Today I arrived at the Gila Cliff Dwellings visitor center! I got to meet my supervisor who I'll be working with for the next 7 weeks. It was a long drive, so I decided to rest instead of explore the area. Tomorrow I'll have a meeting with my supervisor so I can learn what my duties (jobs) will be. I'm living in an apartment by myself near the visitor center.

Today I had the day off, so I ran errands (important trips) in the closest major town, Silver City. Driving from the Gila Cliff Dwellings to Silver City takes almost 2 hours and it's on a very windy road along mountains!

I decided to visit the local public library to get a library card (in case you didn't know, I collect library cards). Then I went to a grocery store to buy groceries that I hope will last me a few weeks. Since it takes about 4 hours to do all the driving between the cliff dwellings and Silver City, I hope I don't need to make lots of trips. One of the interesting things I noticed in town is that some of the traffic lights are sideways.

Tomorrow I start training to help the Gila Cliff Dwellings staff!

Today I shadowed (watched) the staff at the trailhead to the Gila Cliff Dwellings. In order to get to the cliff dwellings, you need to make a half-mile hike from the trailhead, which is also the closest parking. Before any visitors go on the trail, the staff give them a short orientation (starting explanation) about the rules. The most important things are to stay on the trail, don't touch the walls of the dwellings (they're over 700 years old), and don't bring any food or sweet drinks (there's a rat problem).

While at the trailhead, I got to see a herd (group) of javelina (pronounced ha-veh-lee-nuh), which is an animal that looks like a pig but is NOT a pig. Its name comes from the Spanish word for javelin or spear, since its tusks (long pointed teeth) look like javelins.

Today I shadowed the staff at the visitor's center. Most national parks have visitor's centers where you can learn more about the place you're visiting, as well as get a stamp to show you visited. I enjoy going to visitor's centers whenever I travel to better understand the location.

The visitor's center here has a small museum where you can learn about the Mogollon people and other indigenous groups. You can see real artifacts collected by archeologists and watch a movie about the cliff dwellings.

It was a fairly slow day. It might be because part of the main road to get here was closed, so people would have needed to take a detour (another path). I could also smell smoke in the air, which is from the nearby Black Fire that has been burning about 10 miles away since May.

Today I shadowed the staff at the bookstore. The bookstore is where you can not only buy books, but also lots of souvenirs. They have stuffed animals, hats, postcards, maps, t-shirts, and so much more! The book store is run by a non-profit group and the money that's raised supports the national parks.

There were a couple of thunderstorms that brought loud noise and heavy rain, but I didn't see any lightning.

Today I shadowed the staff at the cliff dwellings. I brought some old photographs from the 1950s when work was done to stabilize (keep steady) the architecture (buildings) in and around the cliff dwellings. It was interesting to see what it looked like before and after. We had a good amount of visitors today!

I have the next 3 days off, so I need to figure out what I'm going to do. I'm thinking about doing more research about the area by reading books and watching videos, and maybe doing a couple of hikes (the area around is popular for hiking in the wilderness).

Today I hiked in the areas around the cliff dwellings!

The first place I visited was the West Fork Trail. It's called "West Fork" because it follows what's known as the West Fork of the Gila River. A "fork" in this case is where something splits (separates) in two (you might have heard about a "fork in the road" where a street splits). I had to cross the Gila River (luckily there were log bridges) and enter the Gila Wilderness (a wilderness is a place where people haven't built anything). I was also on an alternate (other) route for the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), a trail that goes from Mexico to Canada.

The second place I visited was the Trail to the Past. It's what we recommend to people who might have a hard time going up the multiple stairs to the cliff dwellings. The trail is very short (only 1/4 mile) and you can see pictographs (wall paintings) and a two room cave dwelling.

The third and final place I visited was the Middle Fork Trail. As you probably guessed, this connects to the West Fork of the Gila River. This trail also crossed the Gila River, but the river had no bridges, so I got my feet wet! I could tell I was in a canyon because on both sides of me were tall cliffs.

