Canal Leading to an Infiltration Basin
Phoenix gets a large proportion of their drinking water from recycled water percolating through the very thick unsaturated vally floor sediments
Infiltration Basin and an educational park and a public library
Ah the GRAND Canyon! So much more awesome than the pictures.
Bright Angel Canyon, looking North.
Bright Angel Trail, a tourist super highway.
I took the road less travelled, and found out that it was less travelled for a reason.
If you still have trouble with geological concepts such as stratigraphy or contouring after a trip here, you should get your head checked.
Cooly sandstone weathering formations
Red Sandstone Cliffs.
A Human contemplates the meaning of his short life on earth... and then eats some beef jerky.
I thought I had loads of time to get to my camp site, but I didn't realize that it got dark at 6 pm in AZ.
Old Copper Mine, from the late 1800's before tourism came along.
Very poorly sorted high energy stream bed sediments.
The nice flat sedimentary units appeared to overly (presumably unconformably) the deeper meta-igneous granitic rocks. This was a VERY exciting realization for me!! It's like the rocks are speaking to you, calling out.
Twilight sets in 2500 ft vertically above the Colorado River.
The beginnings of a sunrise.
Morning, after spending 14 hours in my sleeping bag, keeping warm. There is not a whole lot you can do at night when surrounded by 2000 ft cliffs on all sides, and all you brought was shorts. I counted at least 20 shooting stars, reviewed my constellations, watched attentively for UFO's, and avoided drinking water because the last of it was from a stream of questionable quality, so that if I got Giardia, at least I wouldn't get it on the way out of the canyon the next day (I was counting on at least a 8 hour incubation time).
It was cold in the morning. The only time I used my Canadian clothes.
Sunrise.
Now this was interesting. A spring coming from a limestone formation that had weathered back and under the overlying (harder) sandstone. This often happens in water falls (i.e. Niagara falls is created by the conditions of harder rock overlying softer rock).
The journey up and out, 3500 ft vertical climbing.
Made it out of the canyon, and even had a shower! After 3 days without.
Condor. Bred in captivity, released to the wild.
A natural spring in the desert, Montazuma's Well, which by the looks of it, if you drank it you might receive Montazuma's Revenge.
Montazuma's Castle, what were these people so afraid of? They had the only waterfront property in the middle of the desert for 100's of miles around. The Sinauga Indians died out or dispersed around 1400 AD, mysteriously. That's ok though, because they never would have kept up with rising realistate costs.
I took the road less travelled, and found out that it was less travelled for a reason.
If you still have trouble with geological concepts such as stratigraphy or contouring after a trip here, you should get your head checked.
Cooly sandstone weathering formations
Red Sandstone Cliffs.
A Human contemplates the meaning of his short life on earth... and then eats some beef jerky.
I thought I had loads of time to get to my camp site, but I didn't realize that it got dark at 6 pm in AZ.
Old Copper Mine, from the late 1800's before tourism came along.
Very poorly sorted high energy stream bed sediments.
The nice flat sedimentary units appeared to overly (presumably unconformably) the deeper meta-igneous granitic rocks. This was a VERY exciting realization for me!! It's like the rocks are speaking to you, calling out.
Twilight sets in 2500 ft vertically above the Colorado River.
The beginnings of a sunrise.
Morning, after spending 14 hours in my sleeping bag, keeping warm. There is not a whole lot you can do at night when surrounded by 2000 ft cliffs on all sides, and all you brought was shorts. I counted at least 20 shooting stars, reviewed my constellations, watched attentively for UFO's, and avoided drinking water because the last of it was from a stream of questionable quality, so that if I got Giardia, at least I wouldn't get it on the way out of the canyon the next day (I was counting on at least a 8 hour incubation time).
It was cold in the morning. The only time I used my Canadian clothes.
Sunrise.
Now this was interesting. A spring coming from a limestone formation that had weathered back and under the overlying (harder) sandstone. This often happens in water falls (i.e. Niagara falls is created by the conditions of harder rock overlying softer rock).
The journey up and out, 3500 ft vertical climbing.
Made it out of the canyon, and even had a shower! After 3 days without. 
Condor. Bred in captivity, released to the wild.
A natural spring in the desert, Montazuma's Well, which by the looks of it, if you drank it you might receive Montazuma's Revenge.
Montazuma's Castle, what were these people so afraid of? They had the only waterfront property in the middle of the desert for 100's of miles around. The Sinauga Indians died out or dispersed around 1400 AD, mysteriously. That's ok though, because they never would have kept up with rising realistate costs.
