Raven Travels: GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER

This past week we celebrated HERITAGE DAYS here on the North Rim, Grand Canyon. This is a time when representatives of many of the Native American Tribes in the area come and share their culture and crafts with visitors here at the North Rim. One of my jobs here is to photograph the special events for the Park and make CDs of those events. I also make up CDs for the individual participants of their events here at the North Rim. Heritage Days runs Thursday and Friday, which meant that I was busy on a day off to do the photography. I always enjoy meeting the participants, but it does make for two long days.

We had representatives from the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, Apache, and Havasupai Tribes. They showcase some of their crafts, uses of native plants, and tell stories about their cultures. Probably the highlights of the event are the dance performances. This year we had the Cedar Creek Apache Crown Dancers as well as Derrick Suwaima Davis who is the World Champion Hoop Dancer for 2013. This is his sixth such title. I will not include photos of him dancing as he has requested, but here is a link to his winning dance at the contest at the Heard Museum in Phoenix this past February.

http://www.hooping.org/2013/02/derrick-suwaima-davis-wins-2013-world- champion-hoop-dancer-title/

He is a delight to watch and some years he has brought along his young son who follows along as Derrick dances. The first time he was here the young Davis was probably 3 years old and almost stole the show from Dad.

The next event here was on Saturday evening when the Symphony of the Canyons came to perform on the East Patio of the Lodge. The symphony members come from a large area of Southern Utah. They are based out of Kanab with members traveling from Page, AZ (80 Miles) to the East, and as far North as Panguitch, UT, about 75 miles to the North for rehearsals and performances. One of the members is the primary trumpeter for the Dallas Brass, located in Dallas, TX.

Amid all of this culture there were also serious hiking issues on the North Kaibab Trail. On Friday afternoon, George was involved with a hiker who suffered cardiac arrest on the trail. George was the first responder and performed to the best of his abilities with help arriving on scene about 7 minutes later. With the assistance

of EMTs, Paramedics, and Flight Nurses, all avenues were used to try and revive the hiker, but it was to no avail. Regrettably the hiker passed on.

We have been busy also with having two sets of visitors to the North Rim. The first to visit were our neighbors, Kelly and Cathy Zombro. We enjoyed sharing the area with them, and visiting Best Friends Animal Shelter in the Kanab area.

This past “weekend” we had our friends, Luann and Terry Bense, here from Flagstaff. The Benses were the ones we stayed with during my eight weeks of travel to Flagstaff last year for weekly physical therapy on my shoulder. It was great to get them up here at last and share the sights, some hiking, and a wonderful afternoon visiting “The Basin” which was abloom with many wildflowers due to the moisture we have received from the monsoon rains.

We have just started our work week and know it will be busy as usual. We enjoy the programs, and sharing this beautiful area with the many visitors from all over the world. The monsoon cycle is coming back so we may get some rain and thunderstorms in the next few days. I will hopefully get another chance to capture some lightning with my camera. It is always beautiful here even if we do not get the rain as we watch the building of the storm clouds, and the passage of the storms.

Native American Heritage Days