Sunday, August 15, 1982 (continued)
We retraced our route back to US 89 and headed south to
Arizona, having to switch to US 89A. After Kathy took over driving, she spotted
a road runner and screeched to a halt!
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| Geococcyx californianus/Greater Roadrunner (KC) |
Got our photos, and continued on. Near
Jacob Lake, we began seeing these giant moths, mostly performing kamikaze
against the windshield. We turned south on Arizona SR 67 towards the North Rim
of the Grand Canyon, seeing a couple
Odocoileus
hemionus/Mule Deer.
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| Odocoileus hemionus/Mule Deer |
At the
Grand Canyon National Park, we paid $2 and drove to the end of the road to park.
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| Grand Canyon National Park ticket |
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| Grand Canyon National Park ticket |
We walked past the lodge and cabins and found ourselves practically on the edge, looking down into a deep and wide canyon with layers of subtle colors. We continued to Bright Angel Point, out on a peninsula of rock with cliffs dropping straight down on both sides of the path!
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| Grand Canyon from North Rim |
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| Colorado River erosion path |
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| Looking down |
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| Grand Canyon from North Rim |
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| Grand Canyon from North Rim |
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| Looking down |
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| Grand Canyon from North Rim |
We spotted several lizards with a variety of color patterns, and then a tiny snake with a black head. It was only about a foot long, the
Tantilla hobartsmithi/Southwestern Black-headed Snake.
Out
at the point, we appeared to be on the higher side of the Grand Canyon, and the
view was certainly awesome. Off in the distance we could see a tiny airplane
flying through the canyon, and off to one side we could see dark clouds
approaching with pouring rain. We followed a path to the front of the lodge for
more fantastic views. Browsed the gift shop and bought much needed film
mailers. We headed out of the North Rim area on AZ 67, then took a tiny road to
the right to Point Imperial, seeing more deer along the way.
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| Mule Deer |
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| Mule Deer |
Kathy began to feel dizzy and stayed in the car a while. She was able to come out later to look across a branch of the canyon where the land on the other side was perfectly flat. Supposedly the Painted Desert?
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| Point Imperial |
Now the dark clouds were over us, and since Kathy was lightheaded, I drove us to Cape Royal, taking a road south from Point Imperial. It started to pour rain along the way. We stopped at the Cape Royal restrooms, and when it lightened up, I took an umbrella to walk out to the point. I passed several explanatory signs about the Pinus edulis/Colorado Piñon, Juniperous osteosperma/Utah Juniper and Cowania Mexicana/Cliffrose.
Partway out I saw the Angel’s Window, a hole in a jutting rock wall through which you could see a bit of the brown Colorado River. Out at the end of the point you could see parts of the Colorado River snaking off in the distance.
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| Angel's Window |
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| Cape Royal |
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| Point Royal |
I returned to the car and started driving back to AZ 67. Pulled over at Vista Encantada when I saw a rainbow and we got the classic picture of a rainbow over the Grand Canyon!
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| Vista Encantada rainbow |
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| Vista Encantada rainbow |
The sun came out, but it was setting. Saw a fat quail-like bird walking across the road. As we approached, it fluttered up in a tree. Kathy got out to take a picture and a whole covey fluttered up into the tree! Probably Dendragapus obscurus/Blue Grouse.
We saw a few more deer on our way to AZ 67, and a couple more along that road. It was dark when we started running into the giant moths again. After filling up with gas, we checked into staying at a motel in Jacob Lake, but no rooms. Traveled east on US 89A where another hotel was also full, but we stopped at the kitchen counter for hamburgers and chips. A few more miles to Marble Canyon where we were able to get a room for $34 at the Marble Canyon Lodge. I went out to the car by myself to get my journal, and imagined I heard a mountain lion snarl behind me! I had to chase a couple moths out of the room before settling into bed.
Monday, August 16, 1982
Up at 7:30 and left shortly to go grocery shopping and share some chocolate ice cream for breakfast. Kathy found a lizard in the lodge parking lot. Around us in the distance were the layered mountains. I drove again and we crossed the tiny narrow Marble Canyon Bridge over the deep canyon with the Colorado River below.
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| Marble Canyon |
We joined back with US 89 and began to circle around to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, passing many ramshackle booths selling Indian “jewelries.” Off across the desert brush we could see shacks and small but empty corrals. We were passing through an Indian reservation and the few scattered buildings were really rundown. Only a few of a row of booths were in business. We saw one lone Indian sitting on a horse watching a herd of sheep. Kathy commented on the similarities to Morocco, land and people. We were keeping an eye out for the Painted Desert, looking for swirls of many colors. Just saw layered rock in shades of gray. I don’t think we ever went far enough as we headed west on AZ 64 after stopping at an Indian Trading Store in Cameron, AZ. Everything was too expensive for us. We began getting glimpses of the Grand Canyon again, and at the South Rim entrance, we found we could use the ticket from the North Rim.
We stopped at the stone Desert View Watchtower, built in 1932, a replica of a prehistoric Indian tower. We looked into the hazy canyon and could just see the Colorado River.
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| Grand Canyon from the South Rim |
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| Grand Canyon from the South Rim |
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| Desert View Watch Tower |
In the base of the Watchtower was a gift shop, and there was an Indian woman working on a standing loom. Her name, Daisy Jensen, was on a nameplate above the loom. Kathy talked to her a bit about weaving. We continued on to Lipan Point, and then Grandview Point, but the views were not as impressive as from the North Rim.
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| Lipan Point looking east |
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| Lipan Point |
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| Lipan Point looking west |
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| Grandview Point |
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| Grandview Point |
You did have a more panoramic widespread
view of the Grand Canyon. We saw a squirrel.
After driving along the South Rim, we backtracked along AZ 64 to US 89,
and headed north a short distance before turning right on AZ 160. The sun came
out and the sky cleared. Turned north on US 163, and soon started seeing piles
of stones and rock formations. We started naming the “monuments,” then realized
we were in Monument Valley, and that many of these rocks jutting up off the
desert were already officially named!
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| Rock formation |
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| Sentinel Mesa, West Mitten behind East Mitten, and Merrick Butte |
We passed some formations we felt
architects should use as models for theaters, etc. We passed through the town
of Mexican Hat and saw its namesake, a rock balanced on a hoodoo that looked
like a sombrero.
We were now in Utah and US 163 joined US 191. We stayed on US 191 up to
Monticello where we stopped at a AAA motel, getting a room for about $34 in the
Navajo Trail Motel. The manager was from Germany and still had an accent,
although he used idiomatic Utah English, such as everything being “plumb-voll!”
He gave us several tips about what to visit in Canyonlands National Park such
as taking the Elephant Hill Trail even though it was only a gravel road. We
left to find the Juniper Tree Restaurant, a very nice family restaurant. Kathy
got the soup and salad bar, and I had soup and a BLT sandwich. We returned to
the motel to find our two bearded neighbors had settled in to watch TV and
drink lots of beer with the door open. We had a noisy air conditioner, so we
decided to leave our door open also. Then we thought it was better to close it. Watched some
TV ourselves, then turned on the air conditioner only to go to sleep.
Next: More Utah National Parks.
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