Image Description
If the winter is dry, only a few desert flowers may bloom in the spring.
But the once-per-decade wet winter brings a profusion of wildflowers to even the most desolate land.
I took this photo of vivid orange Globe Mallows in the Toroweap area of the Grand Canyon in one of those wonderful springtimes.
A day or two later, Ann and I went to inspect the Nampaweap Rock Art site near Mt. Trumble.
This is an area of Ute pictographs pecked into the columns of a basalt flow above a dry streambed.
As I began to climb up the 50 feet of talus slope between the stream bed and the pictographs,
I came upon a rattlesnake. No big deal, I thought, so I just moved downstream 20 feet and began
climbing again. There was another one! Well, OK, I'll just move on another 50 feet and try
again. After climbing less that 10 feet, I had a rattler 5 feet to my left, one 5 feet in front, and one
5 feet to my right...all simultaneously giving me a warning buzz!! That set a personal record:
three rattlesnakes in sight at once!
It was now clear that either (1) the snakes were the ghosts of dead Utes warning me to
stay away from their art, or (2) I had stumbled into a rattlesnake den whose occupants were
just leaving for work. I figured the latter possiblity was more likely the correct one, so I
went another 50 feet and tried again. That time there were no snakes, and I got my visit to
the art gallery. However, I do admit to being very cautious as I moved slowly along the rocks.
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