Westering sun on the Deva, Brahama and Zoroaster Temples
Had an enjoyable evening with other incognito Rangers on the Grand Lodge Veranda over cocktails.
Mike is on his way Home to the North Rim!
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.
Westering sun on the Deva, Brahama and Zoroaster Temples
Had an enjoyable evening with other incognito Rangers on the Grand Lodge Veranda over cocktails.
Mike is on his way Home to the North Rim!
Lockwood started it and I saw this on Silver Fox’s site http://highway8a.blogspot.com. He grabs two new lists from National Geographic: the Ten Most Visited National Parks and the Ten Least Visited National Parks (in the U.S.). Says Lockwood: Bold the ones you have visited, and italicize the ones you’ve never heard of before.
Most visited:
10: Glacier
9: Acadia
8: Grand Teton 7: Cuyahoga Valley
6: Rocky Mountain – One of the first western parks I fell in love with. 5: Olympic 4: Yellowstone – spent part of my first honeymoon there.
3: Yosemite – briefly passed thru and need to return
2: Grand Canyon I work HERE!
1: Great Smoky Mountains – a long time ago
Least Visited:
10: City of Rocks NR, Idaho
9: Cumberland Island NS, Georgia
8: Florissant Fossil Beds NM, Colorado
7: Chiricahua NM, Arizona
6: Tonto NM, Arizona
5: Dry Tortugas NP, Florida
4: Katmai NP & Preserve, Alaska 3: Kalaupapa NHP, Hawaii
2: Hagerman Fossil Beds NM, Idaho
1: Russel Cave NM, Alabama
Wow, I need to get out more often. What about you?
As most of the prevailing winds come from the southwest at Grand Canyon the rising thermals from the heated depths often change the cloud’s path to slip eastward and away from the North Rim. I love the shadow play along their way.
To view more skies from around the world, or to share your own, go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.
Yesterday while out at Cape Royal this Rock squirrel
and I…
Angels Window
…enjoyed this window view of Grand Canyon.
And a little piece of the Colorado River.
Joan got me up at a ridiculous early hour to hit the road to Sudwala Caves. Good thing she knows how to make a good cup of coffee.
The drive was gorgeous. The Sudwala Caves are in the heart of the Mankelekele Mountains in the Drakensberg escarpment which separates the Highveld from the lowlands of Mpumalanga.
We opted for a short 1 hour walking tour instead of the 5 hour Crystal Tour which involves crawling.
We arrived just after a tour started, and got a reduced price by getting the “guides” rate.
Our tour-guide, Musa, led us 1968 feet (600 m) in and 492 feet (150 m) underground and safely back along the same route.
Sudwala Caves are the oldest known caves in the world situated in Pre-cambrian dolomite rocks formed over a period of some 3000 million years when the area was covered by warm shallow in-land seas.
Stramatolites
A stream of fresh cool air from an unknown opening permeates the spacious corridors maintaining an even temperature of 62.6°F (17°C) all year round.
The caverns boast an array of calcite formations like these stalagmites.
Horse head shaped flowstone
The caves were used by our ancestors in the form of "Homo-Habilis" / "Handyman" approximately 1.8 million years ago. They mainly used the cave entrance as shelter during bad weather.
In the nineteenth century these caverns were used by "Samcuba", a relative of the Swazi King, as a fortress. Enemies tried to smoke him out yet were thwarted and withdrew. Afterwards a guard was posted called Sudwala which means “the grass skirt of a married woman.”
The caves also played a role in the South African War during 1900 when President Kruger moved and hid the gold bullion and State Treasury belonging to the Transvaal Republic (nowadays Mpumalanga). Because it was known that ammunition had been hidden in Sudwala Caves many people searched there unsuccessfully for the legendary fortune.
Yet the only thing of value found was bat guano which a company excavated in 1914 and sold as fertilizer to farmers in the nearby Crocodile River Valley.
P.R. Owen Hall
In 1965 Mr. Philippus Rudolf Owen purchased the Sudwalaskraal farm including the cave which he developed and made accessible to the public. Because of the size and natural air-conditioning, famous Russian singer Ivan Rebroff tested the hall for concert purposes in 1970. Afterwards he gave his considered opinion that “the acoustics were at least equal, if not positively superior to those of any concert hall or opera house in Europe.” For concert purposes more than 500 people could be seated in this
dolomite chamber.
We also visited the Dinosaur Park next door which I posted about here.
The ring-porous Gambel Oak is susceptible to freeze induced embolism. And the best I can figure is Saturday’s snow and cold (next post down) caused a colorful fall like reaction.
To visit other seasons from around the world, or to share a look into your own, go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.
All four seasons showed face on the North Rim. Starting with a balmy morning under intermittent sunshine. By noon the temperature dropped and it hailed briefly.
Then it snowed and turned to sleet and rain with loud thunder.
Yet the sky above the North Rim cleared before sunset with clouds hovering over the South Rim which later blew across the canyon and blocked the night sky for telescope viewing on the last night of the Star Party.
Last night special speaker Don Palac from NASA talked about “Living and working in space” while sharing some humorous images of astronauts going about daily life. Imagine eating out of tubes so your food doesn’t float away as you hover over the table, being velcroed to a wall in your sleeping bag over night or peeing into……. I just can’t go there.