OK so every class needs a midterm, right? And we offer our midterms "on site",meaning that one day on the trip is midterm day (and the day after we get back is the final!) This year, the final was on Thursday morning from 0830 to 1000. I guess it went OK - I haven't heard any negative feedback yet!
And after a midterm? A break in the form of a short trip to see the Grand Canyon. This year we went in three groups: (A) shopping group - headed for the gift shop, and a drive along the rim stopping every 100 yards; (B) the manic hike group - some kind of serious hike down and up; (C) the mini-hike group - a mild version of manic.
The big story of the day was the weather (duh! That's why we're here!) As we drove NW towards Valle, storms were forming and raining NW of FLG, so we drove through heavy rain, and saw beautiful rain shafts & threatening clouds. As true weather weenies we had to keep stopping to take photos, so it took forever to get to the park.
Our team ("shopping") lunched in Tusayan outside the park, so we didn't roll in till 2:30, at which time a BIG cell was dumping over the entrance area. Lots of lightning, but we still didn't get any good lightning photos. After gift shopping, and driving east along the rim, we joined many others who had pulled over to see - hail covering the ground, like fresh snow! After a lengthy investigation, we decided to call it as "dime-sized" hail. And even when we left the park an hour later, we still found hail on the ground! We also measured an air temperature of just 64oF!! One other thing we saw was a BIG elk on the road!
Both the hike teams were impacted by the weather. One had to shelter under an awning for 30 minutes to stay out of the pouring rain and hail. Some of these groups ventured out, and got as soaked as if they had jumped into the pool! So there were some cold kids back in the hotel tonight!
So all in all, given that we had expected NO weather, we were all delighted to see these storms, which later moved to the southwest (?) over Kingman. Viewing conditions weren't perfect due to cloud cover, but the canyon will be there for the rest of our lifetimes!
Sun dogs!
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