Geology Festival at Bryce Canyon

Towering cumulonimbus clouds and summer monsoon rains provide the perfect backdrop to the first ever Geology Festival held at Bryce Canyon National Park July 30 and 31. The festival celebrates the geologic heritage on display in one of our nations most endearing national landscapes - Bryce Canyon. It is here that hoodoos are carved in the relatively young Claron Formation, a freshwater lake deposit about 45 to 50 million years old. Although most visitors are captivated by the hoodoos strange shapes and brilliant color, geologists also see a past landscape recorded in colorful layers that stretch from the Basin and Range in western Utah to the high Table Cliff Plateau above Escalante, Utah.

I am one of the keynote speakers at this event along with renown paleontologist Dr. David Gillette. Our hosts are the interpretation team at BCNP and employees of the non-profit Bryce Canyon Natural History Association. We have been treated to fantastic field trips, tantalizing hikes, informative lectures, and a gracious sense of welcoming by all here. We are hopeful that other parks on the Colorado Plateau will see this festival as a way to highlight their own geologic story, for while most people think that the parks were preserved for their scenic values, these same values are derived ultimately from their geologic origin. Here are a few pictures from this mornings field trip to Rainbow Point.

The magnificent landscape at Bryce Canyon, Utah is the setting of the 1st-ever Geology Festival at this world class national park. The Claron Formation was deposited across a broad swath of southwestern Utah in freshwater lakes and by streams that originated in Nevada and Arizona. More recent erosion has sculpted this deposit into interesting hoodoos.

My wife Helen with Gayle Pollock, the director of the Bryce Canyon Natural History Association at the entrance to the parks visitor center. The banner proudly announces the festival to all visitors. At my 1:00 lecture today, there were over 100 people in attendance, many of them hearing of the geologic heritage of this region for the first time. We hope that other parks in this area will make more profound attempts to get their geologic stories out to the general public.

Marilyn Blukley (Education coordinator for the BCNHA) and Dan Ng (Chief of Interpretation for BCNP) pose at Bryce Point for a photo. Everyone here has been so welcoming and accommodating. The festival is a roaring success and plans are already underway for the next festival in 2011.

Janet and Dave Gillette pose at Yovimpa Point on this mornings bus tour. Both are trained as geologists and work at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Dave is a world-renown paleontologist who has dug dinosaurs all over the southwest and worldwide. His lecture topic at the festival is about a dig he completed near Lake Powell on a creature called Therizinosaur. Check it out. Dave is an accomplished researcher and a great speaker.

An example of an ammonite from the Tropic Shale in Bryce Canyon National Park. Most visitors do not know that the park harbors vast paleontological specimens from the Cretaceous time period.

View of the Natural Bridge at an overlook in Bryce. It is one of the most photographed rocks in the park. A natural bridge is different from an arch or window in that it has a stream running through the opening. The bridge here may be misnamed although water does run through it during heavy rains.

Gayle Pollock in a teachable moment at Bryce Point. Gayle is an articulate and accomplished speaker who shares his knowledge in an easy and comfortable way. I first met Gayle about 12 years ago when we both were employed in lecturing to groups traveling on private trains and jets in the southwest.

An example of extreme hoodoo formation at Bryce Canyon. Note the upper two hoodoos with a thin cap of white limestone "holding up" the softer pink beds below them. There are perhaps more hoodoos here than at any other single place on planet earth.

Part of our group listens to Gayle at Far View Point.

Summer in the southwest is dynamic with respect to its skies. Cloud free mornings soon see the buildup of immense clouds that release their load of rain to the parched ground below. This has been an especially active monsoon season and Helen and I saw many streams, normally dry, that were full of water.

National Weather Service Report on the Flagstaff Floods

This blog reported on the huge Schultz fire in late June on the east side of the San Francisco Peaks. Now, a strong monsoon pattern has developed over northern Arizona and strong tropical moisture is dousing the forests in our state. While this is great for the pine greenery here, the severely burned area on the Peaks cannot hold the runoff from this rain. The National Weather Service has made an excellent summary of the flooding events here in Flastaff. Look at the National Weather Service site to see what's happening.

GIant Whale Fossil Found in Peru

Researchers were recently working in the desert badlands of coastal Peru and unearthed the skull of a giant toothed whale. The deposits that held the skull were middle Miocene in age (about 12 million years ago) and the teeth were enormous. Follow this link for pictures, diagrams and a short video by the head researcher. Wow!

Schultz Fire Mostly Contained; Fantastic Movie of Landslide in Italy

The Schultz fire here in Flagstaff is now 60% contained and crews are just mopping up.

But look at this movie of a landslide that happened in Italy this past January. It is fantastic.

