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I own no land, instead I have wheelestate. I’ve been a full time RVer since 1997. Working summers as a Park Ranger takes me to many beautiful places and playing during the winter takes me to many more. This blog is simply the story of my life's adventures.

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Monday, October 26, 2009

MWT - The Box - Rim to rim Grand Canyon Day 2 - Part 4

Gopher snake
We left the beautiful Ribbon Falls behind and returned to the canyon’s Sonoran desert. This, the only snake seen along the trail. I would have liked to see the pink rattler found only in the Grand Canyon, from a distance.  Read more here.

37 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Fantastic, Gaelyn! What a trip! And your shots are marvelous as always Thanks for taking us along! What incredible beauty we have in this country!

Enjoy!

Sylvia

Becky said...

I love the contrast of the very blue sky and the pink rock. Lovely! And it's funny to me to see people hiking in shorts and wading in a river. It's so cold here! Grey and stormy outside, and definitely not shorts weather! Funny how different parts of the country allow different activities at different parts of the year.

Anonymous said...

I think it would have been interesting to know only as much as I know today and then have that knowledge and live during the time period your post related. To be at the end of the cycle is to be but to be at the beginning is to have been and that seems important too. I really enjoyed this visit and your photography.

Martha Z said...

I love these photos of the inner canyon. Over 20 years ago I hiked with friends to Phatom Ranch to board a raft down the canyon. It was one of those experiences that excedes expectation.

Anonymous said...

Its like each line in the rock strata is an encasement of feelings that the land felt over a season or many seasons. It is a collective library of experience that can be rediscovered and felt through the intention of merging with the layered information.

Unknown said...

You've been a fabulous guide going down into the canyon. It's amazing how much history has been revealed by the rock there.

betty-NZ said...

There are some places that are just too gorgeous for photos to do justice. Thanks for sharing!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Gaelyn: I was so happy to travel wit you women on this incredible trail. Thanks so much for sharing the trip. My Gradson is doing a 100 mile trip this long weekend for his school program.

eileeninmd said...

Fantastic photos from your hike, I love the creek and swamp. The snake is a neat sighting. Thanks for sharing your part of the world.

Eve said...

I'm going to have to remember this hike for the next time I'm in that area - SO BEAUTIFUL!!

SandyCarlson said...

The schist and granite made me think Mother and Child for some reason. Beautiful images. Thanks.

Janie said...

Great tour of the canyon and a geology lesson, too. I review my geology every time I go to Grand Canyon, but I always forget the details and need a refresher.

Carver said...

What a great post and photographs from your hike. So many of the shots look like geologic art to me.

Snap said...

You always take us such wonderful places. Wonderful photos, as always and I always learn something!

Rambling Woods said...

Hello Gaelyn..I so enjoyed catching up with you. Your posts are so much fun that I feel I am on the hikes with you and especially since hikes for me aren't possible. I am so enamored with all the beauty and history that you present. I called my husband over and told him we have to take a trip even if I can't hike. He would love to hike and is in great shape. That would be great... Regarding your perm. My mother used to dye my hair blonde when it started turning darker. What were they thinking? Glad you are back safe and sound and in a bigger bathroom...@:}....Michelle

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

Great photographs again. I love your commentary.

I have to tell you though that I have it on good authority from some of my more theologically conservative friends that the canyon was cut in just a few years, just a few thousand years ago. :). (I just tell them "ok")

Elaine said...

Lovely hike and wonderful photos!

Arija said...

At long last I have had an opportunity to catch up on your blog. What a wonderful adventure you have had! The waterfall is beyound orice as are the granite rock formations that look like giant imbedded claws. Pitty you did not spot a pink rattler, I would dearly have liked to seee it too.
Lovely to go along to shar your company for a while.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Nice to see the snake was facingthe other way Gaelyn. :) The colors in those rock never cease to amaze me.

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

I don't know what to say anymore. The canyon and its features have me speechless. You are so fortunate to live in such a place and to be able to experience it first hand(and know so much of it)

Baruch said...

That looks like a great walk with great scenery

Wolynski said...

Incredible hike and amazing photos. What stamina to keep on climbing with 25lbs on your back.
I like the little house you moved into - adorable.

magiceye said...

amazing world indeed!

Pat said...

I might just be tempted to do this hike, if it's not so terribly hot. In my next life,I plan to be a geologist; always been fascinated by strata, etc.

penny said...

Not only are your photos amazing so are the facts and descriptions as well. You are like a walking encyclopedia, Gaelyn.
Thanks for the journey, it was awesome :D

The Explorer said...

I believe you had a great adventure. I hope someday, I will be able to be in that similar place, very different from what I used to be here. Mostly are rain forest.

The Good Life in Virginia said...

i am so enjoying your trek...the photos are fab. thanks so for sharing your adventure(s) with us.
hope you're settled in now for the winter?

Small City Scenes said...

WOW!! It is so amazing--the contradictions and the beauty--the ancient history and today. Thanks for the tour and the info. As you well know over this way in EW we have our own mini grand canyon at Dry Falls and vantage and the Moses coulee and Yakima Canyon---the majesty of it all. MB

Quiet Paths said...

Such a fine and varied post with wonderful shots of the formations. Of course that little stream must have paradise while you were there.

RuthieJ said...

Do you know how many miles you hiked all together? It sure has been a beautiful trip for you three.

Craver Vii said...

Amazing views into a beautiful land. I wonder if I would even last--walking that long with a backpack, and no where near an electric outlet. ;-)

Kathie Brown said...

Everytime I hear about Bright Angel Creek or Bright Angel trail I think of Brighty of the Grand Canyon. I loved that book as a child and it would be so much fun to see the places mentioned in the story. Lovely photos and it looks like so much fun!

LadyFi said...

Fabulous scenery - so pristine. Love that last photo in particular.

Barb said...

Your photos of Bright Angle Creek and the scenic box canyon are spectacular. I feel as though I was backpacking with you!

Maurice Lauher said...

I'm favorite-ing your spot. My World Tuesday's take me places I've never been. Thanks for your wonderful photos and all of the information.

Louise said...

I wish you had seen the pink rattlesnake, too. I never realized there was so much water in the canyon--little creeks--not just the big river.

Claude said...

Hi, I have hiked as you did the rim to rim trail in Grand Canyon. I think you made a typing error when you write "1.25 billion years ago and the 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian metamorphic schist directly below leaves a gap of more than 50 billion years in the canyon’s geologic time line called the Great Unconformity".
Actually the gap is 1.2 to 1.5 billion years. it best seen near Indian Gardens when you climb out, just before reaching the camp-ground; It is clearly seen on the right side of the trail across the creek. I was hiking with a group from the Grand Canyon Field Institute lead by Wayne Ranney a confirmed geologist who took us at the bottom of the cliff.
This Gap represents 25% of the earth history
you can check a good paper on this here:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/treiman/greatdesert/workshop/greatunconf/index.html
The earth age is around 4.54 billion years.
Kind regards
Claude Rozsa-Paris France

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