center. Inside was filled with the usual paraphernalia that one finds in a place like that, ranger hats, maps, postcards, books, etc. Ranger Molly was even going to lead a guided tour for free. However, one feature that isn't as widespread was the recreation of what life looked liked for the native Americans when they called Bandelier their home. There was a quick walkthrough that had ancient artifacts from the time and life-size mannequins frozen doing their daily activities. Then we watched a movie to prepare us for the hike, which did anything but. The movie had a presumably Indian narrator who spent big chunks of this short film reciting poems over and over with a monotone voice. He liked using the phrase, "my little breath." The film tried to explain different aspects about the culture, but most of us were to busy trying to contain our laughter to listen. Afterwards we hit the train not with Ranger Molly but our own Scott. The scenery was gorgeous even though Mike had a problem with mine and Daniel's tendency to take many pictures of the cacti. Every now and then along the trail there would stand a marker with a number on it and Scott would read to us about the area we were looking at. We learned about pueblos, keevas, and pictographs. We could even climb ladders and crawl inside the ancient dwellings. It ended with a 140-foot climb up to ceremonial caves. That was the most challenging part of the hike for it was all fairly straight up on wooden ladders nailed into the mountain.
After we were done with the hike we drove to Home-Run pizza, where Corrie and Eva joined us in devouring pizzas. We then proceeded to drive to the building where we would get our passwords to put these entries on the Internet. The password processes was a little frustrating because you couldn't use any actual word that existed or something that the computer felt was close to an actual word. Finally, when that was over we got to go back to the computer lab and work on our journals.
We then had an Astronomy Days Lecture. It was entitled the "Impacts of Comets and Asteroids with the Earth." He was retiring and that was his last act as a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee was to give us a lecture. He wasn't a very good public speaker but e did have interesting things to say. He mentioned that they still have to identify and track some of the really big asteroids so that we know if they are going to hit us. We need bigger and better equipment as well. We didn't even know if Hale-Bopp was going to hit us until it was extremely close.
We went up to Fenton Hill where we got to make our first asteroid sketch. It was difficult at first because I was nervous that I was going to screw something up. However, after a while and when I labeled my zenith it started to come together. John's computer helped me label my picture. By the end of the night everyone had a good idea of what to do. The group was at this for awhile and then we went home.
Hey, Emily! Does the ponderosa actually smell like vanilla?
Gettin' ready for the long trek ahead.
Scott reads the historical information for every marker.
Up on the hill looking down on the ancient village. If you look closely you can see the ring of rubble that used to be the city.
Who is that kid?
Emily leads the climb up the ladders to the kiva--up 140 feet of ladder.
The ceremonial kiva is built high in the side of Frijoles Canyon.
Daniel enters the covered kiva.
Gavin the adventurous hiker!
Look at the striped lizard!
Daniel managed to photograph a green fly on a bright pink flower.
Back up at Fenton Hill eating and observing.