Peripatetic Photos: May 2008

Sunday, May 25, 2008

From Hopi Point

This is not a great shot, but it does show just how far down it is to the river from the rim.

We planned this trip with the intent to be on the rim near sunrise, but the weather made that a bust. We got there later in the morning as a result, and just relaxed our way along the south rim. Toward early afternoon there were a few hints of sunshine, but they petered out.

Instead of the clouds breaking up, we got more precipitation in the form of snow flurries, sleet and brief showers. Instead of the brilliant reds of a clear-weather Grand Canyon sunset, we got this misty, muted landscape. The canyon is always the same and always different, which is one reason that we keep going back (having relatives and friends come visit us being another).

Grand Canyon formations

I think this is Duck on a Rock, with Cape Final directly behind it, and Jupiter Temple being the pointy formation to the right rear. This is from the south rim looking north-northeast.

Closer look at the river

A zoomed look at the river and one of the rapids.

North from the tower

To the north, the Colorado and some of its rapids are visible from the Tower.

The Tower, by the by, was designed by Mary Colter, completed in 1933, was designed to mimic Native watchtowers in the Southwest.

Looking west from the tower

The Colorado is invisible in the canyon below because it enters the inner canyon here. The reason there is a Grand Canyon is the Kaibab Plateau popped up and the Colorado has cut down through it. See http://www.durangobill.com/Paleorivers_preface.html for a big (really big!) discussion of the geology.

There's a wide, flat valley to the east and north, through which the Little Colorado River has cut a 1,000' deep canyon to get down to the level of the Colorado.

The Colorado itself comes from Utah through Marble Canyon. The land around Marble Canyon is also flat, but to the north are the Vermillion Cliffs, creating a great red wall. On the other side of Marble Canyon are the Echo Cliffs. The end of Marble Canyon is the junction with the Little Colorado coming in from the east. So, the whole complex goes like this: The Colorado comes out of Glen Canyon into Marble Canyon, where it goes for maybe 40 miles or so across the flat plain until it reaches the Kaibab, meets the Little Colorado and starts into the Grand Canyon proper.

This bottom picture is looking east from the Tower. You can see the flat plain and in the middle distance the great crack in the earth where the Little Colorado runs.

Desert View Tower

At the east end of the Grand Canyon National Park, this tower provides a huge view of the canyon. The Colorado River comes south from Utah and makes a turn to the west here. Because of the bend, the view of the canyon is wider than elsewhere in the park.

Scientists argue about how the canyon formed. Some say that it's been only 6 million years, others say more like 17 or 20 million. Some think that the ancestral Colorado flowed up into Utah and then west to reach the ocean at Monterey Bay, which was then located close to where Los Angeles is now. If so, then the San Andreas Fault may have moved it north while also creating the route that the river now takes to the Gulf of Calfornia (or Sea of Cortez).

Along the way, the Fault may also have had a hand in creating one of the Creationist arguments about the age of the earth. The contention is that the Colorado doesn't have enough delta to have removed all the rock from the Grand Canyon and the rest of its drainage system. There are several answers to this, including the fact that much of the rock may not have reached the sea, being dropped before then to build up the area south of the Salton Sea and the fact that much of the rock removed was limestone and other rock that dissolves in water. Another piece, though, is that part of the delta itself has been moving northward along the Pacific tectonic plate, resulting in a "delta" that's much more elongated than is usual for a river system.

Snowy drive

Heading north to Flagstaff from Payson, we ran into a late spring snow storm as we crested the Mogollon Rim.

When driving in this, it's hard to believe that it was about 110 degrees in Phoenix just a few days ago.