GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER - WEEK 3

NORTH RIM - 22 JUNE

A little behind in this posting! It was a busy week with lots going on though in a fairly routine week.

A lot of Office Time is spent on the screening process for Artist In Residence selections for 2014 and 2015. Originally it was only going to be for the one year, but we have 212 applicants!! I can get through about 20 applicants in a two to two and a half hour period. The applicants mediums are everything from photography, various painting media, writers, musicians, sculptors, and fabric. It is an interesting process but the numbers this year are over welming.

My programs went well, with good turn outs for them all. During our “weekend” we spent one afternoon going out to the Basin to check on the wildflower display. Not much was blooming. I think it will be better after the monsoon season gets established. I did find a new species for my plant album though.

Friday was a long day for George not because it was the summer solstice. He set out on his PSAR at about 0700 and did not get home until almost 2000. He had two hiker assists that day. The first was assisting a hiker with a serious nose bleed. He followed her up and thought he was done about 1430. He was in the process of checking out when they received a call about a hiker falling 35 feet off the trail, about 2.5 miles down from the trailhead. George and a Ranger headed down to provide aid. They eventually did a mule haul out of the hiker and her pack. The lady was very lucky in that she came out fairly unscathed. San Diego Firefighters who were hiking with Project Athena had provided the initial rescue and aid  

Lizard on B.A. Point Trail

as the lady was holding on to a ledge with about a 40 pound pack on her back. I will let George tell his tale of this in more detail.

As a result of the above, I took on his very early morning shift at the V.C. on Saturday so that he could sleep in and rest a bit more. As a result I had two mornings of 0630 starts and two of 0730 starts.

The “super moon” added to long hours for me. I went out the day before full moon to Point Imperial to capture the rise with some daylight. There were a few other photographers out there doing the same thing. We had to wait about 12 minutes after the scheduled arrival for it to clear the haze to the East. The moon was quite impressive in the first hour of it’s rising. One of the things I enjoyed was using the long lens to focus on one small element in the Canyon with sunset light on it before the moonrise.

The weeks fly here, says the RavenMaven.

North Rim Flora -

Osha

Starwort

Beardlip Penstemon

The Basin

Aspen Bark

Aspen Art

Horned Spurge

Heartleaf Buttercup

Rocky Mountain Columbine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along the Bright Angel Point Trail ----

Pointing The Way

Perspective

 

A Favorite Subject

Tree Silhouette

Sunset Color at Bright Angel Point

Morning Light in Canyon

Quiet Time in Morning

Moonrise from Point Imperial --

Mt. Hayden and the Canyon

 Brady Peak

Brady Peak

Full Moon Rise

Full Moon Over Plateau

Full Moon, Earth Shadow, & Mt. Hayden

GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEERING - WEEK TWO

The second week started out well with my duties being the Nature Walk and Flashback for programs, then roving the trails and Visitor Center (V.C.) Duties. The Nature Walk consists of about an hour stroll from the V. C. through the Ponderosa Pine Forest here. Subjects covered are the characteristics of the ponderosa pine, and the forest, as well as some of the other plants seen here. This time we got to see a flicker flying in and out of a tree next, as well as the Kaibab squirrel. The importance of fire to the ecosystem is also discussed.

The Kaibab squirrel is a tree squirrel that lives only in the North Kaibab Forest, on the North side of the Colorado River. It is unique in that it has tufted ears and a bushy white tail. It gets a lot of its nourishment from the ponderosa pine tree by chewing off the tips of a limb, and peeling off the bark of young twigs to get to the phloem, a source of carbohydrate for the squirrel. It also loves to eat the fresh young pinecones when they develop, and dig up mycorrhizae that grow on the roots of the trees.

Its primary predator is the goshawk, which flies through the forest. The white tail is probably a defense mechanism for when winter is here and it wants to cover itself up and hide from the goshawk. When looking for it one looks for a white “handkerchief” running through the forest.

One of my duty days this week was to patrol the Widforss Trail which is 10 miles round-trip. The trail takes you West of the village to a viewpoint on the West side of the Widforss plateau. It goes through the forest with a number of ups and down due to small drainages, into a lovely area of lupine in bloom before going up one more time to reach the viewing area. The trail is named after Gunnar Widforss who was a Swedish watercolor artist of the early 1900s. He was asked by Stephen Mather to paint the National Parks and fell in love with the Grand Canyon and eventually made his home on the South Rim. He often traveled to the North Rim to paint. The trail is rated by Arizona Highways Magazine as one of the top summer trails in the state.

