So I would like to start off by explaining that this National Park has two Junior Ranger Programs, North and South Rim. Our adventures will only take us to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon this trip. The Grand Canyon Junior Ranger Booklets are not available online you must pick them up at a ranger station once you arrive inside the park. Another piece of information is that the South Rim does not provide or have any books for the North Rim Junior Ranger Program, but they do have North Rim badges. So while you are able to end your North Rim Junior Ranger adventure at the South Rim, you cannot start your adventure here. We started our visit at The Grand Canyon Visitors Center picked up our book and then proceeded straight to the theater to watch the park film. During your visit you have to either attend a park ranger program or watch the park film, Grand Canyon: A Journey of Wonder. We actually did both. The film was a great introduction and also gave Jaxon a quick history lesson about the park before embarking on our adventure
To begin our journey lets discuss how the program is broken up by ages. The Grand Canyon Junior Ranger Program is broken into three age groups, you can find listed below, which is also located on the inside of Junior Ranger Activity Book. We will be walking you through what we did to complete the Raven level designed for ages 4-7 years old. This is one of the few National Parks that offers a patch for each age group. This makes it wonderful because I can now return to the Grand Canyon two more times with Jaxon and he will earn a completely new patch still filled with as much excitement as the first.
As we made our way down the road towards the center of the village Jaxon was able to keep himself busy playing Canyon Bingo. There is such an abundance of wildlife featured in the park that we completed almost the entire page prior to our arrival during our five minute drive.
There are so many magical views of the canyon I do not feel that I could ever choose a favorite. No matter what angle I have ever seen it from it's awe inspiring beauty never ceases to amaze me. To complete this page we choose the Lookout studios for a couple reasons. Mostly location, it was literally directly in front of our cabin at Bright Angel. It also had a nice walk down a couple of staircases leading you below the canyon rim giving Jaxon an alternative view. This excited Jaxon as through out our entire visit to the Grand Canyon he envied all of the visitors who were brave enough to climb over the fence at the south rim trail and perch themselves on rocks for the perfect backdrop to any vacation photo. Of course, having a mother who is terrified of heights this was never going to happen. So by descending down the stairs of Lookout studios and allowing him to perch himself on a safe ledge provided by the studio it satisfied his craving of adventure for the day. Lastly, it was fully equipped with a telescope which Jaxon found extremely fascinating to have the ability to examine each layer of earth down the canyon walls.
Daily between the hours of 11:00 - 3:00 pm located in front of the El Tovar backporch, right on the south rim trail with the most amazing backdrop was a Junior Ranger table. Set up with brochures, Junior Ranger Booklets and an entire table full of items to explore with a different theme daily. Jaxon loved exploring the table with the many hands on items they had available for the children. The volunteers and rangers that were at the table handled the children exceptionally well answering every questions, patiently listening to their current adventures through the park, all while encouraging them to explore the items on the table the entire time.
After we completed our fossil walk we stayed in the area, located right next to the trail view overlook to the right of Hermit Road, to explore and find the perfect rock to study and complete page six of our Junior Ranger book. It was one of the few areas that had loose rocks we could explore and examine.
During our early arrival for our Nature Walk with Ranger Ronnie we explored the Grand Canyon Head Office and found the most amazing blocks that went perfectly with the Stratigraphic Column. The blocks were an exact replica and made completing this page so easy and enjoyable. Later after our visit I found the Grand Canyon Nesting Blocks to purchase so that we could continue our education after we returned home.
We have taken approximately a dozen junior ranger oaths since our recent endeavor into our National Park adventures. By far may I say this was the most beautiful backdrop for any Junior Ranger ceremony. The access that gives the rangers the ability to perform such a special ceremony for each junior ranger is amazing. The crowds near by cheer on the children giving them such a feeling of pride and accomplishment for all of their hard work in completing their ranger books through out the park. I personally have not come across any other National Park yet that is able to hold such a powerful display of achievement for the children by not only the park rangers encouragementthemselves but also the by-standers observing the ceremony taking place.
