Before sunrise (Leighty)
Mile 61.8 - Predawn view E from camp.

First light on Chuar Butte (Leighty)
Mile 61.8 - View W of the first rays of the sun striking Chuar Butte.

Permian dawn (Leighty)
Mile 61.8 - Dawn arrives on the Permian rocks of Chuar Butte. The highest elevation on top of Chuar Butte is ~6500 feet, roughly 3800 feet higher than camp.

Clouds and rock (Leighty)
Mile 61.8 - Dawn clouds and rock.

Cape Solitude shadows
Mile 61.8 - Clouds over Cape Solitude.

Chuar Butte (Leighty)
Mile 62.7 - View NW of Chuar Butte. The entire Paleozoic section is displayed here, with the Kaibab Formation capping the butte and the Tapeats Sandstone in the shadows at the bottom. The name "Chuar" is short for Chuarrumpeak, a young chief of the Kaibab tribe who once worked with Powell.

Crash Canyon area (Leighty)
Mile 63.4 - View W toward the Crash Canyon area. During thunderstorm on June 30, 1956, a United Airlines DC-7 collided with a TWA Super Constellations at 21,000 feet. The DC-7 crashed into the top of the Redwall at Chuar Butte, whereas the Super Constellation crashed about a mile to the south onto the Tonto Platform. This was the worst U.S. airline disaster to date (128 died) and was the impetus in the formation of the FAA.

Hopi salt (Leighty)
Mile 63.4 - Groundwater deposited salts encrust the Tapeats Sandstone on river left. This area is considered to be sacred by the Hopi Indians.

Carbon Canyon fan (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 - The group starts the hike up the Carbon Creek debris fan. The bedrock exposed here is the Dox Formation, the youngest formation of the Middle Proterozoic Unkar Group. The age of this rock unit is 1250-1100 Ma, 600-750 Ma older than the Tapeats Sandstone. The rocks representing this over 1/2 billion year period are missing, and the contact between the Tapeats and the older rocks as known as "the Great Unconformity".

Dox ripple marks (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 - Ripple marks in the Dox Formation. These sedimentary structures formed by shallow current movement (probably water) during Dox deposition. This part of the Dox Formation is interpreted to have a tidal flat or nearshore terrestrial depositional origin.

Trail under Tapeats boulder (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Ron and Paul pass under a Tapeats boulder.

Tapeats climb (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Climbing ledges along the way.

Tapeats talus slope (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - The group follows the trail up the steep talus slope towards the Dox/Tapeats contact.

Carbon Canyon (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - View E down Carbon Canyon from the top of the talus climb.

Carbon narrows (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Ron traverses the slot in the Tapeats narrows of Carbon Creek.

Folded Tapeats (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Folded Tapeats Sandstone near the Butte Fault. The Tapeats layers were dragged upward by fault movement that occurred during a period of crustal shortening in the Early Cenozoic Era. This mountain-building event is known as the Laramide Orogeny, the one that formed most of the present-day Rocky Mountains. See PANORAMA.

Tilted Tapeats (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - John H. eyes the tilted Tapeats layers due to deformation along the Butte Fault. This is a major fault in the eastern Grand Canyon which had several periods of displacement. Over 10,000 feet of initial west-side-down displacement occurred during crustal extension in the Late Proterozoic Eon (~800 Ma). This was partially offset by almost 3,000 feet of west-side-up displacement during the Laramide Orogeny (60 to 50 Ma).

North Rim view (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - From the Tapeats notch in Carbon Creek, this is the view W across the Chuar Valley towards the North Rim. The Butte Fault bounds Chuar Valley on the east. Naji Point is on the leftmost skyline, where the North Rim is over 8000 feet in elevation. Siegfried Pyre (7914 feet) is the prominent butte on the right center skyline.

Looking south along the Butte Fault (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - View S along the Butte Fault toward Chuar Creek and Lava Canyon. The prominent butte on the middle skyline is Lava Butte, where the Tapeats Sandstone caps Cardenas Basalt. Lighter-colored Chuar Group rocks are to the right (west) of the fault. See PANORAMA.

Chuar Group layers (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - The Chuar Group is over 5000 feet thick and is composed entirely of sedimentary rocks, including the Galeros and Kwagunt Formations. Dominating this view is the Carbon Canyon Member of the Galeros Formation, composed mostly of interbedded mudstone and carbonate layers.This is the middle of the Chuar Syncline, a large downfold caused by tectonic compression during the Laramide Orogeny.

Galeros mud cracks (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Exposure of wet, fine-grained sediment to the atmosphere is suggested by these mud cracks in the Carbon Canyon Member. Casts formed as the cracks filled in with more resistant material. These sedimentary structures suggest a likely near-shore environment of deposition.

