Students, Alums Tour the American West

By Michael Chiafulio

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

From Glacier National Park to Yellowstone and the Snake River to the Grand Tetons, this summer’s national parks trip took members of the Xavier community on a sweeping tour of the American West. Fifteen students, two current parents, one young alumnus, my son Miles, and I attended the trip organized through Grand Classroom.

The trip was a follow-up to the successful Xavier trip to the Grand Canyon last June.

The group logged more than 40 miles of hiking, three miles of canoeing on the Seely River, and 16 miles of whitewater rafting on the Snake River—a great adventure from start to finish. To view the journey in pictures, visit Xavier's Flickr page.

Highlights included:

• Hikes in Glacier National Park, to Avalanche Lake and around Lake MacDonald
• Hikes in Yellowstone to Mammoth Falls, Norris Basin, Old Faithful, and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
• Visits to the Wolf and Grizzly Rehab Center, Spire Climbing Center, SNOgression in Salt Lake City, and a local rodeo in West Yellowstone
• Two days of rafting and camping on the Snake River
• A ferry ride across Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons
• Hikes to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point, and around Taggart Lake
• Visits to Bozemann, Montana, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming

In my 14 years of leading trips at Xavier, I’ve seen first-hand how travel changes lives. Trips to our national parks allow students an opportunity to see our great country first hand. My plan is to have a four-year rotation of National Parks trips. We visited the Grand Canyon last year and Yellowstone this year. Next year will take us to Alaska, with a visit to Denali National Park; in 2017, we will visit Yosemite in California. In 2018, we will start the grand tour all over again. My hope is to give students opportunities for enriching travel during all four years of their Xavier career—to see some of the best natural wonders the world has to offer.

If these trips have taught me anything, it’s that God’s handiwork is best experienced in the company of friends.

All trips are open to alumni and parents. My next trip is to Costa Rica during the February 2016 break, followed by Alaska next summer. For more information, please email me at chiafuliom@xavierhs.org.