Wed. 7/12.
Drive to Grand Canyon. Landscape changes from desert scrub to pine trees. Cooler. A burst of rain on the drive, but clear now.
Camping in a National Forest for the next few days. As soon as we drove onto our site, we saw 3 big elk in the adjacent site. They browsed for 30-40 min. while we & a couple other campers took pictures. Setting up camp can wait! Very cool.
The National Forest campground is nice: surrounded by pine trees, large sites–a pleasant change; OK no hookups or restrooms with showers, but $30 for 3 nights, instead of $30+ for 1 night. Outhouse isn’t smelly or buggy either. Saw a gray squirrel later, chased it off our picnic table.
Met Joe & Lynn from New Orleans, formerly of Parsippany NJ (near where we live).
Thur. 7/13
More elk today, on roadside. Went to Grand Canyon Visitor Center, then to Mather Point, walkable from VC. Took bus to Village to get tix for guided tours. Went home for nap before Sunset tour to Devil’s Tower (east side of South rim).
Guide Gail referred to Darwin and removing people from the gene pool in her safety talk, re standing too close to the edge or going after a hat that blew away. When smoke blows in from California forest fires, as now, colors are better before the sun actually goes down .
Also learned: Mining didn’t pay so miners rented their tents out to tourists. Hills on Rt 64 (main entrance from south) are volcanoes. I-40 (east-west) to Williams is shaped like a caldera. Basalt is from the ocean floor. Silica is explosive.
About the tower: It was designed by Mary Coulter, who had a degree in, and taught, mechanical drawing. Worked for Fred Harvey (Company) to age 72.
She designed the Devil’s Tower structure
and its interior.
And here’s the sunset:
Fri. 7/14.
There is a Fred Harvey museum in Bright Angel Lodge. Fred Harvey founded the first chains of restaurants, hotels, excursion companies, and newstands/bookstores, starting in 1883. The Park was established 1919. Harvey had a role in that too, and had the first concessions and hotels. He had an effect on Indian culture, getting them to switch from weaving rugs to blankets, which were more saleable to tourists. Harvey establishments followed the Santa Fe RR from Kansas City to LA, which Rt 66 later followed as cars replaced trains for transport.
Need to watch The Harvey Girls with Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Angela Lansbury when we get home. Based on a novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Better yet, read Stephen Fried’s Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West–One Meal at a Time. It’s fascinating!
Took tour to Hermit’s Rest (west side of South rim).
Learned that the GC Village has K-12 school, some kids live on the bottom of the canyon AND WALK UP/DOWN TO SCHOOL every day. It’s one VERTICAL mile! Medical facilities are limited, so school is 4 days a week, longer hours, so parents can drive kids to Williams (59 mi) or Flagstaff (another 34 mi) for appts.
Canyon is 277 mi long (goes west of here 240 mi), 10 mi wide. 1 mi deep. River is 100 yds wide. Some rapids are 15 ft high. Takes 3 wks to boat the canyon from Lee’s Ferry (northeast of the Park), including 150 rapids.
Canyon was caused by uplift as well as erosion. 21 rock layers, spanning 5 million yrs. Top is 270 million yrs old. Dinosaurs were 70 million yrs ago, fossils would have been in the top layer but that’s eroded.
Colorado Plateau goes North to Dinosaur National Park in western Colorado and South to Sedona, AZ.
Colter had a hand here too, and in other Park buildings.
