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ithilwenI said in my last post we were going to go spelunking in this one, and I wasn't kidding. And because this is the Grand Canyon, we're going to do it on a grand scale!
The Redwall Limestone (which isn't red, by the way, but white; the red's a stain washing down from eroding sandstone layers higher up) is the thickest single deposit in the walls of the Grand Canyon, at about 300 feet thick. And it's riddled with caves, courtesy of springs cutting through the rock and the action of the river water where the Redwall lies near the river. Most of these caves are strictly off-limits (and impossible to reach without climbing equipment anyway), but one is visited by pretty much every raft trip on the river: Redwall Cavern. This is a cave like no other!
Our first view, from the river:
It's a horrible photo, but it's the only one I have that even comes close to showing the sheer size of this cave.
Major Powell thought 50,000 people could fit into this cave. That might be a slight overstatement, but I'm inclined to agree with him:
The cave doesn't actually go anywhere; instead, the ceiling curves down gracefully, creating a sealed half-dome. Here's a view of the back of the cave:
Of course, the view from the back of the cave looking in the other direction is far more interesting:
Looking out the mouth of the cave:
And here's some proof that I didn't just grab all these photos off of Flickr:
Redwall Cavern would make a dandy campsite, but the Park Service doesn't permit river trips to stay there (no doubt because ti would be massively overused). So we only spent a half-hour or so at the cavern, and then it was time to set off to find our next campsite for the night.
This shot, taken a bit downstream of the Redwall Cavern, shows a face of the Redwall Limestone which experienced a rock slide in the recent past. You can see the freshly-exposed limestone, which is (as I said) white:
Makes Redwall a rather ironic name for this layer, I'd say, since the color's all borrowed!
We float by another iconic sight in the Canyon - the Bridge of Sighs:
Early explorers though this rock arch resembled the famous bridge in Venice, hence its name.
We'd better settle in for the night. Tomorrow's going to be another long day on the river!
See you in the morning!
Next: Indian ruins and a big little river!
The Redwall Limestone (which isn't red, by the way, but white; the red's a stain washing down from eroding sandstone layers higher up) is the thickest single deposit in the walls of the Grand Canyon, at about 300 feet thick. And it's riddled with caves, courtesy of springs cutting through the rock and the action of the river water where the Redwall lies near the river. Most of these caves are strictly off-limits (and impossible to reach without climbing equipment anyway), but one is visited by pretty much every raft trip on the river: Redwall Cavern. This is a cave like no other!
Our first view, from the river:
It's a horrible photo, but it's the only one I have that even comes close to showing the sheer size of this cave.
Major Powell thought 50,000 people could fit into this cave. That might be a slight overstatement, but I'm inclined to agree with him:
The cave doesn't actually go anywhere; instead, the ceiling curves down gracefully, creating a sealed half-dome. Here's a view of the back of the cave:
Of course, the view from the back of the cave looking in the other direction is far more interesting:
Looking out the mouth of the cave:
And here's some proof that I didn't just grab all these photos off of Flickr:
Redwall Cavern would make a dandy campsite, but the Park Service doesn't permit river trips to stay there (no doubt because ti would be massively overused). So we only spent a half-hour or so at the cavern, and then it was time to set off to find our next campsite for the night.
This shot, taken a bit downstream of the Redwall Cavern, shows a face of the Redwall Limestone which experienced a rock slide in the recent past. You can see the freshly-exposed limestone, which is (as I said) white:
Makes Redwall a rather ironic name for this layer, I'd say, since the color's all borrowed!
We float by another iconic sight in the Canyon - the Bridge of Sighs:
Early explorers though this rock arch resembled the famous bridge in Venice, hence its name.
We'd better settle in for the night. Tomorrow's going to be another long day on the river!
See you in the morning!
Next: Indian ruins and a big little river!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-16 10:24 am (UTC)Any particular reason why most of the caves are off-limits? Are they dangerous, do they have any sort of ecology, or what?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-16 02:51 pm (UTC)Interestingly, they don't contain many Native artifacts; the people who settled in the Canyon never developed good boats, and many of the caves can only be reached from the river; you can't hike to them, but have to climb up the cliff face to the cave directly from the water. Not a barrier to a creature with wings, but it kept the Indians out!