Canyon Dave Tours

21/05/2024

Here is a poem I wrote one evening as I crawled into my sleeping bag below the Redwall Limestone cliff in Grand Canyon. Now I am 80 years old and I don't get down there anymore.
--Dave

Night Under the Redwall

A faded spread on top
As evening bleaches the day.
There are pillows with head-hole shadows
And dark bodies beneath.
Your ruddy shoulder is ultimate red;
Like a waning moon the crack narrows.
Feel the weight of the bedding.

16/05/2022

There's more to Grand Canyon than just the view.

11/05/2022

Cactus blooming in the Inner Canyon means summer is just around the corner. Enjoy the flowers but watch out for those cactus spines!

26/04/2022

19/04/2022

Water is life.

12/04/2022

Flying saucers over Grand Canyon? Only to the imaginative. Lenticular clouds form from very high winds at the upper altitudes and usually forewarn winter and spring precipitation. Hold onto your hats, a very windy week is forecasted!

11/04/2022

Wonderful Q&A session with Wayne Ranney, well-known Grand Canyon geologist!

Recorded Live Q/A Session: Grand Canyon Geology with Wayne RanneySUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwajUkTm0S8ElyMxq8h0bpg?---Watch this Recorded L...

06/04/2022

We saw the chopper last week, it's very cool to view a helicopter in the Canyon and get an understanding of its true scale!

Last week a Chinook helicopter brought in materials and large equipment: an excavator, Connex boxes, precast manholes, and precast headworks to the Phantom Ranch area, as construction at the Phantom Ranch Wastewater Treatment Plant (PRWWTP) continues.

The Phantom Ranch WWTP has insufficient capacity and capability to treat the current user demand and meet the state quality standards, which has resulted in it operating at half capacity.

Critical short-term upgrades are being conducted to the treatment systems as well as aeration and tank installation to improve performance. Building and mechanical monitoring will also be upgraded to improve personnel safety.

Inner canyon trail users in the vicinity of Phantom Ranch may experience temporary delays of up to 15 minutes, and noise and dust from equipment and helicopters. Visitors should follow directions from National Park Service (NPS) staff and construction crew workers as needed in the work zones to maintain safety.

Details > https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/news/phantom-ranch-wastewater-treatment-plant-construction-begins.htm

More about Phantom Ranch > https://go.nps.gov/phantom-ranch (469)

Image description: Flying over a green river between sheer cliff walls, a Chinook helicopter is carrying a Connex box suspended in a sling load. NPS Photo/D. Brenchley March 31, 2022

04/04/2022

They must get the best views.

03/04/2022

Always cool when Grand Canyon Railway busts out the old steam engine!

01/04/2022

Happy Centennial to Phantom Ranch!

28/03/2022

Contemplating deep time on a shady day.

23/03/2022

Celebrating spring on World Water Day!

21/03/2022

Take a minute inside the oldest continuously operating blacksmith shop in the US!

19/03/2022

Before Charlie's Angels, there were the Harvey Girls.

“I’m glad I was a Harvey Girl. The most important thing in the whole story of the Harvey Girls is the fact it gave woman a chance to move out of the lives they were locked into and to be able to be a bit adventuresome.” - Zada Sharon, Harvey Girl.

The iconic Harvey Girls worked at Grand Canyon and all over the Southwest. The job provided new freedom and independence for women during the 1930s and 1940s, however the experiences were different for women of color.

More about the Harvey Girls at Grand Canyon > https://go.nps.gov/gc-hg

Photo shows a group of 20 El Tovar Harvey Girls in their evening uniforms, posing for a group photo with Fred Harvey General Manager Victor Patrosso. They are standing near the hotel. Circa 1926

18/03/2022

Timeless.

Throwback Thursday

From a 1915 Keystone Photo View entitled, "The Granite Gorge of the Colorado, up river from Pyrites Point Grand Canyon, Arizona."

"From where we sit, there is the foaming river 1,200 feet still below us. Here we are in the very midst of the Grand Canyon, one of the most interesting and awe-inspiring regions in the world.

Though we are still so far above the river, remember, the actual rim of this tremendous canyon is nearly a mile above our heads.

Words, you see, could never give one an idea of such places, but as you look at this photo you can realize the perilous depth, as by an actual visit."

Top 10 Tips for Visiting Grand Canyon
— Plan Like a Park Ranger > https://go.nps.gov/gc10 (1010)

Do you have us on your list this week? Planning to visit the South Rim for a few hours to take in the view? Know that it has been extremely busy this week.

Try to arrive before 9:30 am —or after 4:30 pm to avoid long entrance lines and limited parking.

Tips and Suggested Activities For Spring Break 2022 > https://go.nps.gov/sr-tips (6996)



Image: an historic sepia toned photo of a person sitting on a ledge and looking down one thousand feet at a muddy river flowing between rock walls of a river gorge. In addition, peaks and cliffs are also seen rising thousands of feet above the lower gorge. Photo; Keystone Photo Views, 1915 - Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection.