Other Blog Photos of the Scultz Fire

Friends have been finding and passing along some good blogs and photos about the fire here. Check this one out. Imagine taking a hike to Humphrey's Peak and seeing it blow up right in front of you.

Looks like the fire is getting into the mop-up stage now. 50% containment and some crews moving out to the next flare-up somewhere out west.

New Shots of the Schultz Fire

From 39,000 feet. The red X is where Wayne and Helen's house is. Thanks to whoever sent these.

It looks like the Peaks are on fire here but it is the hlls east of them.

Same here.

Map of the burn area and the days it torched. Blue June 20, Pink June 21, Red June 23, orange June 24

Like a volcano! (Photo by Lorraine B. Elder)

Update on the Schultz Fire

We hear the tanker planes and helicopters flying overhead as they battle the fire. It is at 12,000 acres and counting. One of our citizens says it best below.

The following pictures are from Chuck LaRue and give you a sense for how this thing "blew up" on Sunday. Helen and I were driving back from Prescott while this was the scene.

The wind just grabbed it.

And fanned it hard.

And then it multiplied.

And all anyone could do was get out of the way.

Additional Fire Photo from Winslow - 55 miles Away

A fire this size creates its own weather from sucking in oxygen. It's massive and consuming all in its path.

Fire in Flagstaff

Many of you have been asking about the fires erupting in Flagstaff (they have made the national news). We are fine - both fires are blowing away from us but there are many people in danger on losing homes on the east side of town. My friend sent these pictures from Wyoming (I don't know how her got them but that's just the way the web works these days. Most likely he has a friend here who uploaded them to him and he e-mailed them to me).

I wanted to take pictures with my camera but it went on the blink today and was too frazzled to understand that I needed to change the battery. Anyway, the Hardy fire (June 19) is mostly under control but Helen and I were up on Mars Hill yesterday and watched 200 foot flames consume whole Ponderosa pine trees. It was powerful. As it was blowing right towards east Flagstaff, they put a lot of resources on it and the wind died down overnight. Then, while we were away in Prescott giving a lecture, the Schultz fire erupted (June 20). It is a monster and the photo's below show that. These flames are most likely 250 feet high.

We were camping last July 1 with some high school friends where this one is burning right now. We are fine but concerned for friends who live out east of here.

From Cedar Hill looking north to Mt. Elden.

Same road different angle

Cedar Hill view

Get out of the way - this is hot and out of control.

Dry Lake Hills burning

We'll let you know more later but right now it's our anniversary!

A One Year Anniversary

After celebrating the 100th anniversary of Rainbow Bridge, Helen and I are ready to celebrate a more modest milestone this week - our one year wedding anniversary! It's been a great year for both of us. The economic downturn couldn't have come at a better time - all of my fancy trips overseas did not happen this year. I got to stay in the United States and be with my sweetie! Thank you greedy-housing-bubble-aficianados! Here are few pictures of our year.

A picture from our wedding day at "Ranney Point" on Grand Canyon's South Rim. The flowers Helen picked on the way to the wedding and the heart rock is from the Mt. Everest Base Camp where I proposed to her.


Our pre-wedding parties overlapped for one night in San Diego. My friends gave me the best bachelor party I could ever hope for - a one week road trip through the Southwest!

On our honeymoon at the El Tovar. We had the Presidential Suite which was unbelievable!

High school friends Chris, Orlando, Vince and Wayne at our reception, Ten-X Campground June 28, 2009.

The article that ran on the front page of the Sedona Red Rock News about our engagement.

Helen with her bridesmaid, Barbara Denny at "Ranney Point"

The happy couple celebrates, June 21, 2009

Helen gets our guest room ready for a new paint job.


Wayne doing the same.

Our first Valentines Day dinner as a married couple

At the Arizona Book Publishers Award Ceremony in Phoenix, May, 2009.


In the Zion Narrows, December, 2009. We went up here while I gave a lecture to the Zion Natural History Association.

A crazy picture with my Best Man Don Webster, on a hike down to Phantom Ranch, March, 2009.

With Don Webster's family at Phantom Ranch.

The 100th Anniversary of Rainbow Bridge National Monument

Question: "What's the difference between the English and Americans?"

Answer: "The English think 100 miles is a long way and Americans think 100 years is a long time."

On May 28 to 30, 2010, I was privileged to experience both an English and American view of life as I took part in honoring 100 years for Rainbow Bridge National Monument. I traveled 100 miles (round trip) in a boat to this impressive natural archway, which was created in 1910 by the Presidential proclamation of the infamous William Howard Taft. I was accompanied during this memorable weekend by my lovely wife Helen and our great friend Gary Ladd of Page.

