November 29, 2005

November 29, 2005

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

YEAR 2 DAY 165

 

Today was sunny, and warmer than it has been in the last few days.

After doing preventive maintenance this morning I went to start the truck, to unhitch it from the trailer, and the starter failed to engage. That's the third time that has happened since the starter was replaced a couple of months ago. I whacked it with my big breaker bar, and it started. I'm keeping a record of these failures, because it seems likely that once again it will need to be replaced before the end of its one year warranty period. I unhitched the truck while Joanne prepared a picnic lunch, and we set off to explore the east side of Grand Canyon National Park. We drove east on Hwy. 64, back to the east entrance gate of the park, where we entered yesterday. We wanted to work our way from the east gate back to Grand Canyon Village, where we are camped at Trailer Village.

First stop was Desert View, to view the Grand Canyon, looking out over the canyon to the Navajo Nation Reservation on the Painted Desert to the north, where we drove from yesterday. It was possible to see a mountain peak that was 90 miles away. Also at Desert View was the Watch Tower, a tall, cylindrical stone structure built on the very edge of the canyon over 70 years ago. We climbed up in the Watch Tower to see the views from the top, and to see the interior construction and wall paintings in the tower. I bought a gift in the gift shop at the base of the tower. Next stop for sightseeing and photo taking was Navajo Point, then Lipan Point before stopping at the Tusayan Ruins. They are the ruins of a small Puebloan village from about 800 years ago. While walking around the ruins, I noticed odd cones on the ground. When I picked one up and examined it, I realized they were Piñ on cones, from the Piñ on trees around the ruins. The Piñ on cones were the source of Piñ on nuts for the Puebloans, the Hopi and Navajo Indians of 800 years ago, and today. It's what we use in cooking, and call pine nuts. I picked up a couple of cones, and found one that still had a few nuts in it. Joanne found a green, unripened cone, and we could see how the nuts are held in the cone, until the cone ripens, and pops open, spilling the nuts onto theground.

From the Tusayan Ruins we continued west on Hwy. 64 back towards Grand Canyon Village. We stopped at Moran Point to see the view and take photos before stopping for a very late lunch at Bugeln Picnic Area. While Joanne brought the picnic lunch to a table, I took Bo for a walk. We were walking along the picnic area parking lot when I looked up and ... OMIGOD ... THERE'S A COYOTE ... AND IT'S COMING TOWARDS US ! ! ! I scooped Bo up into my arms just as he saw the coyote, and he started snarling and growling at it. Shut the **** up, Bo. I started backing away quickly, towards our truck, when I realized ... HEY ... the coyote only has 3 legs. I clamped my hand over Bo's face to shut him up, stopped backing up towards the truck, and looked at the coyote, who had stopped advancing towards us about 50 feet away. I realized that he was the animal kingdom's equivalent of a crippled panhandler. He can't hunt like the other coyotes due to his missing front leg, so he survives by hanging around a picnic area and "mooching" whatever he can. While we ate lunch at the picnic table, the coyote roamed around in the vicinity, coming as close as 50 feet or so from time to time. I wanted to take its picture, so I put a piece of turkey sandwich in the middle of the parking lot to entice it, then walked about 50 feet away and prepared to take a picture. The coyote came hobbling across the parking lot, and just before it got to the piece of sandwich, a Raven swooped in and snatched it up. Hmph ... darn Raven. I went back to our picnic table, got a couple of pieces of apple, and placed them in the parking lot. The coyote hobbled over, sniffed them, and walked away. Well, any omnivorous animal that turns its nose up at fresh apple can't be that hungry, can it ? I got some photos, and decided the coyote didn't need any handouts from me to survive. Pretty much my attitude towards human panhandlers as well.

We left Bugeln Picnic Area, continuing west back towards Grand Canyon Village. We made one more stop, for viewing and photos, at Grandview Point, before returning "home". When we got back to the trailer, it was still daylight, and warmer than yesterday afternoon. The campground's water lines had thawed, as had the trailer's drain valves. I hitched up the truck to the trailer, then was going to refill the fresh water tank and drain the waste holding tanks, while everything was thawed. I got side tracked, having a long chat with a retired Park Ranger from Maryland, walking his 17 year old, very arthritic Border Collie, Abbie. Just before it got dark, I refilled the fresh water tank, and drained the waste holding tanks. With the campground's water lines thawed, I could even back flush the black water tank. We're in good shape for tonight and tomorrow morning. Full fresh water tank, and empty holding tanks. Tonight's low is forecast to be 18 degrees F., so I couldn't stay connected to external water, nor could I stay connected to the sewer.

While Joanne prepared supper, I downloaded and processed today's photos. We had supper, then I did today's accounting, and journal entry. I walked Bo about 9:30, and when I returned to the trailer with him, we had to comb him thoroughly. He had about 2 dozen nasty, prickly, little sand burrs embedded in his fur, on his stomach and legs, between his toes, and all over his face. Poor, little, hairy Bo. He's a burr magnet.

Time to head south tomorrow, to lower elevations and warmer temperatures.

DSK