My Faux Hike in the Grand Canyon Western South Rim
Submitted by Outdoor Afro Contributor, Terri Davis-Merchant, of the fun blog: Try Anything Once
Faux hiking? Oh yeah! I'm not really into outdoorsy stuff. Perhaps you've noticed that. I mean I guess I'm not really destined for it. Having grown up in a Black working class neighborhood in New York City in the 80's and 90's, sleeping in a tent in the cold with no bathroom wasn't exactly what many considered a vacation. Just sayin'. Even Oprah noticed the lack o' folks o' color during her recent trip to Yosemite. (By the way, I love the name of that blog link, Outdoor Afro.) While Husband J grew up doing more outdoor related things than me, even he likes the comfort of a warm bed (hence, our stay at the El Tovar).
Here is the previous post on the South Rim:
October 26, 2010 – Walking the Grand Canyon South Rim
When we first got to our hotel, it was pouring down hurricane rain, so I couldn't see the canyon at all. At first I refused to look until we got right up to the canyon's edge. I even closed my eyes when we left our hotel so that I could have my own special "first look". Pictures just don't give you the impact of what the Grand Canyon is really like in person. I joked with Husband J that all that we were seeing just couldn't be real. It couldn't be. It's that spectacular.
We set out from our hotel, the El Tovar, and literally walk less than 50 feet to the rim. I'll talk more about the El Tovar and the great advantages to staying there in another post. Since we weren't ready for a far-flung walk that day, we stayed pretty close to the hotel. I will say that the National Park Service has made walking the Grand Canyon Rim pretty easy for almost any visitor. There is a main paved walkway that provides great views, and you can take it almost the length of the South Rim.
For the adventurer, you can move off of the main walkway for an even closer look at edge.
The Trail of Time is also a part of the main walkway in this part of the park. Ever so often there were rock markers with their scientific names and geological ages. Science buffs take note!
This portion of the South Rim happened to have a few shops that are their own historic structures. Verkamp's Visitor Center has been around since the early 20th century (1905 to be exact) and is one of the oldest buildings surrounding the canyon. It started out as a curio (craft) shop and has become an integral part of the South Rim experience.
Verkamp's floor actually has a nice time line showing major points in the history and development of the canyon as a park and tourist site. I learned quite a bit myself including the fact that our hotel was over a 100 years old.
I'm not done with walking the canyon yet. Stay tuned for my pseudo-hiking!
Oprah Goes Camping in Yosemite!
A memo from National Parks Director Jonathan B. Jarvis shares:
"On October 29 and November 1, Oprah Winfrey will devote two entire shows to her overnight camping trip in Yosemite National Park earlier this month. Ms. Winfrey’s visit originated with a letter of invitation from Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. While in the park, Shelton shared his Buffalo Soldierpersona – Elizy Bowman – at an evening campfire chat with Ms. Winfrey and others staying at the Lower Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley.
While the shows highlight Ms. Winfrey’s visit to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Tunnel View, her mule ride, and fly fishing on the Merced River, she also raises the question of why there aren’t more visitors of color in national parks.
We all struggle with this question – and what to do about it.
Ms. Winfrey’s visit and the popularity of her show offer the National Park Service an unprecedented opportunity to reach a vast audience of potential first-time visitors and to start a conversation with them.
Coming on the heels of Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary, these broadcasts promise to take the national parks to heights of visibility rarely seen before, particularly in mass media and pop culture.
At the national level, we are working with the Yosemite staff to create opportunities to leverage the broadcasts and deliver a National Park Service invitation to visit the soon-to-be 393 national parks and learn about these places owned by all Americans.
I encourage all of you to use this opportunity to reach out to your communities. For example, you could host viewing parties with the show as a discussion starter on how to increase the diversity of our visitors or hold “how-to” events over the weekend of October 30-31 to teach the basics of hiking, camping, and visiting for first-timers.
WATCH VIDEO PREVIEW
While we literally had years to prepare for the America's Best Idea broadcast, there is now little more than a week to prepare for these episodes that will reach more than 30 million viewers and millions more through Oprah.com.
I am confident that our innovative and creative employees will rise to the occasion and create immediate opportunities for all Americans to connect with the national park idea."
