The National Park Service has really done a beautiful job of making access up and down the south rim easy and gorgeous. (Yes, that's me.) Staying on the path is important because the vegetation really is fragile.The Colorado Plateau and the Rocky Mountains were uplifted by the same geological forces at the same time. The Kaibab Plateau is the southern part of the Colorado Plateau and can reach heights of over 9,000 feet. That explains why it's been known to snow on the rim in July! We didn't experience snow, but we did see the results of a hail storm that passed by just minutes before us:
Lots of people don't pay much mind to the rim, but I heard tell of a couple who left the Park only to turn around in minutes and come back to the entrance, explaining that they had gotten so caught up in the beauty of the rim that they'd forgotten to look at the Canyon! I can't imagine that!
2 comments:
Hey Mary, when you mention "the Rim" in regards to Arizona, many would think you were referring to the Mogollon Rim--you're still at Grand Canyon, though, right?
Your friend from Hawaii, Texas, in Maine.
Yes, this is still the Grand Canyon. The Kaibab is a plateau of its own but still a part of the larger Colorado Plateau. That's why I titled the post: The Rim of the Kaibab Plateau. But you're right, when folks say "The Rim" and think Arizona they immediately jump in their thoughts to Mogollon. The Mogollon doesn't have the distinction of being a plateau of it's own - possibly because that region is volcanic in origin and doesn't "plateau."
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