MWT – Park Ranger at Grand Canyon National Park North Rim

 

I have the Best job in the world! Or so I think.

 

I work four 10-hour days and get three days off. And work is like play for a Park Ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. Plus I’m seasonal by choice, so only work six months a year.

 

Western Tanager

My daily schedule is diverse, from working in the visitor center helping people plan their visit whether here for four hours or four days, to presenting programs about history, condors, geology, ecology, archaeology, paleontology.  I know, that’s a lot of ologies. I call myself a generalologist.

 

Monday I went out on the Walhalla Plateau, after a few office chores.

 

Out at Cape Royal the flowers are blooming.

 

I was there two weeks ago and only saw a few yellow daisy-like flowers.

 

Now I’m enjoying the first of my three days off. Life is hard, but guess I’ll suffer through it. I sure hope you love your job (or retirement) as much as I do.

To view more tours around the world go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.

Last work day on the Walhalla

The morning began clear and bright at the Lodge but would change throughout the day...

SS – Angels Window into the canyon

Angels Window at Cape Royal

Today’s view of Grand Canyon was dotted with cloud shadows.

Paintbrush

Sego Lily

And the land was dotted with wildflowers.

While the air was filled with the sweet smell of Cliffroses.

To view other wonderful scenes from around the world, or to share your own, go to Scenic Sunday by clicking here.

Blooms at Cape Royal

Once a week my schedule takes me to the Walhalla Plateau where I give a 1pm talk about the history of Southwest Archeology at Walhalla Overlook. I saw plenty of blooms at...(read more)

Blooms at Grand Canyon

What a difference a week makes. I was out at Cape Royal yesterday giving a geology talk and noticed these Hedgehog cactus blooming. Wonder what will be blooming next week.

Squirrely View

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.

Sky Watch Friday - Wotans Throne

View south from Cape Royal at the end of the road
I spent last Saturday and Sunday out on the Walhalla Plateau.

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

I’m still in the canyon so won’t be able to link this or visit other skies, boo hoo. But soon I’ll be posting about this magnificent rim to rim hike.

Sky Watch Friday - Snagged a Grand Canyon Sunset

From Cape Royal trail looking southeast
I took this the night of Cape Royal sunset and posted that series here. They probably should have been my SWF post, but I just couldn’t wait. And this shot was taken on the walk back to my rig after the official sunset was over.

It is now definitely fall at Grand Canyon and the Aspen are turning gold. I hope to post some images tomorrow.

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

My World Tuesday - Cape Royal Sunset

5:11pm
To view the Cape Royal sunset go here.

Scenic Sunday - Shadows in Grand Canyon

View southeast from Angels Window overlook along the Cape Royal trail
I love the late afternoon views of the Grand Canyon from the Walhalla Plateau. The shadows change rapidly as the sun westers beyond the canyon walls. Then add a few clouds to float above and create patches of shadows that dance across the land.

To see more beautiful scenes from around the world, or to share your own, go to Scenic Sunday by clicking here.

Sorry the Cliff Springs Trail didn’t get posted today. Ran out of time. Maybe tomorrow.

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.

My World Tuesday - Cape Royal Trail

I got to spend the afternoon roving out on the Walhalla Plateau. That basically means I can go to any site, trail or overlook and hang out talking to visitors. It’s a tough job at Grand Canyon, but somebody has to do it.

View from Cape Royal
So I went out to Cape Royal, at the end of the road. What I find kind of interesting is that most of the visitor’s questions are about how I became a Ranger and where else I’ve worked instead of about the canyon.

Angels Window
On the .3 mile (.48 km) walk out to the view point you can see Angels Window and there’s a short trail onto the top of the window rock.

Cliff Rose
The air smells sweet from the flowering Cliff Rose.

Pinyon Pine cones
And the Pinyon Pines are heavily laden with cones. Of course it will be another two years before the nut matures. Guess I’ll have to come back to gather some of those delicious pine nuts if the critters don’t beat me to them.

Considering that it snowed on me yesterday, it was warm enough today to be in short sleeves most of the time.

To get glimpses of life around the world or to share your own go to My World Tuesday by clicking here.

I seem to be having trouble linking to MWT. Am I the only one?