Today I hiked to a place called Little Bear Canyon! (I'm not sure why it's called Little Bear Canyon.)

Since there was a chance of rain and storms in the afternoon, I headed out early in the morning. Along the trail I heard the high-pitched and loud sounds of cicadas ("seh-cay-duh"). They are these large flying insects that are about 2 inches long. When I saw dark clouds in the sky, I headed back to my car.

I drove to a store called Doc Campbell's Post. It's run by descendants (relatives) of "Doc" Campbell, who worked for the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the 1950s. I heard they have homemade ice cream, so I bought some. As I was at the store, it started to rain heavily. Thankfully I wasn't hiking!

Today was my first day working at the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument!

Last night there was a storm and I woke up this morning with the power out. Thankfully the power was restored (put back) by the afternoon.

My typical schedule looks like this: I have an online class I need to work on, so I work on that in the morning. Then I'm assigned at one of the locations I shadowed (see Days 4-7) for the rest of the day.

Today I helped at the trailhead to give visitors an orientation before they went to the cliff dwellings. The only pictures I took were of interesting fauna ("faw-nuh"; animals) I saw.

Tomorrow I work on figuring out an educational project for the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument!

Today I began to plan my educational project, which is the main duty (job) I have here. Over the next few weeks, I'll be working on creating the project so the park can use it in the future! Since the park goes over the history of the area well, and because I'm a science teacher, I'm planning on going over the science of the caves that the dwellings are in, specifically how they formed.

To learn as much as I could, I traveled to the cliff dwellings and took lots of pictures of the rocks and formations I saw. Then I went to the bookstore to see if there was anything on the geology (study of rocks) of the area. Next, I looked through old educational information at the main office to see what's been done before. Finally, I spent a good amount of the day doing online research.

In other news, I finally got my official Teacher Ranger Teacher uniform! It takes a while for mail to get here.

Today I met with my supervisor to go over my educational project. I plan on making a virtual 4th grade presentation that explains the cliff dwellings and does a hands-on STEM (science technology engineering math) activity that explains how the caves were formed. I'll also be introducing the Every Kid Outdoors program (which allows ALL 4th graders free access to national parks) and our Junior Ranger program (most national parks have them to earn a Junior Ranger badge).

Later on I was stationed (placed) at the trailhead and the cliff dwellings. It started to thunder and rain in the afternoon, and while I was at the cliff dwellings, I saw a bright light (from lightning) and a loud boom (from thunder). When that happens, we shelter (hide) inside the cliff dwellings so we don't get struck by lightning.

Today I had off: every week I work Wednesday to Saturday, and I have Sunday to Tuesday off.

I did short hikes around the area. I didn't go too far because it was a cloudy day and there was a chance of rain and a thunderstorm. Almost every day is cloudy and it almost always rains (with some thunder) in the afternoon.

One of the interesting things I saw on my hikes were pumpkins. They are NOT the Halloween ones; instead, they are large containers that hold water and are orange (they look like large inflatable pools). They are used by firefighting helicopters to quickly get water and were set up to help with the nearby wildfire (that's almost out).

Today I decided to buy souvenirs from the bookstore. Since the 4th of July weekend is coming up, I wanted to make sure to buy things before they went out of stock. I bought postcards, different types of jerky (dried meat), a shirt, and a javelina stuffed animal. In the afternoon, it rained really hard and I could hear loud thunder.

I haven't taken many new pictures, but what I usually do is take pictures of interesting bugs and animals I see. I don't usually see these types of animals in California.

Today I worked at the trailhead and cliff dwellings. We had some large groups that visited, including a family reunion group of about 20 people who come annually (every year). I realized I hadn't taken pictures of myself at the cliff dwellings with my uniform, so I took a couple shots!