My third day of duty entailed going to the Scenic View Points along the East side of the Walhalla Plateau, roving the trail at Cape Royal, and doing the Archaeology Talk at the Walhalla Overlook and Glade. One of the things I do during the talk is demonstrate the throwing of an atlatl. The atlatl was an ancient tool used to throw a dart, and was used all over the world. (http://www.atlatl.com/). It takes practice to be accurate, and I only get to use it once a week.  This first time using it this year, I actually stabbed a tree with the dart on the fifth throw, and the dart remained in the tree until I removed it! It is always a thrill to succeed like that. I have people from all over the world tell of its use in their countries.

My last day of the week was again doing the Nature Walk and Flashback. Flashback is a short, 15 to 20 minute talk done at the Lodge in the Sunroom. My topic is about the people who developed the North Rim area. These include Uncle Jim Owens, a big game hunter who supposedly killed 300+ mountain lions; Charles Jesse “Buffalo” Jones who brought buffalo to the area, and Teddy Roosevelt.

The afternoon was spent getting access to the Government computers, and taking the annual FISSA course and test. This has to do with computer security, etc. and one must pass the test with at least a 70%. I passed the test with a 92%. Then one has to be sure to print out the certificate of completion and fax it to IT!! I am happy to report that I am good for another season.

Our weekend has been pretty quiet this week with just enjoying mornings at the Lodge, doing laundry, catching up on e-mails, editing photographs and writing my blog. Oh yea, there were added naps as well.

Here are some photos for you:

Kaibab Squirrel

Star Solomon's Seal

Hairy Aster

Looking South from Widforss Point

Vishnu Temple, Cape Royal

 

Painted Lady Butterfly

VOLUNTEERING AT THE NORTH RIM - WEEK ONE

LIFE AS A VOLUNTEER WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AT THE NORTH RIM, GRAND CANYON

The week following Mule Days is full of activity at the Raven Maven’s nest.

I return from Mule Days and immediately start the process of packing up our gear for a summer of volunteering at the North Rim, Grand Canyon.

It all starts with checking up on our e-mails, ordering a few items to be delivered to the North Rim, and just tidying up our offices. Then it is time to get out the four pages of list of all the things we need to pack for our comfort for the summer. We are given the use of a government trailer while we volunteer but we need to bring everything to go in it – linens, cooking gear, food, books, printer, computers, camera gear, telescope, tools, etc., etc. The list is updated every fall when we get home in preparation for the upcoming year. We take two days to pack everything and stuff it all into two cars. We then drive a day and a half to get to the North Rim.

Once we are at the North Rim we spend the second half of the day unpacking and storing it all into the trailer. Luckily we have done this now for ten years and have had the same trailer for about six years. This makes it easy to recall where things have to go. We get another complete day to finish the unpacking, meeting with some of the staff and prepare for the first day of work. This year I started with the Nature Walk, one of my favorite programs.

This year, Robin, our boss, has given us a fairly light schedule the first week which allows for acclimating to the elevation here of 8250 feet. This is quite a change from working or walking at sea level. It has been great to reconnect with our acquaintances here, some of who have been working here far longer than we have.

All has gone smoothly to date. Our “weekend” is Tuesday through Thursday. This first weekend was taken up with a trip to Kanab, 81 miles away, and laundry. This only took up half of the weekend. The remainder of the time was spent with visitors from San Diego. Ed was my daughters’ photography teacher about thirty years ago. He was here with his friend Ty, and I enjoyed very much sharing with them some of the local photography sites, and the beauty here at the North Rim.

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The North Rim is home to the Kaibab Squirrel which is only found here. It is a tree squirrel which makes it’s home in the ponderosa pine trees here. Another squirrel found here is the golden mantled squirrel which hangs around the cabins of the Lodge, and on the patios of the Lodge looking for any crumbs that may fall.

We have already seen some mule deer including two young bucks in velvet.

It was a very dry winter here and it is already quite warm here. We are hoping for a good monsoon season this year. There is a small lake here on the plateau which normally has water until September. This year it is already dry!!

I try to carry a smaller camera with me most of the time because of the chance encounters available with wildlife. I will try to include pictures whenever possible. 

One of my special projects here is recording all of the various flowers that bloom here. You will see a number of them as the season goes by. 

I apologize for the randomness of the pictures. I have yet figured out how these get set into the blog. Please Enjoy.

 

Sunset Sky from Bright Angel Point

Golden Mantled Squirrel

Utah Serviceberry

Mormon Tea

Last Light in Canyon, Cape Royal

Evening Silouette, Cape Royal

Vista Encatada View

Wotan's Throne Aglow

Gnarly Tree with a View

Banana Yucca