A little something between downpours.

Internet connections have been dodgy the last couple of days.  I am trying to squeeze in this post while it lasts.

After monsoonal rains on Sunday we hit the same 15 mile road early on Monday.  The weather has tended to be better in the morning so we left early and drove all the way out to Angel's Window/Cape Royal.

With clearer skies today, the Colorado River can be seen near the bottom of the window.

I mentioned a post or two back that now was the peak of the wildflower bloom.  Not all sights are grand vistas.



What the plaque does not convey well is that 'tall' means around 10 feet high and maybe twice as wide.  That is a big plant to think of as a rose. 



While the Cliffrose may be a large tree-like shrub, it has tiny leaves and delicate, fuzzy stems that are at the base of a wilted bloom.

While the blooms of the Cliffrose may be tiny, they are profuse.

Don't know what these are but they were in patches just about anywhere the sun reached most of the day.

We had a dry day with just some fair weather clouds but the air was still hazy.  I guess we will have to wait until the fall to get the crisp air that will deliver sharp images.

Cyndee just keeps surprising me by walking up to these edges

Notice the green?  The rain of the last couple of days has vegetation popping up where there was none a short time ago.

Another nice thing about the rain is that it has deepened the reds.

Again with the walking up to the edge of a 3,000 ft cliff.  We saw people turn around and go back when they realized the path lead out to this rock ledge.  Our co-host said he saw a guy get down on his hands and knees and crawl out.  But he stayed in the middle and never stood up to look around.

I had mentioned a couple of days ago that when you are on the North Rim you never really see the part of the Grand Canyon that has the Colorado River.  I came across this interpretive sign that shows clearly why.

 More blooms.  Most of the below photos came from a hike we did on the Roosevelt Trail (named so after Teddy Roosevelt) and Imperial Point.

 

 

A place we did not get to the other day when it was raining was Imperial Point.  This is the highest point on the North Rim and it also has a hiking trail that wanders through the forest along the park boundary.  The hike is a good study in fire ecology as this area burned in what was called the Outlet Canyon fire, a prescribed burn that got away from them.

 

This was perhaps the greenest place we have seen in a couple of months, and it was only a couple of days old.

To the left and center is the South Rim, more than 2,000 feet below where I am standing at Imperial Point.

It is getting later in the day here, clouds are starting to build again.

We took a morning break at the Cape Royal picnic area.  The table was very close to the edge of the cliff and afforded us a view like no other we have had while eating our 10:00am fruit.

 Just a couple more from our day of hiking around.

I have not had much luck in getting critter shots.  Putting food out as a bait to bring them in is forbidden, but as I walked out to the truck to bring in the stuff we had taken with us today this little guy was sitting just under the driver's door.  I think the folks at the campsite behind me had been tossing him bread crumbs.  When we first saw one of these a few days ago we thought it was a large chipmunk but have no learned that it is a rather rare Golden Mantle Squirrel.  They are a ground squirrel, burrowing little holes under fire pits, building foundations, and elsewhere.

He's cute but wait until I get a clear picture of a Kaibab Squirrel.