The Outdoor Afro community is all aflutter about this news, as a major goal of this site is about changing perceptions of who engages with the outdoors. It is especially important that women of color be shown engaging with natural spaces in a positive context, so that others can see the possibility and benefits of building a relationship with treasures such as our national parks -- which belong to everyone.
We hope this won't be the last time we see Oprah camping! Can't wait to hear your comments about the show!
Her Eyes Were Watching God
Outdoor Afro Contributor and Author Brandelyn N. Castine, author of U.G.L.Y talks about how a spiritual salute to the outdoors began her day in a whole new way.
I am the first person to tell you that mornings are not my favorite time of day.
Usually after hitting the snooze button multiple times, I quickly find myself in a flurry of searching through my closet hoping for something decent and not too wrinkled to wear, quick showers, slipshod breakfasts (if any) and rushing out of the door with just enough time to run back in and grab some all important item I forgot to toss in my bag.
This morning was exactly the same, however when I stepped outside, the sky literally took my breath away. It was as if God was reminding me to take a moment, breathe, pause and acknowledge Him. Watching the clouds break up into puffy pieces as the sun began to shine underneath them reminded me that this day is special because like each cloud in the sky it is one of a kind.
We need to take time and acknowledge the world around us. Because I took that moment to breathe and "Watch God" as Zora Neale Hurston would say, my day has been filled with a lot more light and love than it would have been otherwise. Tomorrow morning when you wake up, take a moment and just look up, or look down at the flowers, or straight ahead at the trees and remind yourself that this day is special, because just like you, there will never be another one like it.
Castine currently lives in the Bay Area where she is also a contributing author in the
Gumbo For the Soul Anthology, a project that was created to raise funds to support
literacy programs in the Bay Area. In addition, Brandelyn is currently working as a
freelance writer for Leather, Empress and Vapors Magazines.
Keeping It Wild Gala!
Dianne Glave, Atlanta-based environmental author and Outdoor Afro friend, attended the annual Keeping it Wild Gala last night, a fundraiser for the organization that was created in 2005 by several Atlanta citizen-advocates who perceived the need to bring together members of diverse conservation communities to promote stewardship for the natural lands in the area. Following are Dianne's reflections on the event, originally posted on her fantastic site:
Sometimes better, sometimes easier, to start with endings than beginnings . . .
I sat in the amphitheater at Zoo Atlanta listening to Shelton Johnson. He was the keynote speaker for the 6th Annual Keeping it Wild (KIW) Gala, and is a national park ranger and author of Gloryland. As I listened to Shelton, one row back from me I heard the rhythmic breathing of a six year old girl. Shelton's passionate story-telling and cadence of that small child's breathing mentally and spiritually took me outdoors.
I imagined being at Yosemite National Park, the source of many of Shelton's stories.
Read full story...
Mari's Awesome, Supersplendiferous, Fantasticalicious Camp Pictures
Contributed by Blogger, Author, and Speaker Denene Millner of My Brown Baby a weekly blog that provides thought-provoking, insightful, wickedly funny commentary on motherhood, for moms who love their brown babies, by moms who do the same. Through their posts, our MyBrownBaby bloggers lift the voices of African-American moms looking for the 411/advice/a high-five on everything from pregnancy and childrearing to sex, work, and relationships—all filtered through the lens of the African American experience.
So my baby Mari survived her first sleepaway camp. More specifically, I survived Mari's first sleepaway camp. She was gone for three... excruciatingly... looooong... days, hiking, repelling down mountains, shooting arrows, zip-lining, and sleeping in the woods with her two teachers, whom I like and trust (I guess, considering I'd only met them in person, like, twice), and her class. The only reason I didn't do the total freakout is because she went with her Uncle James, bless his dear heart, who drove, and her cousin Miles, who loves and protects Mari like his very life depends on it.
I was so very happy when she got home, but you know what made me even more happy? When she came back with a smile on her face, a giggle in her voice and incredible stories about how much fun she had hanging with new friends, watching the sunrise, celebrating the Earth (she's quite the environmentalist!) and summonsing up the strength and courage to overcome her fear of heights to do the repelling and zip lining. I'm super proud of baby girl. And I know that with this camp trip, she took one more step not away from me, but toward her independence.
To celebrate Mari's big girl moves, I wanted to share with you some shots she took with her camera, which she hardly ever leaves home without. The girl is NICE with the Casio AND nice with the verbs (she's the bold writer of the captions below each picture). Check it... and if you're so moved, show sweetness some love in the comments section.
