Exploring Marine Ecosystems and Native Plants: Insights from Coral Reefs to Backyard Gardens
From the Grand Canyon, we made our way to Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary (CCIDSS). This campground is the first International Dark Sky Sanctuary located on National Forest System lands. We were excited to try taking some long exposure photos of the night sky and the best place in the world to star gaze is an International Dark Sky Sanctuary - a designated place with low light pollution and exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights.
We got up before the sun and made my out the the Bright Angel trailhead to watch the sun rise. I hiked 1.5 miles down the trail to the mile-and-a-half rest house and back. Those 3 miles I hiked at a botanical pace - which is to say, very slowly, taking plant pictures and canyon every few feet. Even with the short distance and slow pace, I have to say that that hike was harder for me than most of the hikes I done to date. I am really, really not acclimated to altitude.
"We're moving to Florida", I say. "Florida! ... but why?" Is what I keep hearing in response. I understand the confusion. It's hard to find a more distant and different place from the Pacific Northwest than Florida. But I know this is the right choice. There are a number of reasons for this move, but the simplest and most important one is this: there's coral in Florida and I want to study coral. I'm working on getting a Marine Science degree and this is part of that process.
One of my absolute favorite day hikes is the Hoh River trail. It never disappoints! The wildlife along the trail is beautiful and surprising every time.
Rialto beach is a very special place for me. When I can get out there, I like to catch the low tide and hike through Hole-in-the-Rock. We started the 1-mile hike about 2 hours before low tide. Because of the unusually low tides, we got to see many more of the tide pools than we normally would have! Even better, because we got out so early, we got to see the sunrise and have the beach to ourselves for almost the whole hike.
Erica Lauer Vose 