Small Girl, Big Canyon

This past week, I had the opportunity to spend my spring break volunteering at the Grand Canyon National Park. Going in, I had little to no expectations; all I knew was that I was going to be helping visitors out and that I got to see the Grand Canyon in the process… boy, was I wrong. All the expectations I had, or rather lack thereof, were challenged from the moment we pulled into the driveway of the little house we were going to be staying at, to the moment we drove off back to Lubbock.

We specifically worked in interpretation, meaning we answered visitors’ questions. What we did was particularly important because not only has the park been understaffed for a while, but it was also peak visitor time during spring break. By making ourselves available to visitors, we helped alleviate the rangers in the visitor center as well as save visitors a 45-minute wait in line for a simple question that we were able to answer.

I only knew one person going into this trip (my boyfriend, Daniel), and all I could think about was how awkward it was going to be for 12 strangers to stay in the same little house for a whole week. Ranger Todd and Ranger Rachele stopped by our house for a little orientation and some activities and I felt both nervous and excited for the week to begin.

Day 1

On our first day, we got an educational session with Tessa, one of the wildlife specialists at the Grand Canyon. Her job is to study the wildlife found in the park and she showed us the different kind of animals that they’re studying, as well as some projects they are working on. We learned so much that day, like the effect of the installation of the dams on the Colorado river that disrupted migration patterns of wildlife by the river, thus creating two subspecies of the same animal; one on each side of the river. An interesting project the park is working on is the reintroduction of the California condors back into the Grand Canyon. We learned that the condors have become endangered, mostly due to lead poisoning as a result of eating carcasses left out that had been killed by lead bullets, as well as coins and other microtrash that are accidentally fed to the condors. The park begun efforts to reintroduce them into the wild through captive breeding, which I thought was really cool.

After the educational session, we finally got to go to the park. We were distributed volunteer jackets, volunteer vests, and even brimmed hats, which made us look really official and really cool. Rachele gave us a little tour around the visitor center, and when we got closer to the rim of the canyon but not quite in sight, Rachele had us close our eyes and form a conga line as she led us to the rim. When we opened our eyes, the only word I could think of while I gazed upon the canyon was ‘breathtaking’ - it was all I imagined and more.

It was time to go to work. We separated into our pairs and to our stations and waited for visitors to ask us questions. Even though we spent the night before going through the map extensively and going over all the frequently asked questions in our Q&A with Rachele, my partner and I still managed to choke on our first question, which was the most simple, “where’s the bathroom?” We were probably just nervous, because as time went by and the more visitors asked us questions, I thought to myself, “oh, I know this!” which was pretty exciting.

That night, our reflection session turned out longer than I thought it would be and everyone was just beat by the time we were done. Instead of heading to bed, I sat on the couch to hang out with Daniel for a little bit before bed. At this point, I had only hung out with Daniel out of the whole group because we were partnered together for the day, so it was still pretty awkward between everyone else, but that night was the night that it all turned around. We were joined in the living area by three other people; Scott, Tori, and Aaron. It may have been the fact that we were so exhausted, but what started out as small talk turned into one of the biggest laughing fits I have ever been a part of. Every single joke told was hilarious, and each joke told was funnier than the last. It made it even better that we were supposed to be quiet as it was after hours and everyone else had gone to bed. I think that second night was when I finally felt comfortable with people I’ve only met a handful of times.

Day 2

The next day, the weather was unfortunately not as good as it was the past few days. Fog and clouds covered the canyon the majority of the day, and visitors were visibly upset that they traveled a long way to see fog. They were taking their frustrations out on us but we tried to get them to see the silver lining (pun intended), that the clouds and fog make the Grand Canyon look different by highlighting different colors, and although the canyon looked different, different does not mean bad or worse. By the time we had finished the work day, it was snowing hard, which continued into the next day.

Day 3

Wednesday was our free day. Unfortunately, our plans of hiking into the canyon were canceled because of the snow, but we still managed to do everything else we planned. I enjoyed this day because for the past couple of days, we have been recommending places for visitors to see (as per Rachele’s suggestions), but we actually have never seen or experienced them. That day we got to go to the Village (and get service for the first time in three days!) and walked around the Rim for a while, as well as go into the historic places such as the Kolb Studio and the Hopi House. We also got to see the Geology Museum as well as the Desert View Watchtower.

This day was honestly a game changer because we got to see the Grand Canyon as a visitor rather than a volunteer, and after experiencing some of the places first-hand, we would have better information for visitors when they ask us for recommendations. I have been telling visitors that the Desert View Watchtower was worth the 22-mile drive and that there are pull-offs along the way to see a different angle of the canyon, but that day I actually experienced the 22-mile drive and the pull-offs and that it was, in fact, worth it.

Day 4

On Thursday morning, we went to the Museum Collection for a little tour. Once again, it exceeded my expectations. It blows my mind that less than 1% of the artifacts found in the canyon are ever going to go on exhibit. I felt so humbled to be one of few people that get to go on tours like these that show pieces that would probably never see the light of day. It was so interesting to see pieces that showed how early humans lived and how far we have come.

That day, the sun started to shine again so we projected that we were going to get more traffic- and we did. We had to deal with visitors getting too close to elk. A female elk and her young got close to a high-traffic place and since it is illegal to be less than 100 feet from them, we had to tell a lot of the visitors, a lot of whom do not speak English, to get further from them. A lot of them shot us dirty looks but we were only 1) trying to make sure they don’t get charged by a protective mother elk, and 2) trying to get them to understand that what they were doing is illegal.

After work, we gathered with the two other universities (the University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Virginia) and shared what we have been doing thus far in our service through a skit. After our presentations, all the volunteers were sworn in as Junior Park Rangers by Todd! The rangers then led all three groups to Mohave Point, one of the best places to watch the sunset. Again, I have been suggesting to visitors that Mohave Point was a great place to watch the sunset, but experiencing it was on a whole new level.

Day 5 / Post-trip

This is our last day volunteering. Afterwards, we gave back our volunteer jackets, vests, and brimmed hats, which was sad. A few of us bought national parks passports and we made plans to visit other national parks together, which I am pretty excited about!

I found out about this trip by accident; I was scrolling through TechAnnounce while I was bored and I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found out about this trip - I wouldn’t have the opportunity to visit and learn about the Grand Canyon, and I wouldn’t have met this amazing group of 12 people. A few others agree that Raider Service Breaks should get more attention that it does and we’re planning on changing that!

A few of us met up the day after we got back from Lubbock for lunch and it was kind of weird seeing them in a different context but I cannot wait to see these friendships grow even more. We are planning on forming a RSB student organization to further increase the number of people dedicating their time to service, both local and national. If there’s one thing I learned on this trip, it’s that even a little bit of help goes a long way; and what better way to do it than also making it fun?

-Kat Silang