Monday, September 16, 2013

GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER - SEPTEMBER 16 - WEEK 15

This is the end of another busy week. I have been working on updating my Flora of the North Rim book and it has meant a lot of time with my nose in flower books and searching the web. There are several sunflower species which are difficult to pinpoint. Then yesterday I found another one!!

The early part of the past week was quite wet which got tiresome for us as everyone wanted to know when it would stop raining, and the clouds would lift. It has been drying out the last couple of days, but yesterday I did get rained on while roving at Pt. Imperial, and on the drive back to the "village". It cleared off nicely for George's star party last night though.

I will try to get some pictures into this but we are off in another day for Idaho to visit our daughter, Klara. So there are lists to be generated, and packing to do. Of course there is more photography to be done as well.

She may be able to help me with the botany but this really not her location. :-)


Prickly Lettuce

Saddle Mountain Trail Head View

Another Saddle Mountain T. H. View


Burned Tree Pattern





Fall is in the Air


Another Asteracea


Canyon View, Ken Patrick Trail

Mt. Hayden

Mt. Hayden up Close

Marble Canyon View

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER - SEPT 7, WEEK 14


I am once more playing catch up with entries. The past week did not seem that busy, but there is always something happening, and things to do.

Sunday the 1st of September was my last day to go to Cape Royal for Archaeology as well a chance to stay out there for sunset. The road to Cape Royal closed on September 3rd for the season for repaving, and improvements to view point parking areas. They can not have just one lane open as the road is narrow and there are no shoulders. There have been times when two vehicles pass that can be scarry because someone takes a large RV out on the road though it is not recommended. I have been known to yell at people as they pass even though they can not hear me (probably just as well).

I got a real treat though. I had finished my Archaeology Talk, and was picking up the signage, when one of the kids came along and offered me an Hagen-Daz ice cream cup!!! It was his big brother’s birthday so the family had bought the ice creams in Kanab, UT and stored them for the occasion in their small RV freezer. Sunset at Cape Royal was pretty good, though popular with other photographers as well.

I had two sessions of my photo talk and they were well received though the weather was not particularly good. As a matter of fact, last night’s photo walk was with the sun completely hidden behind clouds so that there was no color in the Canyon.

During our “Weekend” we made chicken paprika for four of our neighbors. They are the Grand Canyon Association bookstore employees and we have enjoyed working with them a great deal this year. Most of the time we are working with Jerry and Jeanie Harlin, and one day a week we work with Pat and Paula. Jerry and I have enjoyed sharing photography adventures, especially lightning photography. We both took turns at baking as well. George made a batch of his chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and I made my second batch of sourdough bread. The sourdough has been working wonderfully since I changed over to a better grade of flour. I had always used Gold Medal Better For Bread Flour, and the results seemed O.K. Well I went to Wheat Montana Flour, which is a bit more expensive, but the results have been lighter English muffins, and the bread is light and has a great texture.

The Monsoon Season continues with almost daily rain here. We went off on Thursday afternoon to do a hike along the East Rim, but got rained out just as we were about to start our hike. We returned home and went for a hike along the Transept and Bridle Path Trails with no rain. It was good to get out for an unofficial hike even though it was really in our back yard.

Today, I had roving at Pt. Imperial. I opted to hike the Pt. Imperial Trail which goes North to the Park boundary. The hike is not particularly scenic, and is through an area that burned ten years ago during the Outlet Fire. There is not much shade, and the vegetation is mostly a young aspen forest.  The monsoon clouds were building as I set out so there was only a short stretch in sunlight. Then there was some rumbling of thunder.  I made it to the Saddle Mountain Trail Head before it started to rain. As a matter of fact I enjoyed a quick lunch in a camp chair at an unattended campsite with a great view. Thankfully I had my poncho with me which kept we dry and warm until I returned to Pt. Imperial. May have another flower to ID for my book as well.


