Chip n Dale

And I don’t mean the well greased male dancers.

But these two sure danced around on my truck tires.

Going camping on the way to town

Mike and I both have the next two days off and we’re heading Out of the park.

It’s about time to run away and play.

We poured over the maps.

Packed some food and camp gear.

And in the morning we’ll drive into the Kaibab National Forest…

…to some unknown beautiful rim camp.

What happened to monsoon thunderstorms?

July and August in the Southwest should be monsoon season, rain every day, or almost.

Yet it’s been days of dry with mostly blue sky.

Just a few fluffy clouds drifting over the canyon. Of course there’s never really a bad sky view over the canyon.

In Arizona we depend on the monsoon thunderstorms to water crops and fill reservoirs. The Colorado River has been flowing strong due to water release from Glen Canyon Dam being sent down stream to Lake Mead.

Just to break up the blue monotony

Statistically, weather forecasters consider it a "monsoon day" when the average daily dew point is 55 degrees or higher.  Today the dew point is 28 degrees.

Yet at the end of the day, all we can do is pray for the monsoon thunderstorms to come our way.

To view more skies from around the world, or to share your own, go to Sky Watch Friday by clicking here.

Flowers at the North Rim Grand Canyon

Thought I’d share some of the posies blooming here at the Grand Canyon.

Skyrocket Penstimon shooting towards the sky

Pigmy Talinum & deer vetch

Penstimon

Sunflower

Sego Lily and bug

Primrose

Geranium (maybe)

Rose smelling SO Sweet

Fleabane

Columbine

Paintbrush

Seems they came a little later this year.

Walk to the North Rim fire tower

 

Saturday, after laundry, Mike and I drove out to the entrance station and took a little walk to the North Rim fire tower.

The trail is a two-track road making the tower accessible through an aspen, spruce, fir and pine forest.

The North Rim fire tower is not generally staffed but fire management still sends crew there to take a look around when needed.

This is the tower that Edward Abbey staffed back in the 1970s. The cabin he lived in is falling apart and was almost speared by a falling tree top.

Neither of us climbed to the top, I’ve already been there and Mike didn’t trust the 1936 built structure.

MWT – Company at the canyon

I’ve been trying to entice my dearest friend Berta to the North Rim for three summers. She finally made the seven hour drive and was in awe.

Our first day we explored the area around the Lodge.

Then later went to Point Imperial for moonrise.

The next day we drove out the scenic road to Cape Royal.

And worked our way back stopping at numerous canyon overlooks. Just like real tourists.

To tour more of the world go to My World Tuesday by clicking here. Or come for a visit so I can show you around the Grand Canyon North Rim.

Bird watching at Grand Canyon North Rim

I am not the best birder but occasionally I get lucky.

The other day after my lunch out on the Walhalla Plateau I spotted this Yellow-rumped warbler.

Then while out with visiting company (see tomorrow’s post for more about that) we saw this (I think) Swainson’s hawk in a meadow searching for food.