Desert View

To continue my training today, I spent the day with my boss and the only other new hire, exploring the greater Grand Canyon region. We started off the day headed out to Desert View, stopping at a few outlooks and the Tusayan Museum along the way. One of our stops was at Grand View Trail Head, where we hiked down a bit to check out that trail. Grand View is no longer listed as a hike as the trail is not maintained, and it is incredibly steep.

A short way down the path my boss pointed to a tree and asked what kind it was. Looking at it, and feeling the cooler air of being just below the rim, I finally figured out it was a Douglas Fir. It's pretty neat the different microclimates we have here, depending on where you are in the canyon. On the hike up the path I was breathing so hard I thought I'd need an inhaler. It's pretty typical for our hikes, but I'm not a fan of the feeling like you can't get enough oxygen.

Just before the east entrance/exit of the park is Desert View. Desert View has a general store, a bookstore, gas station, and the watchtower. The watchtower was designed by Mary Jane Coulter, who designed many of the other buildings in the area. In all of her designs she aimed to use natural, native elements in her design, so the majority of the buildings are made of limestone and sandstone, rocks, and mud. Very cool!! At the top of the watchtower you can look into the canyon.

As you travel along the canyon your view changes, sometimes drastically. Out near Desert View you can see The Painted Desert in the distance. The canyon seems to be less deep, as the river snakes through. This is one of the few locations where you can see the Canyon Supergroup. Typically this layer of the canyon is hidden behind the other layers. I took some pictures, as I can't really describe it, but those will have to wait tomorrow to be loaded up.

As we traveled back towards the village we stopped at a few other lookouts. At one towards the right (upriver) you could see the river lazily meandering, where as towards the left the river began to cut out the inner gorge. Very cool!! I took pictures of this as well.

Midday we ended back up at headquarters and broke for lunch. After lunch we continued our exploration with a trip out to Hermit's Rest, which is the other end of the South Rim. Along the way we discussed the mission of the park service, and how it fits in with the developments in the park, and different aspects of our daily activities. It's very cool; a balance between nature and culture, between past, present, and future, and between enjoyment and restoration.

At one of our stops along the way we were shown a bird. I knew it was a swallow, and learned later that it was the violet-green swallow. A gorgeous bird, with a heck of a flight pattern!

I'm running out of steam, so I'm turning in for the night. Tomorrow I'm back in uniform, and on my own. I wish you could all experience this with me. It is absolutely a fantastic time!!