Another Storm at Grand Canyon National Park

The clouds played games most of the day providing only a few sprinkles.

Then last night, before I did my evening program, the crowd on the Lodge veranda was well entertained with a storm on the South Rim. Every time the lightning flashed I heard oohs and aahs like watching 4th of July fireworks. The storm moved north across the canyon and even looked like the rain may have fallen a little at Phantom Ranch down in the bottom of the canyon. Plus we got a little rain on the North Rim.

A new friend sent me this video which is so perfect for the sound of rain in Arizona.

Sky Watch Friday - Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise through trees from my window

From highway 67 north surrounded by the 2006 Warm Fire
It rained a bit as I was leaving the North Rim early in the morning Wednesday to make it to Kanab for a truck repair appointment. The further north I got the clearer the sky. And Kanab was quite warm, although not their usual exceedingly hot.

I spent seven hours and way too many dollars at the mechanic shop. Truck runs better but still smokes like a dirty chimney going uphill. I’m not happy with that. I may have to accept that it’s an old truck. And instead of putting money into it save for a replacement. OUCH! It cuts into my playing money, and I’m not happy about that either.

Sunset over the meadows along highway 67
But how could I be unhappy for long when I drove home and saw this.

To see other skies from around the world, or to share your own, go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.

K for Kanab Utah

Yes, there is a big white K on that big red rock
It’s an hour later in Kanab and my truck has a 9am (8am AZ time) appointment with the mechanic. It’s an 80 mile drive, just less than two hours for me.  Read more.

Remember Whensday - Oompa!

June and Ray celebrating birthdays, June 1974
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs but never spent much time in the city. Yet when I was dating Paul he introduced me to Dianas Restaurant in Greek Town. Incredible food, atmosphere and fun. The owner was a handsome man maybe in his 50s (I was too young then to guess) and I don’t think any woman that ate there left without him kissing her hand in a gentlemanly fashion. You made reservations for dinner knowing you’d have to drink in the bar for up to an hour before being seated. Plus there was music and dancing. The two choices of Greek wine are like turpentine and gasoline but after a few glasses who cared. (No offense, I’m not a wino.) Appetizers always included Saganaki, Kasseri cheese broiled to golden brown. Then the waiter poured warm brandy over it and ignited it and finished putting out the fire with the squeeze of a lemon. Every time this was served everyone in the place would holler “Oompa!” (Which according to Wiki means “Whoopie.”) They also served Ouzo, an anise-flavored liquor which I can’t stand even the smell of. However my Mom being a lover of licorice went crazy for the stuff when I took them there to celebrate birthdays. Mom’s is June 21st and Dad’s is the 24th. My then current boyfriend went with us and Dad drove a company Cadillac. We met four more of my friends there. My parents didn’t go to the city often and when Dad had to turn the car keys over to a parking lot attendant he was a little nervous. Soon forgotten by the alcohol. When we finally staggered out of Dianas at 2am the attendant was gone but the keys hung on the board at the almost empty parking lot. Dad drove out onto a one-way street, the wrong way, with Mom yelling in his ears. Then on the freeway drive home he had to pull over on the shoulder so I could jump out and get sick in the ditch. I think we all had a good time.

Sally from The (Mis) Adventures of Karl and Sally has started a new meme where the past is remembered through sharing old family photographs and this is #7. I love the idea and hope you will too. So join the fun by clicking here.

My World Tuesday - Storm Watching at Grand Canyon National Park

Better enlarge these to get the full effect.

Southeast to southwest view of the South Rim from Cape Royal
Today I went out on the Walhalla Plateau and gave a geology talk at Cape Royal while keeping an eye on the sky. This storm swept across the South Rim from west to east in a show of thunder and lightning for over an hour. I’ll bet the temperature dropped at least 10-15 degrees F as the wind increased. I was so excited! The energy was high, lots of negative ions. Yet on the North Rim, we felt no rain. I took over 50 photos trying to catch lightning, yet it’s so quick and I’m so slow. I lost count of how many strikes. One hit the wall of the canyon with a flash of fire.

Then I tried a minuet of video.

