Guide Training at the Amangiri Resort, Big Water, Utah

A brand new kind of resort is soon to open on the Colorado Plateau. There has never been anything quite like it. Located just west of Glen Canyon Dam off of US Highway 89, the Amangiri Resort sits on 600 acres of private land tucked between the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. On Friday, September 4 I conducted a field-based, geology training session for the resort staff. The property is spectacular and contains world-class exposures of an ancient sand dune complex (Entrada Sandstone) and a coarse shoreline deposit (Dakota Formation).

View to the west on the Amangiri property. The resort sits in front of the spur of sandstone in the top portion of the valley floor.

The staff are developing a climbing route called the Via Ferrata, named after the famous traverse in the Italian Dolomites. Here we climb through the Entrada Sandstone on the way to the mesa top.

View of the contact between the Middle Jurassic Entrada Sandstone below (165 Ma)and the Late Cretaceous Dakota Formation (105 Ma). An unconformity of 60 million years separates these rock units and developed when the southern Colorado Plateau was uplifted in the Early Cretaceous during the Nevadan Orogeny.

Numerous bolts with steps have been set in the rocks. Climbing specialists will help willing guests to make the climb up the cliff face and across the geologic contact.

Close-up view of the resort property from atop the Via Ferrata climb.

View from the top of the mesa towards the resort property.


A loop hike brought us to another great canyon cut into the Entrada Sandstone. An obvious break in the cliff is evident here, yet both packages of this sandstone belong to a single rock unit. Future studies may one day segregate these sand bodies into separate formations (or members) but this distinction is restricted only to the local area.

Fantastic tafoni structures within the Entrada were seen along the route. Note that these are not distributed randomly throughout the rock, but rather form preferentially along the cross-bedded surfaces (angled lines) or the bounding surfaces (horizontal lines). Before the sandstone was exposed to erosion, groundwater moved along these planes and gradually weakened the sandstone cement. When the rock was finally exposed, the pockets of weakened sand grains eroded out more rapidly than surrounding areas.

Hikers on the Via Ferrata, Amangiri Resort, Utah

Virginia and Washington DC

Helen and I just returned from Virginia and Washington DC. I am posting a few pictures from the Shenandoah Valley and our capital city.

The Shenandoah River from near the town of the same name.

Helen's brother Richard took us to a wonderful German restaurant in Madison, Virginia

The town of Fredericksburg is full of Revolutionary War and Civil War history and has a very quaint downtown area that was great for walking.

Creative name for a tattoo shop in Fredericksburg

The falls on the Rappahannock River. These rapids limited upstream navigation of ocean-going ships and thus determined the location of Fredericksburg.

I am just fascinated with pre-Revolutionary War history in North America. This sign speaks to events that happened here at the falls.

Our first stop in DC was the Capitol building. We were treated to a tour with one of our congresswomans staff. There is a brand new visitor center that opened last November and it is excellent.

Entrance gallery of the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.

George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon. I didn't have much interest in going here but Helen wanted to so I tagged along (rather than going to a baseball game at Camden Yards, Baltimore). I was truly impressed with the visit! There was an incredible new museum on the grounds that was superb.

The view of the Potomac River from George Washington's porch. The area across the Potomac in Maryland has been protected to preserve the view-shed. What foresight!

Linda (a friend of mine from Antarctica, 1986) and Helen in rocking chairs looking out over the Potomac from the porch.

John F. Kennedy's grave at Arlington. We were moved by this scene.

The National Park map at Arlington showed that John Wesley Powell was buried here so we hunted for his grave and found it. What a treat.

Ford's Theater in Washington where President Lincoln was assassinated. After seeing a History Channel special earlier this year (on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth), I wanted to visit this place. Like many other visits we had on this trip, there was a newly opened museum beneath the theater.

The Presidential Box where the crime happened.

We cruised by the South Lawn of the White House and took a quick picture. The vegetable garden was very near the fence.

We had great weather and it wasn't hot at all.

Helen at the Lincoln Memorial.

Wow!

He was truly a giant among men. One cannot go to Washington, DC and not feel both pride at our many accomplishments as a nation and shame at our inexcusable failings. Our experiment in democracy has yielded unimaginable wealth - both in spirit and treasure. Yet we have gun-downed some of our most capable and honored leaders. Some of us look at the accomplishments and say, "We have achieved this," while others look at our failings and say, "We must strive harder if we are ever to realize the dream." We have a wonderful heritage, unique and bold. But we only dishonor our forefathers by assuming their gift to us is complete.

Opening of "Lasting Light" and "Painting the Canyon" at the Booth Western Art Museum

Helen and I attended the gala opening of the two exhibits, "Lasting Light" and "Painting the Canyon" at the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia last night.


The evening began with an artists reception at the home of Seth Hopkins, the Executive Director of the Booth. We then attended a lecture by noted Grand Canyon artist Curt Walters of Sedona, who shared his many talents with an audience of about 125 people.


Helen and I were graciously introduced to one and all at the lecture by Mr. Hopkins (as newlyweds) and representing the Grand Canyon Association.


The whole connection between the Booth and GCA began after one of my GC Field Institute hikes in 2006 with a Boy Scout group from Atlanta.


After the hike the scouts volunteered for a public service project in Grand Canyon Village and by chance, were assigned to help carry the "Lasting Light" photographs for hanging in Kolb Studio, June 2006. (To view a catalog of the photo's in "Lasting Light," click this link).


One of the leaders of the scouts saw the photos and once back in Georgia mentioned them to Seth Hopkins, who pursued the idea of bringing the show to the Booth.


Never one to leave well enough alone, Mr. Hopkins also agreed to exhibit 30 paintings of the canyon from the National Park and GCA collections!


