Biking the Rainbow Rim Trail along the edge of the Grand Canyon

In late June we packed our bikes and camping gear and headed to the Kaibab Plateau so we could mountain bike on the Rainbow Rim Trail. We’ve done this trail before but it’s such a great ride with amazing views that it’s always worth the long drive.

It takes about four hours to get to the trail head from Flagstaff. The last hour of driving is on Forest Service gravel roads through the aspen, pine, spruce, and fir forests of the high plateau of the Kaibab. We went to the south end of the trail at Timp Point and set up camp on the edge of the rim overlooking the Grand Canyon. After a quick lunch we were on the trail heading north.

The Rainbow Rim Trail (RRT) is about 18 miles from end to end with five points along the trail. From south to north they are Timp Point, North Timp Point, Locust Point, Fence Point, and Parissawampitts Point.

Riding along the edge of the Grand Canyon on the Rainbow Rim Trail.
Riding along the edge of the Grand Canyon on the Rainbow Rim Trail.

Each point delivers you a stunning view of the Grand Canyon. Between the points the trail heads in a generally eastward direction as it contours around side canyons. And it is these side canyons that are the most interesting. Because they are oriented east-west there is substantial shade in the canyons resulting in a cooler micro-climate. The south and shady sides of these canyons are filled with aspen groves as well as spruce and fir trees while the sunnier north sides have ponderosa pine and even juniper and pinyon trees. We even found some wild strawberry plants.

Lush forest found in the side canyons traversed by the Rainbow Rim Trail.
Lush forest found in the side canyons traversed by the Rainbow Rim Trail.

There are no large cities near the Kaibab Plateau hence there are no city lights. The nights are exceptionally dark and the stars are brilliant. Take some time to just lie back and stare up at the sky. It’s good for your soul.

The night sky as seen from the Kaibab Plateau.
The night sky as seen from the Kaibab Plateau.

The Arizona Trail (AZT) also traverses the Kaibab Plateau. Whereas the RRT is along the west edge of the Plateau the AZT is closer to the east edge but only overlooks the edge of the canyon in one location. In that regard, the RRT trumps the AZT.

The Jacob Lake District of the Kaibab National Forest has an informational page about this trail including access points, maps, and mileage.

Lightning across the landscape of northern Arizona

The North American Monsoon (NAM) is in full swing across the southwestern states and the daily showers and thunderstorms present many opportunities for dramatic lighting and lightning.

Earlier this week I traveled to the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park hoping to get some sunset images with storm clouds hanging over the canyon. Well, there certainly were clouds — and there wasn’t much of a sunset. The backup plan was to photograph lightning. On this count, the storms didn’t disappoint. There was a storm to the west and I was able to point the camera across the lines of cliffs and rock faces that were already falling into deep shadow in the late twilight. And off in the distance was a great flash of lightning.

Lightning over the Grand Canyon.
Lightning over the Grand Canyon.

A few days later I tried once again to capture twilight lightning — this time at Sunset Crater National Monument. A storm developed in early evening and moved to the northeast over the lower terrain of the Painted Desert in the Little Colorado River Valley.

Lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.
Lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.

In the foreground can be seen the Ponderosa Pine trees at the higher elevations in the Monument; in the middle distance are some of the many cinder cones that are a part of the San Francisco Volcanic Field; in the far distance are the lower elevations of the Painted Desert.

Lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.
Lightning over the Painted Desert of northern Arizona.

With the typical NAM lasting through early September there should be plenty of opportunities for more dramatic lightning photographs.

Painted faces in the desert

North of Flagstaff, Arizona, on Highway 89 are some painted faces on stumps on the east side of the road. The only information I have found is contained in these two links:

“Arizona scenic drive: Flagstaff to Cameron” 

“US-89 North: Flagstaff to Cameron”

[Edit: broken links]

While driving south to Flagstaff a few weeks ago I noticed that a nearly full moon had risen in the east. Since I would be approaching the painted faces in a few miles I thought that the combination of the faces and moon would make an interesting photograph.

Painted faces in the desert.
Painted faces in the desert.

Carefully stopping and pulling well off the road I studied the setup and possible composition. If I walked up close to the faces I could lean over the fence and use a wide-angle lens to capture the scene without the fence but the moon would be very small. Alternatively, I could use a telephoto lens and shoot from farther away and get a larger moon next to the faces but I would also get the fence in the image.

I decided that the telephoto was the better choice even if the image included the fence. This is, after all, how it looks to everyone driving by.

The final flight of the Endeavour

As the Endeavour (STS-134) mission comes to an end NASA is one step closer to the final chapter of the Space Shuttle program. The Discovery has already flown its final mission. The upcoming flight of Atlantis will be the final and last shuttle mission.

ISS and STS-134 along with frozen cloud of ice particles from a vented tank over northern Arizona.
ISS and STS-134 along with frozen cloud of ice particles from a vented tank over northern Arizona.

Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 8:55 pm MST 29 May 2011 (0355 UTC 30 May 2011) and began a slow separation from the ISS in preparation for its landing on Wednesday. The double flyby of the ISS and the STS-134 Endeavour over northern Arizona early this morning resulted in this spectacular image as the two spacecraft emerged from Earth’s shadow. In preparation for its return to Earth Endeavour had vented its tanks creating an ice cloud in space that was moving along with the two craft.

This is a composite of eight images of 15 seconds duration. There is a small gap between each image as the camera shutter briefly closed. Also visible in this image in the upper right is the faint track of another earth orbiting satellite — most likely COSMOS 2228 Nova 1.

Edit: Received information that the satellite is Nova1.

Springtime snow in northern Arizona

It’s been an interesting spring as the La Niña conditions of this past winter continue to abate. One of the characteristics of this diminishing pattern has been for low pressure systems to drop southeastward from the eastern Pacific and west coast and then across the southwestern states. Springtime low pressure systems routinely move across the southwest and bring strong winds to Arizona and these systems have been quite normal in that respect, that is, it’s been very windy.

But they have also brought the core of the low pressure system farther south than is typical and across Arizona. The result has been a combination of below normal temperatures and above normal rain along with snow in the higher elevations.

We had three days of snow last week — but only trace amounts fell across the area — and now we are having a real bona fide snow event. A few inches of snow have accumulated at elevations above 7000 feet.

Snowy scene in northern Arizona - in mid May.
Snowy scene in northern Arizona – in mid May.

Will this be the final event of this winter-like spring? Or will we see snow again? The record books show that snow isn’t rare in May at these elevations — and snow in June has happened on a number of occasions, too.

We’re all looking forward to spring finally arriving before the calendar says summer.