EXPERIENCES IX THE GRAXD CAXYON 



110 



The canyon is just as beautiful as before, 

 but differently so. 



THU EFFECT OF SNOW 



The snow hangs in clusters on the 

 trees and bushes ; then the rocky walls 

 and the peaks in the can3'on change their 

 coats of many colors for a robe of purest 

 white. Every hint of mist or haze dis- 

 appears from the gorge below. The dis- 

 tant views of the mountains and canyon 

 walls, ever deceptive in chis rarefied at- 

 mosphere, are brought unbelievably near ; 

 the opposite wall of the canyon, although 

 many miles away, looms directly before 

 us (see pages 112 and 113). All is quiet 

 and impressive; a junco flits across our 

 path ; a nut hatch taps on cedar or pinon, 

 but beyond that there is no suggestion of 

 life or motion. 



Equally as interesting, but of an en- 

 tirely different nature, are the rains of 

 July and August. These storms are 

 quite often local — sharp, quick thunder 

 storms — coming from one cloud ; or it 

 may be a cloud-burst a half mile away, 

 Avhile the sun continues to shine in other 

 sections of the canyon. The prepara- 

 tions for these storms are often spec- 

 tacular. The hour, we will say, is noon, 

 Avith the sun shining directly against the 

 north wall — the most uninteresting time 

 of the day. The sky is cloudless — an in- 

 finite space of deepest blue ; the heat- 

 waves shimmer from the rocks. 



Suddenly from below the horizon a 

 round, white cloud pops up. Pops is the 

 right word, for a minute ago it was not 

 there. It is not part of the sky behind it, 

 but hangs suspended like a great balloon, 

 or a circle of white mosaic against a blue 

 background. Others then appear, these 

 last being shoved up by a great thunder- 

 cap, snowy white above, black and for- 

 bidding beneath. 



Then, like a flying squadron these 

 clouds go sailing across the sky. Other 

 clouds have appeared from nowhere in 

 particular ; they merge and spread, dark- 

 ening and drifting over to the north (see 

 page 116). 



There they rest, for the north side is 

 from 1,000 to 1,400 feet higher than our 

 7,000 feet elevation, and they seem to 

 have reached their destination. 



THE STORM KING RFIGNS 



A boom of distant thunder rolls up the 

 canyon, losing itself in the many side 

 gorges. A little feathery rain breaks 

 from one end of the clouds, but rises 

 again in mist before it reaches the lower 

 altitudes. Jagged streaks of lightning 

 pour from the clouds and the storm 

 spreads. Thunder crashes as though the 

 cliffs themselves were falling, the echos 

 continuing to reverberate long after- 

 ward. Then the rain begins in earnest. 



In a half hou.^ the walls are deluged 

 and angry ; red-colored streams run off 

 their sides. Waterfalls, the color of 

 blood, pour from the plateau into the 

 river over a thousand feet below. A 

 glance through the telescope reveals a 

 mad, foaming torrent hurling logs down 

 the beautiful Bright Angel Creek of an 

 hour previous. 



In a short time the storm has passed, 

 to break out anew in some other spot. 

 The sun, even if it has been obscured 

 temporarily, now comes out again. Rain- 

 bows appear double, and even triple in 

 the gorge beneath. The moisture rises 

 in the form of vapor ; collects in a cloud 

 which hugs the higher peaks, or drifts in 

 long strings when they strike the cooler 

 air strata. 



An Arizona electrical storm at night is 

 a sight long to be remembered. Our 

 little studio is so favorably located that 

 we look into the very depths of the gorge, 

 and can view these effects without be- 

 ing exposed to their fury. Many times 

 we have worked from our veranda, ex- 

 posing plate after plate in trying to 

 record the electrical flashes. They are 

 often disappointing; sometimes the flash 

 will divide the plate entirely in two, be- 

 ginning and ending out of the range of 

 the plate or on either side of the angle 

 of the lens. We also find that a single 

 flash seldom brings out the formations 

 in the canyon as we want them to show 

 in the printed picture. Our most suc- 

 cessful pictures have been made by ex- 

 posing the plate about one minute, there- 

 by getting the benefit of the flashes of 

 heat lightning as well as those of the 

 stronger electrical flashes, the two com- 

 bined giving us the illumination we 

 want (see page 117). 