Tilted Galeros mudstones (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - The trail follows a wash through the multi-colored sedimentary layers of the Galeros Formation.

Chuar slope and sky (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Blue sky meets the layered slopes of the Carbon Canyon Member.

North Rim (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - The view W across Chuar Valley of Naji Point. The prominent light-colored layer is the Coconino Sandstone.

Stromatolite ridge (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - A resistant carbonate ledge in the Galeros Formation just north of Chuar Creek.

Chuar stromatolites (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - Cross sections of fossilized algae that represents the dominant life form on Earth during Proterozoic time. These stromatolites were cabbage-shaped algal humps that grew in sheltered tidal areas. They can still be found today in places like Shark Bay, Australia.

Chuar stromatolite (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - A solitary stromatolite in cross section, showing well-defined internal layering. It somewhat resembles a sliced head of lettuce. Remember, this plant lived roughly 900 million years ago.

Trail down to Lava Canyon (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - The trail descends through the stromatolite-bearing, cliff-forming carbonate layer.

Dox and Cardenas in Lava Canyon (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 - The reddish rock is the Dox Formation. It is hard to directly date Proterozoic sedimentary units like the Dox Formation because of the lack of fossils. The dark gray unit above the Dox is the Cardenas Basalt, which consists of mostly lava flows in the eastern Grand Canyon and mostly intrusions (sills and dikes) to the west. The Cardenas is mostly Middle Proterozoic in age (1100-950 Ma).

Red Dox (Leighty)
Mile 64.7 to 65.5 -The distinctive, brick-red color of the upper Dox Formation (Ochoa Point Member/Comanche Point Member).

Comanche Point (Leighty)
Mile 67.3 - View SE toward Comanche Point on the eastern rim. This promontory has an elevation of 7073 feet, roughly 4400 feet above the river. The escarpment on the skyline is known as the Palisades of the Desert. The Tapeats Sandstone forms the first prominent cliff above the reddish Dox slopes, with the Cardenas Basalt the gray rock in between.

Cardenas against Dox (Leighty)
Mile 68.4 - John's boat passes the fault.

Ancient Colorado River channel (Leighty)
Mile 70.8 - Quaternary gravels of an ancient Colorado River channel overlie the Dox Formation. The boulders are all well rounded from the high current energy in the former river channel. The Quaternary Period represents the last 1.8 Ma of the Cenozoic Era (65.5 to 0 Ma).

Apollo Temple and the Basalt Cliffs (Leighty)
Mile 71.2 - View N towards Apollo Temple and the Basalt Cliffs. The Dox Formation forms the lower slopes, the Cardenas Basalt the dark gray slopes, and the Tapeats Sandstone the overlying cliff. The Dox appears again between the Cardenas and Tapeats. Redwall Limestone forms the upper part of the temple.

Tapeats talus (Leighty)
Mile 72.2 - Light-colored Tapeats debris mantles the Cardenas slopes.

Below Unkar (Leighty)
Mile 72.4 - View back toward Unkar Rapid ({7}; 25' drop). The Dox Formation forms the cliff next to the rapids. These rapids are formed by the large debris fan from Unkar Creek. There are numerous Anasazi Indian ruins in this area.

75-mile Creek (Leighty)
Mile 75.4 - The debris fan of 75-Mile Creek. This fan forms Nevills Rapid ({6}; 16' drop), named after Norman Nevills, who was first to offer commercial river trips down the Grand Canyon in 1938.

More Shinumo soft-sediment deformation (Leighty)
Mile 75.4 - The Shinumo Quartzite was likely deposited during active tectonism, probably Middle Proterozoic rifting.

Convoluted Shinumo (Leighty)
Mile 75.4 - Cool contortions. There are multiple sets of these fluid evulsion structures exposed in the area.

Shinumo contortions close-up (Leighty)
Mile 75.4 - This Shinumo blows!

View up 75-mile Creek (Leighty)
Mile 75.4 - View SE up the bed of 75-Mile Creek. Shinumo all the way.

Above Hance (Leighty)
Mile 76.5 - At Hance Rapid ({9}; 30' drop), the Hakatai is cut by an intrusion of Cardenas Basalt. Intrusions are always younger than the units they cut, and ones that cut across layering are termed dikes. At this location, the dike cuts across the Hakatai bedding, but not the overlying Shinumo. See PANORAMA.

Cardenas dike (Leighty)
Mile 76.5 - This Cardenas dike is roughly 1 billion years old.

Below Hance (Leighty)
Mile 76.7 - Hance Rapid is considered as one of the more challenging on the river, and is located at the mouth of Red Canyon. It was named after John Hance: trail-builder, miner, and builder of the first tourist accomodations at the Grand Canyon in 1885. At Red Canyon, the Hance Trail leads to the South Rim. The Tonto Trail also begins here.

