Saturday, January 1, 2011

2009 Day 3 Sept 15 RM34.8-64.7 Nautiloid Camp to Carbon Camp RM64.7

rev Sept 2009 Geology River Trip - Day 3 Part 1 from Nautiloid Camp to Carbon Camp RM64.7



Day 3 – 05:50 we wake up at sun rise and get ready to go (make breakfast, eat, pack, load the boat)

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06:33 packing is no slam dunk – everything has to fit in the dry bag and then we have to squeeze the air out

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08:00 we are on the river and soon the Muav appears

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08:13 river mile 36 we see the Bridge Of Sighs – photo of area below – video clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPi8J-vxntE



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08:38 around river mile 38 on river left our first photo of Temple Butte Limestone

The Temple Butte limestone was deposited on top of the Muav but eroded away except for a few protected deposits.

The Muav marks an erosional boundary and where river channels were incised into the top of the Muav we see deposits of Temple Butte Limestone.

Here is a Wikipedia photo of Temple Butte (taken on S Kaibab trail in fact).  I recognized it from my own hikes and photos of the same spot.

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08:39 Another lens of Temple Butte in the classic smiley face – this one is on river right just down from the first one we spotted

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08:40 Here we see the top cliff forming member of the Muav with a slope forming member below it

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08:50 near RM40 we spot a mine adit in the Muav – this is from a dam study done in the early 1950s – it is fortunate the dam was not built else one of the great sections of the grand canyon would be a lake and most of hwat we have seen so far would be under hundreds of feet of water – for info on the proposed dam from Arizona Highways in March 1951 see this article link – this dam almost happened

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08:51 more remains from the dam project

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09:07 Royal Arches appears at RM41.5
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A nice view (one of many on the river – this one was chosen for the early AM reflection)

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And another view a few hundred yards later

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09:21 as we proceed down the river we see above us the Anasazi Bridge

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After last years river trip I made a wish list – the reason I brought a long telephoto for just this shot and –

09:22 here is a zoom of the Anasazi Bridge – it is over 1100 years old and this foot bridge is believed to be part of an ancient rim to rim route

(the bridge has been stabilized but otherwise is in the state of ruin it was found in)

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End of Day 3 Part 1 – onward to Part 2 which is the Eminence Break Hike

Subject:  Sept 2009 Geology River Trip - Day 3 Part 2 Eminence Break Hike (Sept 15 from Nauteloid Camp to Carbon Camp)

Day 3 – Part 2 Eminence Break Hike at river mile 44

(one photo in the below is from the web – it is identified)

(Mark Combs provided another photo looking up at the last half of the hike – that is also identified below)



09:25 looking ahead at President Harding Rapid – note the broken rock of the megaslide visible beyond the rapid – this will be our big hike for today

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09:31 we are at the middle of a deep incised meander with Point Hansbrough above it – below photo from the web (in below referenced article) shows the incised meander as viewed from Tatahatso Point

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09:00 we see the Eminence Break megaslide which is to be our next hike (below is a panorama of the lower part of the slide – our diagonal route up to the Redwall extends from lower right to upper left)

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detail of ramp


Here is an article on the Eminence Break slide from a study done in 2005 (the photo above came from this article)


We grab snacks and water and start the hike at around 09:30


10:07 The first leg is not too bad – here is a look down at the boat when we are 1/3 of the way up

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At this point, Mark Combs took this photo looking up at the rest of the climb ahead

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The rest of our route up is not up to typical grand canyon river access trail “standards” (it is directly UP) but is fun and fairly fast – below you see the group spread out in the last part of the climb

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we quickly reach the top and find great views –


10:25 here the river below with our raft at the beach where we started

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another view



10:26 looking upriver – up the meander we came down to reach the fault near  Point Hansbrough

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10:2x panorama of the valley below us as we topped out at the Redwall

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10:27 View of jumbled material from megaslide directly above the point we use for a break

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10:37 Group photos – number 1

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10:39 group photo 2

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10:46 it is snack time

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One big limestone boulder from the hike down – yes that is a “trail” below it

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We hike down by 11:30 then bath in the river and finally have lunch at around 12:00 (the hike was a great excuse for a meal)

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End of Part 2 of Day 3 – next we board the boat and head on down river


Subject:  Sept 2009 Geology River Trip - Day 3 Part 3 From Eminence Break to Carbon Camp (Sept 15 from Nauteloid Camp to Carbon Camp)


This is part 3 of Day 3 – we completed the Eminence Break hike and ate before proceeding down the river.


One last photo from our Eminence Break stop –

While we were eating lunch (at around 12:10) the Stand Up Paddle Board passed us – we would see the SUPer again several times on the trip as we leap frogged

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12:40 we are back on the river – here a photo of our boat buddies/mascots taking the sun

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13:31 Mile 51.8 looking back upriver to where BA shale appears

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Detail of BA Shale (taken at 13:30 as we passed it – along center river edge in photo above)

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13:47 Nankoweap Granary - note person at entrance to granary - some other river trip (this is not us – we did not stop as beaches were full)

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14:09 one of many fly bys – lots of birds posing for photos on this trip – great fauna every day

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14:37 Tapeats Sandstone appears around river mile 59

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14:37 Nice detail of Tapeats – note the characteristic fins – these can make hiking along the river on Tapeats “interesting”

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14:48 we pass an especially nice exposure of BA shale

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Here is a photo of the same area taken in 2008 with bright sunlight – note the color difference – this is common in the canyon and illustrates why it is “new” each time you  travel it

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15:01 We see the Little Colorado River (LCR) is running red – this means we will not be doing a stop and swim/float on a turquoise LCR

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15:01 Detail of the mixing of the LCR waters with the Colorado – this means we will be on a red river for the rest of this raft trip.  Two years in a row for me washing in silty water.  Oh well, it is pretty .

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15:33 We getting ready to tie up at Carbon Camp for the night

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18:57 after our dinner of BBQ Chicken we use the dish cleaning line – nice sunsets come standard with all Grand Canyon trips

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End of Part 3 of Day 3 – end of Day 3

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