16/03/2022

We've had condor sightings the last few weeks! If you're traveling on Highway 89A and crossing Navajo Bridge, be sure to stop for the view and maybe a glimpse of these prospective parents!

15/03/2022

From a beautiful monsoon summer day.

The Trail of Time between Yavapai Geology Museum and the Village Historic District, is a paved, interpretive, timeline trail (1.3 miles/ 2.1 km), that focuses on Grand Canyon vistas and rocks to guide visitors to ponder, explore, and understand the magnitude of geologic time and the stories encoded by the rock layers and landscapes.

Along the timeline trail are a series of rocks and exhibits that explain how Grand Canyon and its rock formed. Each meter walked on the timeline trail signifies one million years of the canyon's geologic history. Bronze markers mark locations in time; every tenth marker is labeled in millions of years.

https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/the-trail-of-time.htm

Spring Break 2022 Guide. How to enter the South Rim, find a place to park, get around, and things to do and see > https://go.nps.gov/sr-tips (6815)

Image description: A 360° panorama showing a paved footpath along the edge of a vast canyon landscape of colorful stratified cliffs, and buttes. Thunderstorm clouds fill the sky in the distance, and rain is falling within the canyon. Opposite the canyon view is a forest of pinyon and juniper trees extending to the horizon. NPS photo/M. Quinn

09/03/2022

Cheers to them!

08/03/2022

Hopi House in the snow. Winter weather will continue on and off through Friday before our usual (warmer!) spring pattern sets in this weekend!

05/03/2022

Spring Break, Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon, Things To Do, Grand Canyon Centennial

04/03/2022

Stay safe out there.

02/03/2022

And a happy birthday to America's first National Park. Yellowstone celebrates 150 years!!

Keep your distance from the bison!

28/02/2022

Tis the season for cloud inversions at Grand Canyon!

27/02/2022

It's ok to cry. It's the Grand Canyon.

“Crying: Acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon.” – Ron Swanson

On this day in 1919, Grand Canyon National Park was established (incorporated in 1908 as Grand Canyon National Monument). Vast, magnificent and beautiful, the Grand Canyon is one of the nation's most distinguishable landmarks. Stretching 277 miles from end to end, steep, rocky walls descend more than a mile to the canyon’s floor, where the wild Colorado River traces a swift course southwest. But where are the faces?

Do you remember the first time you visited the Grand Canyon?

Image: A visitor takes in the canyon view from Bright Angel Point. Located on the North Rim, Bright Angel Point puts you at the edge of the Grand Canyon’s vast scenery and offers some of the best views. Photo by Darren Barnes (www.sharetheexperience.org).

27/02/2022

Happy 103rd Birthday Grand Canyon National Park!

26/02/2022

“I am the only mouth they can now use to speak, the only ears they can harness to hear what goes on in this world, the only eyes through which they can glimpse an unimaginable present, and the only ears to capture the sound of everything that has come to pass in the vacuum of their departure from the lives they knew.” - Shelton Johnson

We want to spotlight Park Ranger Shelton Johnson from Yosemite National Park for his work in raising awareness of overlooked history through diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in our national parks. Shelton’s passion is to engage the Black and African American community with public lands, especially by sharing the forgotten stories of African Americans in national parks. A notable part of history he focuses on is the story of the 24th Infantry Regiment and the 9th Cavalry Regiment, known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.” Johnson shared, “In speaking for myself I speak for others too whose voices were raised, but people chose not to listen. In that regard I speak for my ancestors who are African, Cherokee, Seminole, and Irish.”

Thank you, Ranger Shelton Johnson, for sharing the forgotten stories of African Americans in National Parks and reminding us of all people who shape this nation and create its stories.

Listen to his podcast: A Buffalo Soldier Speaks
https://go.nps.gov/1002ik
And check out the history of the Buffalo Soldiers in Arizona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyIgGy2OOwM



NPS Photo/Cayce Clifford
Shelton Johnson, a uniformed African American National Park Ranger, stands smiling in front of a granite cliff in Yosemite National Park.

18/02/2022

We've been seeing this coyote on our tours lately, thankfully usually from our vehicles. Hopefully she recovers and doesn't get habituated to people food/trash!

17/02/2022

Dedication.

Let's recognize a true leader in National Park Service History—Betty Reid Soskin!

Betty is the oldest serving Park Ranger in America. Her focus is uplifting forgotten African American heroines of World War II the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park.

As an African American woman who experienced the trauma of World War II, she provides visitors with narratives and stories that are often unheard. She brings more context and understanding to all who are fortunate to see and hear her programs. Unafraid of difficult stories, Betty speaks the hard truths that shape the history of our nation.

To learn more about Betty’s inspiring work visit: www.nps.gov/rori/learn/historyculture/betty-reid-soskin.htm



NPS Photo, a woman in a National Park Service Uniform poses seated, fingers interlaced

15/02/2022

It's not too late to send that Valentine!