The festivities began on Friday evening, May 28. I presented a lecture, "Ancient Landscapes of the American Southwest" to about 130 people at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center. Chris Eaton, director of the Glen Canyon Natural History Association, estimated that this was the largest crowd ever for a lecture in the rotunda room. It was a rousing success as I shared the secrets of earth history and the Colorado Plateau with an engaging audience. The lecture was my second as an Arizona Road Scholar, under the auspices of the Arizona Humanities Council. This is a wonderful program that puts speakers in front of audiences statewide.

On Saturday, May 29, we hopped in a boat and traveled 50 beautiful miles to Forbidding Canyon and Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Here we met many of the superintendents of the southwestern parks who were also here to celebrate in the commemoration. A big warm thank you to everyone in Page who made this event so special. This includes Joan Mayer, interpretation coordinator for Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and superintendent Stan Austin. Have a look at some of the pictures!

Gary and Helen viewing the terrain as we proceed up the lake to Forbidding Canyon. Fortunately, the wind was not howling for the first time in many days.

Gary and Helen at the dock in Forbidding canyon.

Gary is best known as an accomplished photographer of Lake Powell. But he is also a gifted and self taught geologist and knows the country here very well. Here he is showing Helen the contact of two rock formations, the Kayenta Formation below which is overlain by the Navajo Sandstone. This contact played a big role in the creation of Rainbow Bridge.

Visitors walk past the contact of these two rock units, both Jurassic in age. Notice the lush growth near the contact - groundwater can percolate through the sandy rocks of the Navajo but when they travel downward and encounter finer-grained mudstone and shale in the Kayenta, the water is forced out horizontally in springs. These springs allow columbines and other plants to grow in perfusion here. Glen Canyon's videographer, David Rankin, filmed a short segment with me in front of the contact here for the parks podcasts.

That's my foot on top of the Kayenta Formation at the contact. Note the lighter colored cracks in the rock that were infilled with blowing sand as the Navajo dunes crept over this ancient floodplain, some 190 million years ago.

Here's another view of the contact with visitors walking by. Note the very well developed cross-beds in the Navajo Sandstone (top portion of photo). These represent deposition in sand dunes on their leeward side, as sand was migrating from left to right in this view.

Our first view of Rainbow Bridge on May 29. The opening in the bridge is 290 feet high and about 275 wide. Conceivably, a 747 aircraft could fit within this opening - it may not look that big but I used a wide angle lens on this shot. A natural bridge is different from an arch in that a bridge has a stream running under it.

The day was full of history! Here, Harvey Leake, the great grandson of John Weatherill gives a speech to the many dignitaries that assembled here. John Weatherill was part of the "discovery" party in 1909 that first recorded the existence of Rainbow Bridge to the outside world. Harvey related that his great grandfather was well aware that indigenous people knew of the bridge for centuries before and didn't really think of himself as part of a "discovery trip". Still, the existence of this impressive landform was unknown to the outside world until it was photographed and mapped in the same year that Perry arrived at the North Pole.

Another view of Harvey talking to the superintendents of the southwestern parks.

The "official" delegation that commemorated the 100th Anniversary of Rainbow Bridge

Chuck Davis is the district ranger for Rainbow Bridge and his knowledge of the area is incredible. He is a dedicated public servant to this tiny gem in our National Park system.

Glen Canyon NRA superintendent Stan Austin, delivers some very complimentary words to his district ranger. Stan said that Chuck receives more favorable comments about his interaction with the public than any other ranger there.

Interpretive ranger Doug took this photo of Helen and me as we looked at the bridge. Although the monument is now 100 years old, the bridge itself is much older, perhaps tens of thousands of years older. One estimate is that the hole is 30,000 years old with the exposure of the rock on top of the bridge occurring about 120,000 years ago. Both estimates could involve more or less years but you get the idea.

On the way back to Wahweap Marina, I took this reflective shot of Tower Butte. This monolith is a local favorite because of its symmetrical profile. It is underlain by the top of the Navajo Sandstone, the apron below is part of the Carmel Formation, and the upper neck is Entrada Sandstone and a little Morrison Formation. All of these strata were once continuous with other buttes in the area but vertical erosion has isolated this section of rock.

We stopped on an island in the reservoir that is capped with Colorado River gravels. Look how rounded these clasts are. And they contain rock types that could only have come from upstream. The depth below the water here to the old channel of the Colorado is perhaps 600 feet, meaning that these were stranded here by the river somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 years ago, when the river had not yet cut Glen Canyon. Awesome!

As we admired the old river clasts, we came across a trackway in the Navajo Sandstone. Here Dave and Gary a looking up the old dune face and along the trackway which carries on towards the photographer. Marvels everywhere in this land of rocks!