d and d on the road: Grand Canyon Suite, part 1 B (photos)

We first drove to Capitol Reef NP where we camped and hiked Spring Canyon (as well as a couple of shorter hikes)

The picture shows an easier section about a third of the way down the canyon.

After Capitol Reef we moved on to Bryce NP (at 8000') and did another hike: Down to the bottom and back up to the rim.

Grand Canyon Rim to Rim.

This photo shows most of the path we took. The sickle shaped greenery just left of center is Indian Springs campground and some of the trail is visible. The trail descends to the river via the dark slot just above and right of the top of Indian Springs. The large canyon that recedes from right center is Cottonwood Creek canyon and the trail follows this canyon for about two thirds of the visible length, and then veers to the left and climbs up to the North Rim.

Many flowers were in bloom, including yucca and cacti as well as a bunch of other things I don't know the names of

NP Ranger and Trip Leader

The visitor at our campsite:

This guy (I admit I didn't look close enough to see if it was a guy or gal) was a little over three feet long. It came slowly crawling through our site, dw was napping and I was sitting at the picnic table reading. When I noticed it, it was close enough I could have bent over and grabbed it. I carefully lifted my feet onto the table bench and watched it drink some water (a small stream was at the edge of our site) After a bit, I started lobbing pebbles and twigs at it, trying to get it to move on. Eventually it moved out of the immediate area, although it settled in for the night just 15 feet from out tent site. The ranger said these snakes weren't very aggressive and we needn't worry about it. (easy for her to say, her bed didn't have a great reptile 15 feet away) It was a splendid addition to the usual array of fauna: deer and squirrels and lizards and bugs. In the evening we went to a ranger talk given by a young ranger, Elissa. She told us the biggest snakes in the campsites have all been given names (Indian Springs -- Manny; Angels Rest -- George; and Cottonwood -- Sam) : Our snake was a smaller one, just an ordinary low-down no-name snake. (and the names might have been given by Elissa who gave an evening talk probably unique in National Park lore: the talk concerned the preservation role of the National Park Service and one thing to be preserved is silence. In that light Elissa (who started as a professional percussionist -- cymbals, timpani, etc. ) introduced John Cage and his piano piece --4'33" -- which is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. -- It can be performed on any instrument -- even a kazoo -- perhaps particularly a kazoo.)