Destinations

⇐ back to trips

Colorado River Canoeing: CO School of Mines Astronomy

Aug 3 - 5, 2013

Reserve Now

Trip Fees

Adult

$370

Kids

Discount*

Student

$469

Deposit**

$100

** Deposits must be made per person.

See QUICK LINKS on the right sidebar for aditional information such as Itinerary, What to Bring, Map, What Makes it Fun, etc.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Astronomy Education

Astronomy lectures and exercises will be conducted throughout the weekend as appropriate by your facilitator, Dr. Sanlyn Buxner. Sanlyn has her PhD in Space Science Education and teaches at the University of AZ.

Centennial teams up with the Colorado School of Mines (303-273-3303) to offer an astronomy class for teachers (K-12) and for general interest to the public. The wilderness night sky is a phenomenal environment for learning more about our solar system, sunspots, constellations, deep sky objects, and astronomy activities for the classroom. This combined 1-day class session and 3-day canoe trip earns 2 continuing ed creditsfor K-12 teachers.

The pretrip class for students (and nonstudents auditing the class and paying an additional $30 fee) will be at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, the Thursday prior to the canoe trip from 1 pm - 8:30 pm. Former participants in level I of this class can qualify for Level II credit by completing a special project to be determined by the instructor and conducted concurrently with the basic class offering. Level II participants will attend the lecture on the Thursday prior to the canoe trip at the University of Colorado from 4 pm to 9:30 pm and will participate in a special 2-hour project in the field. Detailed class information will be mailed to all participants.

Non teachers may go on just the canoe trip at regular canoe trip prices ($370). Or, non teachers may also opt to audit the pretrip astronomy class session for an additional $30. The focus of the one-day class will target K-12 educators and academic concerns.

What better opportunity to have fun on the river and learn while you’re at it!

The Colorado River

This spectacular canyon country of the Colorado Plateau, including Ruby and Horsethief Canyons, features majestic walls of red sandstone and offers some of the best canoeing in Colorado. The river is gentle with occasional small Class I+ rapids to add spice to the journey (Class I is easy and Class V is difficult). Roads do not bound this portion of the river and the steep-walled canyons are accessible only from the river, giving the area a true wilderness setting.

You’ll be amazed at stands of shiny granite sculpted by water through the ages while paddling or floating in your life jacket past the remnants of ancient metamorphic rock, called Black Rock. Camping along the river’s banks and exploring a deep box canyon will leave you awed by the immensity of geologic time and the silence of the wilderness. This is BIG COUNTRY and a geologist’s paradise. Many of our educational classes focus on this area. This stretch of river near Grand Junction, CO, is ideal for canoeing.

Special Information

Our instructor, Dr. Sanlyn Buxner, has been teaching this course with Centennial Canoe since 2002 and consistently gets rave reviews. Some of her background highlights are:

Teaches at the University of Arizona and does research in astronomy education
Education Specialist at the Planetary Science Institute
Former Education and Public Outreach manager for the Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer and Education Specialist for NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander
Has worked in astronomy education since 1998, including K-12 classroom, college classrooms, museums, university outreach, and teacher professional development