You might notice I have a "Junior Ranger" badge. Most national parks and monuments have Junior Ranger programs for young students (and Senior Ranger for adults!) that help you learn about the place and you can earn badges. I encourage anyone to try the fun and free program!

Today was a warm day, so I wasn't surprised to see so many lizards out. Some were at the trailhead and some were on the trial to the cliff dwellings.

Happy Independence Day! I forgot to post on July 3, but since I didn't do anything, I figured I could combine it with July 4. The only significant events that happened July 3 were lots of heavy rain and thunderstorms. I used a technique where you count how many seconds between seeing a flash of lightning and hearing the sound of thunder, divide the seconds by 5, and it will give you how far the lightning was in miles. I think at one point there was a lightning strike about 2 miles away. Luckily I was inside my apartment the entire time.

Today I had the day off, and since I heard yesterday there were a lot of visitors, I decided to go hiking early before the crowds came. I took a trial called the Stock Bypass Loop (stock are things like cows, and bypass means to go around), which was supposed to loop me around (There are metal devices in the road called cattleguards which make it hard for cattle [cows] to cross the road). The problem was because of all the rain, the rivers have high and strong waters, and the logs that I could use to get across were moved so they weren't lost to the strong waters.

It's illegal to set off fireworks here, so hopefully there won't be anyone who decides to do that.

Today I had the day off, and I decided to go to Silver City to buy supplies for my educational project. I plan on doing an activity where students can see how the caves formed using Play-Doh, sugar cubes, and water. In addition to buying the supplies, I also visited other places.

I first went to the Silver City Museum and learned a little more about the town. One thing I learned was there was a Chinese population here because of the railroads being built (it was common for Chinese people to help build railroads).

I then ate lunch and then found a place that sells boba drinks! In California it's very easy to find boba, but I was surprised to find a place in New Mexico! My favorite flavor is taro.

Today I tested out my hands-on activity with Play-Doh, a sugar cube, and water. Tomorrow I'll add pictures. I'm glad I had enough supplies to do the activity, so now I don't have to go back to buy more things.

In the afternoon, I was at the trailhead and then at the cliff dwellings. While at the trailhead, if there's not a lot of people, one of the things that can be done is folding paper guides. The guides are an interpretive (guesses based on what has been found) tour of the cliff dwellings.

Today I was at the trailhead and the cliff dwellings. I decided to take pictures of random things.

Tomorrow I'll be meeting with my supervisor so I can go over the presentation I created. Hopefully I'll be able to do the presentation with other staff later on.

Today I met with my supervisor to present my lesson. Hopefully in the next week I'll present the lesson to the staff so they can see what I created.

In the afternoon, I was in the visitor's center. There was a steady amount of people at first, but then there was a storm that rolled in and brought rain, thunder, and lightning. I was able to see some of the lightning from the building. We have storm detectors that help us figure out how far the storm is.

One of the highlights was an adult did the Junior Ranger book and received a Senior Ranger patch!

Today I had the day off. When I have days off, and I don't plan on driving anywhere, I try to get at least 10,000 steps. Walking from my apartment to the cliff dwellings is about 2.5 miles, and 10,000 steps is about 5 miles, so I can get my steps in! I usually do this in the morning since the path is all paved roads with no sidewalk, so I don't have to be there when there are lots of cars.

After coming back to the apartment, a storm rolled in, and this one was big. There was lots of heavy rain, and when I saw lightning, I heard thunder only a few seconds later (if you want to figure out how far lightning is, count how many seconds there are between the lightning flash and sound of thunder, divide the number by 5, and that's about how many miles away the lightning is).

When I do my walks, I usually don't take pictures unless there's something really interesting. Since I didn't take pictures today, I'll post some videos that I haven't posted yet.

Today I was at the trailhead and cliff dwellings. While I was at the trailhead, we found a bug that we hadn't seen before: a ten-lined June beetle. You can probably see why it's called "ten-lined."

At the cliff dwellings, I decided to look for more plugs in the wood (see Day 33). I was able to find a few more.