Day 69 May 12

Day 2 at the Grand Canyon

The long drive and late night the day before forced us to sleep in.  After breakfast we went to the visitor’s center, we found out about the trials and Junior Ranger programs in Grand Canyon.  We tried to see about reservations to stay at Phantom Ranch or the Campground at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  We put ourselves on the waiting list for both.  We would rather stay at Phantom Ranch even though it is more expensive to save hiking down and up with sleeping bags and tents.

 Jane and Anna have been doing the Junior Ranger Program since we learned about it after Carlsbad Caverns.  It is an educational program offered to kids 16 and under and involves doing a number of educational activities to learn about the park.  When you are done you have to present your work to a ranger and show him or her what you have learned.  This can take 15 or30 minutes to present your work if you complete the tasks to the rangers satisfaction you earn a Junior Ranger patch or Badge that you can only get by completing the program.  The activities are different at different parks but some are the same.  Jane and Anna have gotten very good at Identifying different cactus because of all the parks that we have gone to in the desert.  One of the things some of the Parks require is that you go to a Ranger Talk.  Most Rangers have advanced degrees in science and are experienced presenters so it makes for very educational experiences for all.

Later in the day we went to a Ranger program on Geology and the formation of the Canyon.  The Ranger centered his talk around an acronym: A DUDE.  To explain the geologic forces that produced the canyon.  The canyon is cut into the Colorado Plateau which covers a huge area. 

Jane and Anna at the South Rim

At the bottom of the canyon are basement rocks laid down in the Precambrian era this was called by the Ranger A for accretion. The rock is a combination of shists and igneous rock.  A mile of sandstone and limestone layers was deposited on top of the basement rock (D for deposition).  The Sandstone and Limestone layers were deposited when the whole area was covered by a great inland sea.  Over time the Sea expanded and shrank at different times.  When water was covering the area limestone was formed from the marine organisms and when the water was low the sand of the shore areas was deposited.   This was able to continue because of the lack of rain in the area so once a layer was deposited it tended to stay.  U is for uplift.  The tectonic plate movement squeezed this area and pushed the entire Colorado Plateau upward to in some places 10000 feet.  D is for down cutting.  Water tries to flow to sea level for the most part.  Water flowing down 10000 feet has a lot of power to cut through rock layers,  the Colorado River and its tributaries (like the Bright Angle and Phantom Creeks) cut through the layers of sedimentary rock to the harder basement rocks of the canyon floor.  E is for erosion.  Rain and weathering further shape the canyon by erosion to make some of its other interesting features.  Buttes  form where layers of harder rock protect layers of softer rock  within the canyon making flat topped pillars in the canyon. This is how the Ranger explained the formation of the canyon through A DUDE ( Accretion Deposition Uplift Down cutting and Erosion).

After the seminar we did about two miles of the Rim trail.  We dropped the car off in one parking lot and walked the trial.  At the end of the section of the trial we got on a shuttle back to the car. 

A Butte in the distance

A picture cannot capture the size of the canyon