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This is the curvy mountainous road up the huge hill to Camp Greenville.
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| My pretty nice cabin (for a camp); girls on the right, boys on the left. |
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| My activities group walking to our next fun activity through the shortcut. |
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| One of the weird, exotic leaves that we came across on our wilderness trek, called Sassafrass. |
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| The sky through the trees on a sunny day. |
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| Our view of the orangey sunrise at Pretty Place. |
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| The rules at the awesome archery range that we went to for our activities |
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| The two targets that all of us shot at with our bows and arrows. |
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| My bow that I used to shoot. |
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| The ropes course that we had to WALK on high up in the air. |
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| Some of my group members jumping across the stream towards the water fall. |
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| A close up of the running water in the stream. |
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| My hand in the water while trying to take a picture. The water was freezing cold. |
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| Me having a blast in front of Rainbow Falls (the huge waterfall) |
October's Bird of the Month
By Douglas "Birdman" Gray, Outdoor Afro Contributor
As I reflect on my personal birding over the last month, I have to say it was a very good month. My last 30 days ofbirding reinforced something I've shared with folks before, "September is my favorite month for birdwatching in Indiana." The month of May is probably most folks’ favorite birding month. With many migrants passing through not only singing, but also in their full breeding colors, it's easy to understand why.
It was such a good month that I'm sitting here scanning my Month List, and I must confess, I'm having a somewhat difficult time picking out a "BOTM". I've seen some GREAT birds! But alas, I must choose so, here we go.
This month's Bird of the Month is the American Avocet.
This long-legged shorebird has a striking black and white pattern on its back and sides. It also sports a long, up-curved bill that makes it one of our most unique looking birds.
We don't get many chances to see this beautiful bird in Indiana, but at least one has been fairly cooperative over the last 3 weeks down at the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area (GPFWA) near Linton, Indiana. If you have an opportunity to visit GPFWA and possibly see this wonderful bird, I think you should take that chance. Even if you go and do not catch sight of this particular bird, I think you will find the trip well worth it just because of all the other cool birds you will surely see. Without a doubt, GPFWA is one of the premier birding spots in the entire state.
I find it interesting that while we don’t get many chances to see American Avocets in Indiana these days, historically the bird was known to nest in Indiana. The famous John James Audubon, whom we can consider the father of modern day birding, once rose up early one morning to approach some Avocets that were sitting on nests near Vincennes, Indiana. He wrote back in June of 1814, “Lovely bird, how unsuspecting, and yet how near to thine enemy…” (Here we must excuse ourselves and leave Audubon to his early work as he shot five Avocets. We must remind ourselves that in those days, before good photography and good binoculars, shooting birds was the only way to examine them in detail…. and we must also remember that there was a time when these birds were probably so plentiful, that thought was never given that they would ever become a rarity. Let us always consider the importance of conservation.)
September!!! What a great month to bird. My second favorite month? October!!! I look forward to next month…
Douglas “Birdman” Gray has been birding almost all of his life. He grew up on a family farm near Clarksville, Tennessee, where they grew crops ranging from apricots to wheat, and most things in between. They also raised chickens, guineas, pigs, horses, and a cow named…….Apples. Doug’s grandfather identified the birds they would see daily on the farm.
Doug now resides in Indianapolis and works in Parenteral Engineering with Eli Lilly and Company. Most of his current birding takes place in Indiana, with a concentration on Central Indiana, where he leads bird walks for “Backyard Birds”. Doug can be reached at 317-255-7333.
Black Cowboys Ride Into Town
The Black Cowboy Association began its Oakland parade tradition back in 1975, sponsored by various community organizations over the years as a showcase of civic pride that pays homage to the southern country roots of many area residents. The Black Cowboy parade is always held each year the first Saturday of each October.
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Beyond the parade, year round the association maintains educational programs in the outlying suburbs and in local schools, and regularly hosts family campouts at horse ranches. Many people I spoke with from the group strongly believe that by connecting kids with nature through ranching activities, they can save lives. One cowboy shared with me how street-tough youth at the end of traditional options become humbled by the experience of caretaking a horse, and are almost instantly transformed.
To find out what you can do to take part in Black Cowboy events, and to learn ways to support this innovative organization, contact them via email, or check out their website.
Cleaning and Playing Along the Coast
Near where I live is a nook of the San Francisco Bay called Albany Bulb. The area is well known to dog owners who are able to let dogs run free and splash in the low waves in a part of the shore facing west toward San Francisco and Marin County.
The Bulb is also a nice place to catch a sunset, see a variety of shore birds, view the Golden Gate Bridge, or spot some innovative installations of outdoor art along its sandy trail edges.
Last Saturday, my two youngest kids and I came out to the area for the Coastal Cleanup effort happening all over the country, and in many other Bay Area locations, to pick up trash and debris along the shore. Among several volunteers, schools and organizations, we came across pounds of cigarette butts, plastic bags, Styrofoam, bottles, cans, and many other non-native objects over the two hours we were there.
While a lot of the debris we saw appeared to be deposited at the beach, a significant amount likely traveled from our streets as tossed trash that finds its way into gutters and drains. And it was nice to teach my kids in a concrete way where trash carelessly discarded can end up, and the impact it has on our shores and the wildlife who live there.
Learn more about this event and results of the effort by clicking HERE
A Glorious Equinox Hike
This week has been so packed with activity for me and my family, I have hardly had a moment to sit down and capture its highlights to share with the Outdoor Afro community. But alas! -- A moment has opened to reflect in print on the equinox, which brought forth the gift of planets, stars, sun, and harvest moon under a canopy of sky still undecided about being day or night.
People ask all the time, “Do you do any events?” Well, the short answer is: no, but the most accurate answer is: sometimes.
While I personally get out quite a bit, Outdoor Afro likes to leave it to the experts of programming to get brown people outdoors, and positions itself as a kind of cheerleader, encourager, and connector to outdoor programs and experiences. But sometimes, as in about once per quarter, I do gather groups of locals together to participate in low-barrier activities that unite people in a practical way with the outdoors that makes the transformative power behind this effort immediate.
So last Thursday, in partnership with the East Bay Regional Parks, Outdoor Afros and park fans gathered to hike in the Oakland, California Hills, where we watched day’s end and night’s beginning on the first day of fall. What makes this fall equinox hike so special is that it came with a Harvest moon, or full moon, that won't be seen altogether again until 2029.
Our group of 15 people, ranging in age from pre-schoolers to senior citizens, met at the trail head at 6pm and led by parks naturalist Bethany Facendini on a moderate, well lit 3.5 mile hike where we were able to view sublime ridgeline vistas. Together we reached the summit just in time to spot the sun and moon on opposite sides, with steady lights of Jupiter and Venus in view. Adding to the rarity of the moment, were the gifts of the hikers, who each brought treats to eat, songs, and poems to share that enriched the experience for everyone.
Here is a poem written and shared aloud by Outdoor Afro Cliff Sorrel, who came with his birthday celebrating wife Tyann (pictured above):
The Libra
As the earth spins
The night and day
Arm wrestles to have the longest hour
The Libra blooms with grace and elegance
Like the opening of a flower
Zesty and feisty as the Libra appears
Controlling the balancing act of the scales
As it swings like a pendulum
The universe swells
But on this day.....this day
The Libra prevails
The scales are equally balanced
Throughout the beginning and end of this day
The autumn equinox is when the day and night
Are closely equal, to complete the equinoctial
Points sequel
To learn more about the Fall Equinox, check out this website.
Spotted on Sunday – The Mapp Family Goes Kayaking
On the eve of autumn, and grayer Bay Area skies, my kids and I decided to head out to Lake Merritt in Oakland, California to paddle around its famous Wildlife sanctuary.
In 1915 organized feedings of the wildlife began at Lake Merritt, and it is every Oaklander’s childhood memory to have gone to “feed the ducks” with bags of day old bread scraps. Today, you can purchase the sustainable option of birdseed in the ecology center to share with the variety of hungry birds along the shore, such as egrets, herons, Canada goose, and many other species of water fowl.
After getting our $20 deposit back, the total cost of our mid-day excursion was an affordable $24 for both kayaks for the hour. Compare this to the cost of a trip to the movies in exchange for priceless memories. My youngest said over and over while sitting behind me in the kayak, “this is so relaxing and fun Momma,” -- he could not have spoken a more perfect truth.
Want to rent a sailboat, kayak, or paddle boat at Lake Merrit? Click Here
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Where do you like to go kayaking? What is your childhood memory of interacting with wildlife?