Grand Canyon National Park

     The third day of our vacation led us farther north to what can be described as a huge crack in the earth.  But that would leave a false impression as to the geologic events at play here.  The canyon was formed mostly by erosion and not faulting.Of course I am referring to the Grand Canyon, an accurate name in all aspects, in fact it is surely the grandest of them all.
     We managed to get to the south rim before sunrise, hoping for an epic photo.  But it was windy and cold, and the lighting and aspect of the overlook were marginal.  I snapped a few photos, hanging onto my hat as the winds gusted up to 23 miles an hour.  But we were glad to see views of the Colorado River in the canyon below.

Grand Canyon sunrise

     We stopped at every overlook on the Desert View road which is along the eastern section of the south rim.  With over five million visitors a year, the south rim can be a place you do not want to be in your car, unless you like traffic.  The park has instituted a shuttle bus system to alleviate congestion, but on a weekday in mid-November, traffic was of little concern.  We were literally the only vehicle at most of the overlooks in the early morning.  We ventured over to the main visitor center and watched the video about the Grand Canyon.  Then we walked along the main part of the south rim area and were amazed by the immensity of it all.

Panorama of the Grand Canyon

     As we walked along the south rim, there were markers in the pavement that corresponded to geologic time, where each step equals one million years.  The oldest rocks at the bottom of the canyon are 4.5 billion years old.

   

Paved walkway along the Grand Canyon

     Which is another aspect of the Grand Canyon that is unfathomable. You can literally see over half of the age of the Earth displayed in its geologic glory which leads me thinking only one thing, "holy schist, that's gneiss!"

"Holy schist that's gneiss!"

     While there weren't many flowers in bloom or a diversity of plants to botanize, I did observe some some interesting features on some of the shrubs.  This one was my favorite.  I recognized it as a Potentilla species but it turned out to be another member of the Rose family, Purshia stanburiana, or Stansbury cliffrose.

Stansbury Cliffrose (Purshia stansburiana) 

     As we walked along the path I couldn't help but take a ton of photos.  The lighting and cloud cover were not to my liking but it was so nice to have the place basically to ourselves and marvel in the expansive views of this wonderful national park and the artistic opportunities it presented to the visitor.

Dead tree and Agave flower stalk

     We paused along the way to read the signs and look deep into the canyon where I found a large boulder and tried to push it down into the canyon.  I could not get it to move!

Trying to push a rock down into the canyon

     The place is a geologist's dream!

Sedimentary rock

     Grand Canyon National Park is well photographed and well visited.  We were happy to have a chance to see it in all its wonder and hope to return someday to explore the depths of the canyon and the wilderness it contains.

Susan at the Grand Canyon