Grand Ambitions

...continued.

Dawn broke upon a parting sky. Fifty feet beyond my campsite the damp black earth vanished into an abyss. Across the canyon, a reddish-brown wall of sandstone sat coolly in a shadow it cast from nearly a half mile above. Breathless, I walked to the rim. There, a thousand feet below, lay the Colorado River, patiently seeking its path through rock confines. It flowed through a narrow, 3,000 foot-tall channel, where one wall gave way to the shelf of lava I stood upon. Downstream, the river was the conqueror. Fading out of view were ridges eroded further and further apart.

I had discovered Mother Nature's geologic workshop. Pillars of golden tan gave way to layers faded the color of papyrus, then stripes oxidized red, then subtly-shaded bands of brown, and, finally, a foundation of middle gray which cradled the river. Cutting vertically through all was the black of the lava. Eons past it had filled a connecting canyon before spilling into the Grand. The perseverant Colorado River had eventually cut through the intrusion and reclaimed its walls.

For two days I marveled at the micro-climate's diversity - barrel cactus, creosote, cottonwood, acacia, yucca. Altogether the park hosted over a thousand species of flora. I explored a thousand-foot side canyon crowded with a kaleidoscope of sandstone blocks and boulders of every dimension and shape. In the Spring the gorge would echo with the thunder of a waterfall tumbling from its rim. For my contemplation ancient petroglyphs decorated the smooth sandstone walls. I dallied late on a beach of cool, fine sand until the shadows caught the river.

The following morning I set out early for the park entrance at Tuweep, returning in direction of the lodge before going east. At the edge of the lava field a light aircraft, every detail visible in the clear cold air, circled into view, banked hard away, and then dropped toward the lodge. I crested the rise just as it bounced on the runway, throwing up a trail of dust. As the pilot gunned the engine and took off again, a figure came to the road and waited.