Here are a few pictures >>>

Butte Top
Monsoon Afternoon, Cape Royal
 Dilemma of how to frame Tree within picture --

Walhalla 1

Walhalla 2

Walhalla 3
 Wotan's Throne: Bits, Pieces, and all --




Vishnu Temple

Late Light on East Rim

Wotan's Throne

Capturing the Moment

Sunset from the Cape

 Around the No. Rim >>>

George doing Solar Viewing

Ponderosa Forest

Brahma and Zoraster's Temples

Sunset Sky over Walhalla Plateau



Around The North Rim >>

Stellar Jay with Nut

Golden Mantled Squirrel
Stellar's Jay

Footwear for Hiking





Along Pt. Imperial Trail >>

Dwarf Goldenrod with Bee




Baby Horned Lizard

View of Saddle Mountain Trail

Rain Approaching while lunching

Mushroom Stack on Tree Stump
 North Rim Views >>>

Forest View

Hoary Aster

Least Chipmunk

Salsify gone to seed








Shaggy Mane Mushroom Family (Edible)







Monday, September 9, 2013

GRAND CANYON VOLUNTEER - 31 AUGUST, WEEK 13


 We had a pleasant trip to Kanab this past week as it was cool and overcast with the threat of thunder showers. The thunder showers never materialized, so we treated ourselves to one of Jacob Lake Store’s famous chocolate raspberry milk shakes. (Sanity prevails: we split it. :-) )

We   had another PSAR volunteer to breakfast on Wednesday morning. I treated us all to poached eggs on my sourdough muffins, and they were well received by us all.  I also did a few other chores before taking off in the afternoon. My photography included some deer photos, a kaibab squirrel, and mushrooms which are quite abundant now with all of the rain that we have had.

Thursday was a typical day with some laundry in the morning, and making more of those sourdough English muffins. George in the meantime was set up for solar viewing at the Lodge. About the end of that project there was an emergency where a visitor slipped on the way out to an unsanctioned trail and fell and possibly broke her leg. George helped with the transport, and almost got recruited to drive the ambulance. When he got home in the middle of the afternoon, it was my time, so to speak, to get away from trailer.

I went off in pursuit of photography. There were thunderstorms brewing. I met up with our neighbor Jerry and Jeanie at the picnic area and got a couple of shots of the storm but it did not amount to much. Jerry and I decided to go down to the Lodge and see what was brewing to the West. Well there was quite a show about to begin. We got set up and the thunder and lightning came. The thunder was not particularly dramatic, but the lightning show went on for a little over an hour. We both have Lightning Triggers which witll trigger the shutter for us, we just have to set the f-stop, shutter speed, and point the camera in the right direction. Well in an hour’s time we had 58 pictures that had at least one lightning bolt in it!! We are processing the images, and I have a couple posted here.

The Monsoon season has really been strong here. There has been damage to the North Kaibab Trail with a couple of small rock slides, and trail wash outs. The Trail Crew has been working diligently on the issues. Then just today we had some more heavy rain. The visitors do not like picture perfect days, but we try to explain to them that when there are clouds and/or fog in the Canyon it is special. All tat they need to do is be patient and wait for the clouds to rise and make for magical moments. (Of course this is hard to do when you are on a schedule and only have a few hours or a day to visit.

I am not looking forward to this coming week when they will be closing the road to Cape Royal from Roosevelt Point on so that road improvements can be made. There will be a number of disgruntled visitors from September 3rd to the closing of the Park in October. I have one more day working out there, tomorrow, and I plan on being there through sunset.

It is hard to believe that Fall is quickly approaching but there are sign: mushrooms; aspen and maples changing colors; hunters in the forest. The temperatures are dropping, but that is in part due to the monsoon activity. 

Sunset Sky from The Lodge:



Fauna and Mushrooms:

Kaibab Squirrel

Colorful Mushroom

Mule Deer Buck

White Mushroom



Inversion in The Canyon:




                         



Lightning, August 29:




  
August 30: Sunshine, Inversion, and Storm Brewing: