GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER – 23 AUGUST, WEEK 12

The past week has been full of picture editing, and creating CDs for the participants of Heritage Days. I still have to do the same for the Symphony, and will get that completed before next Tuesday when we will be going to Kanab for groceries and other errands.

The monsoon season continues. It has made for opportunities to photograph more lightning, but some of the time I have had to do my work as a VIP interpretive ranger instead. Did get out a couple of times though. I also incorporate this kind of photography with trying to educate the public about lightning and what it can do. I did get three sessions with the storms.

We enjoyed a much sought after visit with our friends, The Benses, this past week. We have been trying to get them up here from Flagstaff for several years, but many times our schedules have not matched. We took them out to The Basin to enjoy the wildflowers, and a short hike through a couple of small meadows. I

discovered two flowers new to me while out there. This means that I will be adding them to my Flora Albums of the North Rim before I leave here this Fall.

Several of my early morning walks have been to the Admin. area. There are at least three bucks that like to bed down in the area. A couple of mornings I have been able to get photos of them. They are hard to get as they are bedded down in a grove of trees so I am shooting at ISO 1600 in order to get them. Also got a couple of photos of a red squirrel which is somewhat rare to see around here.

We have been dining out a couple of times this past week. The wranglers fed us a delicious spaghetti dinner this past Monday. A week ago we were treated to dinner at the Kaibab Lodge by our friends, the Benses; and then just last night we treated Miss Vickie, a wrangler, to dinner there. She and George are early August birthday people so this was a birthday dinner for them.

Today, Wednesday, 21 August, started overcast, and continued that way through the day. We had a very loud and near thunderstorm this afternoon, and it continues to be cloudy and cool. I did go down to the Lodge and got several lightning bursts. Most of the activity was to the North of us so I had shutter activity but no lightning in the images. There was one memorable one though! We had hoped to go out to photograph the full moon rise, but the photo op. was not there tonight. We will now have to wait until next month!!

A walk along The Bright Angel Trail >>

AROUND THE NORTH RIM>>

Peek - A - Boo

Imature Robin

Imature Robin

A Little Fun

 A STORM AFTERNOON>>>

SYMPHONY OF THE CANYONS and MORE

Here are more pictures from our special events as well as a few from
around the North Rim.

An afternoon at Cape Royal -

Sky Island (15 Archaeology sites on top_

View ofAngel's Window

Violinist playing above Angel's Window

Perigrene Falcon 

The Basin Views

Parry's Gentian

Autumn Dwarf Gentian

Indian Paintbrush

Indidan Paintbrush

Car View

Symphony of the Canyons

AFTER THE STORM -

GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER – 16 August, Week 11

This past week we celebrated HERITAGE DAYS here on the North Rim, Grand Canyon. This is a time when representatives of many of the Native American Tribes in the area come and share their culture and crafts with visitors here at the North Rim. One of my jobs here is to photograph the special events for the Park and make CDs of those events. I also make up CDs for the individual participants of their events here at the North Rim. Heritage Days runs Thursday and Friday, which meant that I was busy on a day off to do the photography. I always enjoy meeting the participants, but it does make for two long days.

We had representatives from the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, Hopi, Navajo, Zuni, Apache, and Havasupai Tribes. They showcase some of their crafts, uses of native plants, and tell stories about their cultures. Probably the highlights of the event are the dance performances. This year we had the Cedar Creek Apache Crown Dancers as well as Derrick Suwaima Davis who is the World Champion Hoop Dancer for 2013. This is his sixth such title. I will not include photos of him dancing as he has requested, but here is a link to his winning dance at the contest at the Heard Museum in Phoenix this past February.

         http://www.hooping.org/2013/02/derrick-suwaima-davis-wins-2013-world-     champion-hoop-dancer-title/

He is a delight to watch and some years he has brought along his young son who follows along as Derrick dances. The first time he was here the young Davis was probably 3 years old and almost stole the show from Dad.

The next event here was on Saturday evening when the Symphony of the Canyons came to perform on the East Patio of the Lodge. The symphony members come from a large area of Southern Utah. They are based out of Kanab with members traveling from Page, AZ (80 Miles) to the East, and as far North as Panguitch, UT, about 75 miles to the North for rehearsals and performances. One of the members is the primary trumpeter for the Dallas Brass, located in Dallas, TX.

Amid all of this culture there were also serious hiking issues on the North Kaibab Trail. On Friday afternoon, George was involved with a hiker who suffered cardiac arrest on the trail. George was the first responder and performed to the best of his abilities with help arriving on scene about 7 minutes later. With the assistance

of EMTs, Paramedics, and Flight Nurses, all avenues were used to try and revive the hiker, but it was to no avail. Regrettably the hiker passed on.

We have been busy also with having two sets of visitors to the North Rim. The first to visit were our neighbors, Kelly and Cathy Zombro. We enjoyed sharing the area with them, and visiting Best Friends Animal Shelter in the Kanab area.

This past “weekend” we had our friends, Luann and Terry Bense, here from Flagstaff. The Benses were the ones we stayed with during my eight weeks of travel to Flagstaff last year for weekly physical therapy on my shoulder. It was great to get them up here at last and share the sights, some hiking, and a wonderful afternoon visiting “The Basin” which was abloom with many wildflowers due to the moisture we have received from the monsoon rains.

We have just started our work week and know it will be busy as usual. We enjoy the programs, and sharing this beautiful area with the many visitors from all over the world. The monsoon cycle is coming back so we may get some rain and thunderstorms in the next few days. I will hopefully get another chance to capture some lightning with my camera. It is always beautiful here even if we do not get the rain as we watch the building of the storm clouds, and the passage of the storms. 

Native American Heritage Days

Walk with Kaibab Paiute Interpretive Ranber

Navajo Flute Player, Milton

Hopi Basketmaker, Jessica Lomatewama

Hopi Glass Blower, Ramson Lomatewama

Shaping a vase

Glass Blown Vase by Ramson Lomatewama

Navajo Pottery by Cody Nez

Glassware by Ramson Lomatewama

Zuni Potter, Eileen Yattsie

Silver works by Navajo Henry Nez

Miss Hopi and 1st Attendant

Hopi Games using Bow and Arrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopi Game - Moving Target Practice

 Apache Crown Dancers>>>

 

Friendship Dance