Cardenas sill and bake zone (Leighty)
Mile 77.0 - Cardenas Basalt (bottom) intruding along the layering in the Bass Limestone (top). Layer-parallel intrusions are termed sills. The Bass above the sill is bleached whitish due to alteration from high temperatures and fluid movement (a.k.a. contact metamorphism). Mineralization typically occurs where limestone is adjacent to intrusions. The Bass Limestone is the oldest unit in the Unkar Group and represent deposition in a shallow marine setting. The thin (<30 feet) Hotauta conglomerate forms the base of the Bass.

Uppermost Inner Gorge (Leighty)
Mile 77.1 - View WSW toards the beginning of the Inner Gorge, where Early Proterozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks form steep and foreboding canyon walls. The east-dipping contact between the layered Unkar Group rocks and the massive metamorphic rocks represents a type of unconformity known as a nonconformity. This nonconformity represents at least 400 Ma of geologic time. John's boat is ahead.

Asbestos Mine (Leighty)
Mile 77.8 - The light-colored tailings point to Hance's asbestos mine (behind the tree), where chrysotile asbestos was mined in the 1880's out of the Bass Limestone. White asbestos is the most abundant naturally-occuring variety of asbestos and is not known to be carcinogenic (unlike other forms).

John's boat at Sockdolager (Leighty)
Mile 78.6 - John's boat in Sockdolager Rapid ({8}; 19' drop), the first large rapid in the Inner Gorge. This rapid is formed by debris from Hance Creek on the south side of the river. Sockdolager is an old boxoing term that means "heavy knockout blow" or "finisher".

Below Sockdolager (Leighty)
Mile 78.5 - Post-rapid greetings between boats.

Fluted metamorphic rocks at Clear Creek (Leighty)
Mile 84.1 - The highly fluted Vishnu at Clear Creek. One needs to be careful when scrambling out of the boat here. This is the beginning of the hike up Clear Creek. Vishnu is one of the supreme trinity in Hindu religion, considered to be a protector against misfortune.

Clear Creek (Leighty)
Mile 84.1 - View NE up Clear Creek. The metamorphic rocks in this area are slightly lower grade (middle amphibolite facies) schists and gneisses than the ones upstream of Vishnu Creek (near Grapevine Rapid). The Tapeats Sandstone forms the horizotal layer on the right skyline. The Great Unconformity here spans over 1200 Ma (1.2 billion years). See VIDEO.

Clear Creek (Leighty)
Mile 84.1 - Clear Creek begins to narrow as it turns west.

Clear Creek falls (Leighty)
Mile 84.1 - The pair of waterfalls are a welcome reward after a warm day. See VIDEO.

Two waterfalls (Leighty)
Mile 84.1 - Very cool! See VIDEO.

Water falling sideways (Leighty)
Mile 31.8 - The horizontal waterfall on the right is rather unique. See VIDEO.

Have a gneiss day (Leighty)
Mile 84.1 - Vishnu Metamorphic Complex rocks here include the Vishnu Schist. The Vishnu is termed a metasedimentary rock because it was probably sedimentary rock before metamorphism. The original sedimentary rocks were changed by high temperature and pressure metamorphism (regional metamorphism) into schists and gneisses. The Vishnu is thought to represent sediment deposited on the sea floor near oceanic volcanoes (an island arc).

View northwest from Above Zoroaster camp (Leighty)
Mile 84.4 - View NW, downstream from the Above Zoroaster camp. This low-water camp was below an ominous Vishnu cliff. Zoroaster was a philosopher who founded a monotheistic religion around 700 B.C. that was concentrated on the spirit of good. It was once a popular religion in Persia. See PANORAMA.

Zoroaster cliffs (Leighty)
Mile 84.4 - Late afternoon sunlight in the Inner Gorge. This first major Zoroaster Complex pluton (one of ~20 along in the Canyon) forms the large cliff below Zoroaster Canyon. This pluton (a former magma body) is the Zoroaster Pink, containing granite and alkali feldspar granite, and belongs to the larger Ruby Superunit, which includes plutons of granite to diorite composition that are all variably deformed (foliated). The Zoroaster Gray pluton about a mile farther downstream has a composition (tonalite) with much less alkali feldspar and more plagioclase feldspar.

Zoroaster Canyon in late afternoon (Leighty)
Mile 84.4 - Zoroaster Canyon is downstream on the right, with Zoroaster Rapid ({7}; 5' drop) below. The Tapeats Sandstone caps the Inner Gorge on the right skyline.

A busy kitchen (Leighty)
Mile 84.4 - Zack, John, Ana, and Tina hard at work.

Burgers on the grill (Leighty)
Mile 84.4 - These guys know how to feed people right!

The dreaded pooper (Leighty)
Mile 84.4 - This yellow tent is always lurking at the edge of camp.