Red Ravens join Team Adventures LLC to hike Grand Canyon 

Grand Canyon Photo Album

Coffeyville Community College (CCC) Biologists, Don Barker and Alysia Johnston, set off on Sunday, May 11, with their ninth group of college Grand Canyon adventure seekers.  The six students, two advisors and Barker and Johnston joined Jack Kerns’ Team Adventures LLC and four additional hikers.  The three credit hour class is called Field Biology and takes students each spring to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back out. 

The Grand Canyon is a prime location for a biology course as students travel through five ecosystems.  Each year is different depending upon the permit and for Johnston and Barker, this latest trip was one of the most challenging. 

The group arrived at the Grand Canyon in mid-afternoon on May 12.  After viewing the Canyon from the top, they set up tents.  The forecast for rain quickly turned into much more as temperatures dropped to the low 30s.  The group spent the night shaking snow off the tents to keep them from collapsing. 

By the time the 40-50 pound backpacks were hoisted up and the hikers headed to the South Kaibab trailhead, there was seven inches of snow on the ground and it was still falling.  The 11 hikers who braved the elevation changes dropped dramatically into the Canyon and it didn’t take long for the weather and ecosystems to start changing.  Within an hour, the hikers were out of the snow and enjoying some spectacular views. 

The Kaibab wound its way into the Canyon for nearly five miles before intersecting with the Tonto Trail.  After temporarily dropping their packs, the group headed down the trail to dip their toes in the Colorado River and check out the famous Phantom Ranch. 

Once back on the Tonto Trail, the group hiked to their first campsite in the wide open spaces of Cremation.  The next morning, part of the group headed back to the Ranch before hiking out, partially at night, on the Bright Angel Trail.  The remaining hikers including CCC employees Johnston, Barker, Brad Weber, Jill Koslosky and three CCC students, Michael Steen of Coffeyville, Kan.; Mark Kirchner of Coffeyville, Kan. and Jeremiah Black of Kansas, Okla. set off on the primitive Tonto Trail to a campsite at Grapevine. 

The third day of hiking took the group on a 14 mile adventure across some of the most stunning landscapes in the middle of the Canyon.  Steep cliffs gave way to meadows of blooming cacti.  The nearly 12 hour day ended at the final campsite near Cottonwood Creek.  The group enjoyed star gazing and a half to nearly full moon each night.  The final day started early for the hikers with a brutal climb out of Cottonwood to the Horseshoe Mesa. 

The fastest movers made it out of the Canyon in just over four hours with the entire group arriving on top by 1:30 in the afternoon.  Following a much needed shower and some real food (the trail mix and energy bars of the week were resigned to packaging until the next trip), the group met up with the other adventurers for a little souvenir shopping before heading back to Kansas. 

When the group was not hiking or sleeping they were filtering water and playing Pitch.  Students who didn’t travel into the Canyon enjoyed day trips on the rim.  The Canyon is about one mile deep with average May temperatures on the floor in the 90s and in the high 60s on top during the day. 

They say that for every step down into the Grand Canyon, one goes back one million years in history.  To complete the course students turned in a photographic journal with daily logs which detailed what they saw and did in the Grand Canyon.  The Field Biology course is offered at the end of May each year. 

The four members of Team Adventures LLC who joined the college hikers used the Canyon as a training tool to evaluate food and hiking times for trails.  Team Adventures LLC takes charted groups on hikes in the Canyon as well as working with corporate groups through team building and group dynamics using the ROPES course. 

All of the hikers on this trip were either paramedics or EMTs and wilderness first aid responders.  The hikers are all master facilitators and work for the Helmzar Challenge Course in Tulsa, Okla. or with Jack Kerns at Team Adventures LLC.  For more information about Team Adventures LLC call 620-251-9684 or visit the website at www.teamadventuresllc.com.

Coffeyville Community College (CCC) students who completed the entire 30 mile hike down, across and out of the Grand Canyon include (l-r) Jeremiah Black of Kansas, Okla.; Michael Steen of Coffeyville, Kan. and Mark Kirchner of Coffeyville, Kan.

The entire Grand Canyon adventure team at the top on day one includes (back l-r) Kyle Smith, Master Facilitator at Helmzar Challenge Course in Tulsa, Okla.; Curtis McWhirt of Coffeyville, Kan.; Jeff Vandollah, Crime Scene Investigator with the Tulsa Fire Department; Alysia Johnston, CCC Vice President for Learning; CCC student Jeremiah Black of Kansas, Okla.; Brad Weber, CCC Director of Distance Learning; CCC student Mark Kirchner of Coffeyville, Kan.; CCC student Alicia Kimrey of Welch, Okla.; CCC student Michael Steen of Coffeyville, Kan.; Jack Kerns of Team Adventures LLC; and Don Barker, CCC faculty member. (front l-r) Jill Koslosky, CCC Dean of Enrollment Management/Marketing; Chuck French, Captain of the Tulsa Fire Department; CCC student Elaine Thorn of Caney, Kan.; and Dan Call, Captain of the Sand Springs Fire Department.

The Grand Canyon hike began in seven inches of snow at the top of the South Kaibab trail.  Standing at the trailhead are (l-r) Jeremiah Black of Kansas, Okla.; Mark Kirchner of Coffeyville, Kan.; Jill Koslosky, Dean of Enrollment Management/Marketing; Alicia Kimrey of Welch, Okla.; Michael Steen of Coffeyville, Kan.; Alysia Johnston, CCC Vice President for Learning and Brad Weber, CCC Director of Distance Learning.

CCC faculty member, Don Barker (left) stands with students, Mark Kirchner and Michael Steen, both of Coffeyville, at an outcrop along the Grand Canyon’s Tonto Trail.  Barker celebrated his 55^th birthday while hiking the Canyon.

Team Adventures LLC hikers take a break along the Tonto Trail for a game of Pitch (l-r) Dan Call, Jeff Vandollah, Kyle Smith and Chuck French.