The Booth truly is a magnificent Western art museum, every bit as good as anything you'd see in Scottsdale or Jackson! This extra large Maynard Dixon classic hangs in one of the many galleries in the Booth. If your travels ever take you into or near Atlanta, plan on making the 45-minute drive north on I-75 to Cartersville for a visit to the Booth and its sister museum, the Tellus Science Museum. We had a fantastic visit to Cartersville.

Lecture at the Tellus Science Museum, Georgia

Helen and I are in Cartersville, Georgia tonight and I am giving a lecture about "Carving Grand Canyon". We spent the day exploring this wonderful museum, which opened the doors to its huge expansion earlier this year in January. The exhibits are stunning. Tomorrow night we will visit the sister museum, the Booth Western Art Museum where Curt Walters will give a talk about painting the Grand Canyon.

This state of the art facility opened its doors in January, 2009. It is a modern marvel in museum design.


Notice in the museum gift shop about tonight's lecture. We also saw a great show in the planetarium.


Then grand entrance hall to the exhibits with a cast of Apatosaurus (the former Brontosaurus) from Wyoming.


The Gallery of Fossils has many fine examples of Mesozoic dinosaurs.


Here are some Cretaceous marine animals - a 25 foot long turtle and another fish. Both swam in the Great Western Interior Seaway.


The Cenozoic Hall has a giant Wolly Mammoth and Smilodon (saber-tooth cat).

Rafting Trip in Desolation Canyon, Utah

I have wonderful friends! They like to explore the rivers and canyons of the American Southwest and we do it in style. I enjoy their company, the hiking, the way they can whip up a gourmet meal in the wilderness, the thrill of running the rapids in our small inflatable kayaks, and sharing the world-class scenery and geology with them. I had previously run Desolation Canyon in 1980 but didn't remember much about that trip. I was surprised to find such glorious red rock scenery (in the Wasatch Formation) in the central parts of this canyon.

This is a view of the rocks on the way down to the put-in at Sand Wash. It is a stark beauty carved out of the Uinta Formation, when a large lake filled the Uinta basin some 50 million years ago.


Our first nights camp was on an island in the Green River and within the graceful embrace of Sumner amphitheater (rear and named by John Wesley Powell for his much admired river companion). The buttresses in low angle light were spectacular.


Looking east from this island camp, we observed a rocky profile cut into the opposite wall. The generally concave profile of the top of this ridge may be the former location of the Green River's channel. Some geologists have suggested that the Green River has meandered wildly from former positions in the canyon. Our guidebook showed one channel alignment that existed when the river flowed about 400 feet higher than today (perhaps a few hundreds of thousands of years ago). Those meanders are quite unrelated to the pattern today. What would cause a river to change its path so dramatically after having been already incised in a canyon? I can only think of canyon in-filling and later retrenching in a different course. In this view, the river flowed through the gap from left to right.


Here are 10 of our 14 trip members enjoying the shade of an alcove on a hot summer day. From left to right: Wayne, Norm, Sam, Bryan, Nathan, John, Frank, Jamie, Leif, and Lee. Not pictured: George, Lisa, Cassie, and Katie.


There are many relics from the Old West in Desolation Canyon. Here Frank peers through the door of a "still" hidden up in a side canyon near a spring. Imagine making whiskey in a hidden canyon.


One of the joys of a river trip is stopping for lunch at a small sand bar. This is one that we stopped at on July 18 and is called Nutter's Rock. Nutter was a rancher in the canyon in the 1800's.


A view of our boats on the water in Desolation Canyon.


The Fremont Culture left many petroglyphs along streams and the river. We hiked up Rock Creek to see this panel in the late afternoon.


At the mouth of Rock Creek was an old ranch abandoned after WW II. Most of the ranch accouterments were still present on site.


Here's a view of the interbedded nature of the Wasatch Formation (light-colored, massive sandstone cliffs) with the Green River Formation (dark, thinly-bedded shale and mudstone). This interbedding represents the fluctuating shoreline of the Green River Lake some 55 million years ago. The sands were derived in streams that fed the lake (during relative low-stands of water) and the shale formed when the lake water expanded across the landscape. Note the channel forms present at the base of the shale. A great one is just above the green trees in the center.


The landscape of the American Southwest at the time that rocks in Desolation Canyon (shown with thin black line) were laid down.


While camping below Rock Creek one night, a giant thunderstorm rolled in at 2:30 AM. We could hear distant thunder becoming louder until it filled the canyon with echos and flashing light. Then a hard rain fell for half an hour. Eventually the cell moved northeast but not before inundating the camp with water. This is the beautiful morning scene after the storm.


The scenery was fantastic throughout Desolation Canyon!


Last August a giant debris flow roared down Joe Hutch Canyon and reorganized the rapid here when new debris was flushed into the river. This was a great ride in our duckies.


Frank wielding his cooking apron for an Italian repast that was phenomenal. Everyone made great meals as we took turns cooking for the group.


The strata continue to rise as floaters move downstream and the profile and color of the rocks get more dramatic. The name "Desolation" was used strictly to mean uninhabited and for the geology or scenery buff, there is nothing desolate about this place. It is a cathedral in stone that beckons the soul to "pay attention" to this moment in our lives.


The largest rapid is called Three Fords and here Bryan takes his raft through the waves.


Jamie shows good form in her whitewater canoe.


Eventually, gray Cretaceous rocks are lifted above the river bank and the view changes dramatically. We climbed a bluff along Range Creek to obtain this view.


Gunnison Butte is a well-known landmark that signals the end of the 87 mile run through Desolation and Gray canyons. It was named for Capt. John Gunnison.


Final sunset at Swasey's Rapid. The air is hot with summer but so serene as it moves among the spires and temples of rock. We camp one more night beneath the majesty and count our many blessings to have emerged safe, renewed, and ready for our next adventure.