May 25 - Desert View Watchtower

Desert View is another Mary Jane Colter creation.  Started in 1929, just as the Depression was beginning to change America, Desert View was completed by 1932.  Colter was a very resolute woman, first as an architect and as she oversaw construction.  Both these fields were male dominated, so her strong will was not appreciated. She was often resented for her demanding perfectionism.  But she had the backing of her bosses at the Fred Harvey Company, so she always got what she wanted.

Desert View Watchtower is a 70 foot high, 4 story building built by Colter for the Santa Fe Railroad. The company had realized that tourism was an important part of their business plan, and they needed another "destination" for Grand Canyon visitors on the eastern end of the park.  Like Hopi House, Desert View embodied the architectural philosophy of Mary Jane Colter.

The story is told that the construction workers, realizing that she had left the building site for a period of time, began to work in earnest.  When she returned and found a course of bricks not to her liking, Colter had them rip out the stones that weren't "correct" and find better stones. Quoting from one of her biographers, "Colter's philosophy was that a building should grow out of its setting, embodying the history and flavor of the location.  It should belong to its environment as though indigenous to that spot. She could not visualize the design of a building or plan its decoration until she had thought out its 'history.'"

Note the balolookong on the right corner of the building.  This is a Hopi mythical snake, the Great Plumed Serpent.

This is from the roof of the first floor. Note the different colors of stone that she purposefully designed into the building. Colter lived with the Hopi at several different times so she could understand their pueblo building style.

Looking back to Desert View from Moran Point - the next point to the west (about 3 miles away).

But a building is more than just an exterior, and Mary Jane Colter was also very exacting in how she decorated a building.  These pieces are designed to look old, but were installed in the building in 1932.  

 

This is a 180 degree panorama of the first floor interior.

Desert View Watchtower is an incredible building.  And the view of the Colorado River is just as spectacular.  The Colorado has been flowing south for about 35 miles, from Glen Canyon Dam through Marble Canyon.  The river then swings hard to the west, right at the base of Desert View.  For Mary Jane Colter, the choice of this location was no coincidence.  

The green ribbon below is the Colorado River, over 300 feet wide (as wide as a football field is long).

The Colorado River is 1450 miles from the Rockies in Colorado to the Gulf of California.  

It runs 277 miles through Grand Canyon National Park. 

May 24 - First hike into the Grand Canyon

Susan and I picked a short, sharp, and popular trail for our first hike - Bright Angel Trail.  Back before the Grand Canyon was a national park, Ralph Cameron charged a $1.00 toll to hike down. (Cameron filed fake mining claims in order to "legitimize" his toll. When those claims were thrown out, he had his friends file claims so he could keep charging the toll. The fight was many years in court and Grand Canyon was brought into the national park system before the Bright Angel Trail was finally opened to all for free.)

Hiked down to Mile and a Half House where there is water and shelter.  Dropped 1100 feet in 1.5 miles. This was the middle of the day, so there were just a few spots of shade. And those were sooooo welcome and needed!


Next time, Three Mile House for sure...and definitely starting earlier.  That's another 1100 foot drop in 1.5 miles.


This is dropping from the Kaibab Plateau towards the Colorado River.  Kaibab is Native American for "mountain turned upside down."  And that's exactly what this hiking is. We stopped at Mile and a Half House for water, some snacks, and shelter from the sun.  What an incredible view!

That green area in the picture below is a riparian zone called Indian Gardens. It's another 3 miles away and 2000 feet below us.  Indian Gardens has camping and (obviously) water, always an important consideration when hiking in the Grand Canyon.

The pictures below show how sharp and sheer the canyon walls are as we headed down the Bright Angel Trail.  View on the left side and right side of the trail.  

And mules always have the right of way on the trail.  

There is an even steeper section of the trail called Heartbreak Hill.  You can see the mules have stopped there for a rest.  

Looking up at the canyon rim - Kaibab Limestone - 230 million years old.

As we started heading back up from Mile and a Half House, the trail gets very dusty.  The mules pound (more like pulverize) the trail every day - rain or shine.  

Down is optional; up is mandatory.  

We also had our first day off together on Tuesday, going to Flagstaff for "supplies."  Flag is about an hour and a half away but I needed a haircut and we needed some groceries.

May 18 - Sunset Pictures

If this is training, let's keep it going!  I was on the Hermits Rest Sunset Tour.  We go west all the way to Hermits Rest, where Louis Boucher (aka the Hermit) lived.  He wasn't really a hermit but he did prefer to be alone.  The "Architect of the Grand Canyon" Mary Jane Colter built a rest stop out at the western terminus of the road for the Fred Harvey Company in 1914.  At that time, it was a stagecoach tour and folks needed a place to rest after the 9 mile journey.

As the bus pulled away from Grand Canyon Village, it was snowing.  Yes, this is May 18!  Snow wasn't sticking or anything, but it was cold.  Got out to the first viewpoint and were greeted with this picture.  We were all concerned that there might not be any good sunset pictures.

Above, this is looking across to the North Rim.  But as we visited Hopi Point and Pima Point, things started looking up.  Our final stop was Mohave Point.  So I took a few pictures to share.

This is my favorite so far.   

Take care and have a great weekend.

May 16 - Geology Training

The Grand Canyon is one of the 7 Wonders of the World*, and it’s all about geology.  So new hires get (2) 2 hour classes of a high level overview of geology (and what it means to the Grand Canyon).

This is looking from Yaki Point on the South Rim.  Different layers of sedimentary and metamorphic rock.  At the top, Kaibab Limestone ~ 270 million years old. And the black rock at the bottom of the Canyon is Vishnu Basement Rock ~ 1.6 billion years old. 

Colors are very bleached out; I hope to share better pics later. But you can see the layering.  This feature is called Isis Temple.

   

 

This is a close up of the Vishnu Basement Rock of the Inner Canyon. 

This is the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim, about 12 miles away (as the raven flies). 

 

And Black Bridge as seen from Yavapai Point.  The bridge is over 400 feet long, crossing the Colorado River which is 300 feet wide (the width of a football field).  It's 75 feet above the river.

Shiva Temple on the left and Isis Temple on the right.  Many of the features in the Grand Canyon were named by Clarence Dutton.  He studied Middle East and Far East religions before becoming interested in geology.

The fun is just beginning!

We took a Sunset Tour out to Hermit's Rest on the far western section of Grand Canyon National Park.  Another Mary Jane Colter masterpiece.

* If you made it this far, you might be interested in the other 6 Wonders of the Natural World:
Mt. Everest
Victoria Falls
Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Great Barrier Reef
Volcano in Mexico - Mt. Parcutin
Aurora Borealis

Have a great day!  Jordan