One frame caught lightning (my first capture of it) with Wotan’s Throne in foreground
Before leaving the Cape I warned visitors, “do not to be the tallest thing standing on this rocky promontory holding the metal rail if the storm comes north. Get up that quarter mile trail as fast as you can and into your vehicles.”

View southeast with Sky Island in foreground from Walhalla overlook
I didn’t want to leave. Yet at Walhalla overlook where I gave an archeology talk another storm was coming in from the north. I felt only 10 drops of rain while watching this veil quickly sweep to the southeast.

View northeast and east from Point Imperial
Again, I didn’t want to leave. But after lunch I went to rove at Point Imperial where I always enjoy the vast distant views. I was greeted by another storm coming from the north along with patches of sun reflecting off the Vermillion Cliffs to the left and Echo Cliffs to the right.

Wow, what a day! Sure beats yesterday which I vented about on the previous post.

So that’s my exciting world today. To see more of life around the world, or to share your own,

go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.

Thank you all for your concern. I did have a second full bottle of propane to switch to. The fridge hasn’t been cooling for a week. It just does that when the temperatures rise, when it cools down outside it usually starts works again. It is an original unit in a 1977 RV. Did it all matter today? No.

Some days start bad and go downhill

Nuthatch
Or is that down tree.

Schedules got confused yesterday. I thought I had three hours in the morning to work on some paperwork at the office. Turned into 30 minutes when I got a call from the visitor center that there was nobody to lead the 8am Nature Walk. So I rushed off and led the tour of 10. That wasn’t so bad.

Worked the visitor center for three hours and it was crazy busy. Might have had something to do with it being a free entrance weekend. Later gave a condor talk to about 100 visitors and that was OK.

Watched this storm on the south side but it never dropped rain on us. OK, that wasn’t so bad either.

Then I got home to find a propane tank had emptied and my fridge was not only off but dead. I guess it’s a good thing I have a 110/12volt cooler to use as back up but not everything fits. This is bad. But I should have been ready for it as when the outside temperatures reach 90 degrees over several days the fridge just won’t keep up. Of course no propane means no hot water and also no shower. That's bad.

I guess it all could have been worse. And I should remember the night before.

Thank goodness it's my Friday.

Bright Angel of the Grand Canyon

Burros were brought to Grand Canyon in the late 1800s by prospectors in search of gold. It seems that a couple of John Wesley Powells’s crew members found a little flour gold near the mouth of Kanab Creek that set off a minor gold rush. The prospectors found zinc, lead and asbestos instead of gold and didn’t stay long. However, they left many of their pack animals behind. Because burros originated in northeastern Africa they survived well in the canyon’s dry, hot environment where their population grew.

Bright Angel, or Brighty for short, was named after the side canyon that he wintered in. But during the hot summers, Brighty came up to the North Rim where it’s much cooler. In fact we still use the trail he created today and call it the North Kaibab Trail.

In the early 1900s, a game warden named “Uncle” Jim Owens befriended Brighty who would help carry water from a nearby spring in exchange for pancakes. Later when the national park was formed and the McKee family developed tourist accommodations Brighty again helped carry water. In fact Brighty and Uncle Jim were the first to cross the new silver suspension foot-bridge that crossed the Colorado River in 1928. Brighty joined a burro herd on the south side of the canyon and lived a long life.

Over the next 50 years burros flourished to the point that they were damaging the environment and competing with the native Bighorn sheep. During that time the Park Service would shoot burros to try and reduce the population. By the 1970s that was not considered acceptable by the public. In the late 70s the Fund for Animals received a permit from the Park Service to remove the remaining burros and used helicopters and rafts to remove almost 600 burros from the park.

There are still some burros in the western part of the canyon and the Haulipai tribe still struggle to keep them from destroying the land. Yet biologists say they are not a viable population. Of course the Bureau of Land Management protects many wild burros on public lands throughout the Southwest.

Yesterday I presented a program about Brighty and burros in the Sunroom of Grand Canyon Lodge. To learn more about Brighty read Marguerite Henry’s Brighty of the Grand Canyon published in 1953, a delightful book for young and old alike.