by Alex Gugel , all rights reserved
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7. Aspen
11. Oak and Maple
13. The Transept
The grove of aspen before you is an old one, very different in appearance from the younger groves of aspen
that are common throughout this forest. The black
blemishes on these older trees are cankers caused by
fungi. The rough bark at the base of these larger trees
is the result of old age. Younger groves of aspen
throughout the forest are commonly found in areas
that have been disturbed by fire. Eager pioneers of
these naturally cleared areas, aspen provide shade for
the seedlings of other trees, like white fir, that will
eventually displace them.
The mighty oak of the eastern United States does not
grow in this area of the American West, but its smaller
cousins do. Scrub oaks (Quercus gambelli) have adapted to the dry western climate. These trees seldom grow
to more than 15 to 20 feet/5 to 6 meters in height.
The maples of the Grand Canyon region, also a scrub
variety adapted to the more arid western climate, go
unnoticed here except during the early weeks of fall
when, like their cousins in the East, they turn bright
red, giving a vivid splash of color to the slopes below
the rim.
You are standing at the head of The Transept which
takes on truly grand proportions as it carves into the
plateau. Far below you its gravel bed reveals the main
course of erosion. More than likely you will not see
water flowing in its bed; these streams flow only during times of heavy rain or flash floods. Yet the canyons
they carve are nearly as deep as the Colorado River
itself.
8. Ponderosa Pine
9. Ancient Reptiles
Fire plays a major role both in maintaining and altering the character of this forest. Large ponderosa pines
have a thick bark that is resistant to all but the hottest
of wildfires and may survive many generations of
smaller fires. Many of the large trees seen here bear the
scars of fires that damaged their bark, but did not kill
them.
Yet another picture from the scrapbook of Grand
Canyon’s past tells of a vastly different environment.
The Coconino Sandstone (the light-colored, cliff-forming unit evident several hundred feet below the rim) is
made up of windblown sands, evidence of an arid
environment very different from those in which the
strata above or below it were deposited. The highangle cross-bedding is the clue to its windblown
origin, but a closer examination reveals the footprints
of ancient reptiles that wandered these dunes long
before the dinosaurs existed.
For many years the National Park Service (NPS)
suppressed all fires until it became apparent that they
are an important factor in the growth of these forests.
In the 1960s the NPS adopted a policy that allowed
some fires to burn, while they immediately suppressed
those that threatened human life or structures. Today
we recognize the importance of fire in maintaining the
natural environments in our national parks while at
the same time we acknowledge the threat that uncontrolled wildfires may present to life and property.
Photo Top: Ancient reptile footprints in the Coconino
Sandstone. NPS photo by Michael Quinn
More than a layer of rock, the Coconino Sandstone is
a vivid picture of ancient life in this region of the
world at the end of the Paleozoic Era, some 270 million years ago.
10. The Largest Ponderosa
This is one of the largest ponderosa pines along the
Widforss Trail—nearly 13 feet/4 meters in circumference. Trees like this are increasingly rare outside
national parks because of their commercial value (ponderosa pine is one of the major lumber trees of western
North America). A ponderosa of this size may be 300
to 500 years old. When this tree was a seedling, the
environment of North America was very different.
Humans had had little impact on the landscape.
12. Lightning
Time and the massive amount of water that comes
from infrequent but powerful floods carve these tributary canyons. In the six-million-year history of Grand
Canyon there must have been thousands of floods the
likes of which we might see only once in a thousand
years.
14. Sculptured Rocks
Landscapes change like the frames of a motion picture.
Change is a part of this landscape. Rest awhile in this
unique setting of rocks sculpted by nature.
This huge ponderosa pine was killed by lightning that
struck it in 1988. The bolt rent the tree from top to
bottom, creating the scar you see before you. An average of one out of every ten large ponderosas along the
rim shows evidence of lightning strikes. Lightning is
also a hazard to unwary (or unlucky) visitors.
The rate at which the landscapes of our earth change is
accelerating as the changes brought about by humans
become more profound. Many national parks were set
aside to provide places in which the forces of nature
remain the predominant agents of change. But even
here the environment is subject to changes that result
from increased visitation, decreasing air quality, and a
host of other, more subtle changes. Only concerned
and active citizens who care about protecting and preserving our natural environment can help decide what
future pictures of Grand Canyon will look like.
Stay away from the rim and open areas during
storms!
The trail continues another 2 1/ 2 miles/4 kilometers
beyond this stop to Widforss Point.
Photo Above: A double strike of lightning, a frequent occurence
on the rim during storms. NPS photo by Bob Butterfield
Published by Grand Canyon National Park in cooperation with
Grand Canyon Association. Written by NPS Staff; Tom Pittenger,
NPS Editor; Faith Marcovecchio, GCA Project Editor; Ron Short,
GCA Art Director. Copyright 2001 Grand Canyon Association,
Post Office Box 399, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023. Printed on recycled
paper.
Photo Far Right: Timeless view across The Transept of Brahma
Temple (left) and Zoroaster Temple (right). NPS photo by
Marc Sagan
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona
Widforss
Trail
Grand Canyon National Park
The entire 10-mile round trip takes most people 4 to 5
hours. There are no restrooms or drinking water along
the trail.
Gunnar Widforss, early twentieth-century artist, lived
and painted at the Grand Canyon in the 1930s and
produced a large collection of watercolors prized for
their geologic detail. In his paintings Widforss captured the Grand Canyon environment as he saw it
then. That environment has changed over the years,
and natural and human forces continue to reshape the
picture—a picture characterized by monumental
change through the eons. The geologic features, plant
life, and historic features along this trail all provide
glimpses of these past and present environments—and
future ones as well.
During the years Widforss painted, the meadow before
you was used as a tourist camp and staging area for
cross-canyon mule trips. Since that time the meadow
has returned to its natural condition. On the far side
of the meadow is a small doorway into a natural cave;
this shelter was used by “Uncle Jim” Owens, game warden for the U.S. Forest Service at Grand Canyon in the
early 1900s.
The bedrock along the rim offers clues to environments of the distant past. The Kaibab Limestone
beneath your feet was deposited some 250 million
years ago in a shallow, warm inland sea. The accumulated remains of the plants and animals that thrived in
this sea formed a layer of limestone 250 feet/80 meters
thick. A startling glimpse of the past, the remains of
these ocean-going creatures provide evidence of the
shallow marine environment that existed here in the
geologic past.
In this moister region of the forest the trees include
white fir, Englemann and blue spruce, and aspen. The
north-facing slope of this valley allows protection from
the sun, providing the cooler, moister environment in
which these trees thrive.
Directly across the side canyon, well hidden in the
trees along the rim, is the North Rim sewage treatment
facility. On most days a low whirring noise is evident
from this direction. It is one of three major sewage
treatment facilities at Grand Canyon National Park. Up
to 100,000 gallons/380,000 liters of waste water flows
daily into this plant.
The small, white, disk-shaped fragments that are abundant in this layer are remains of invertebrates known
as crinoids. Attached to the bottom of the sea, these
creatures used petal-like arms to direct floating food
particles into their mouths. The supporting stalk and
arms were composed of dozens of these disk-shaped
plates that, upon the death and disintegration of
the animal, lay scattered upon the floor of the sea,
preserved through millions of years into the fossils
we see today.
Parking
Camping
Visitor Center
Lodge
Numbers below correspond
to the points of interest
described in this brochure.
Through a complex process of aeration, bacterial
digestion, settling, and filtration, a non-toxic sludge
and reclaimed water are produced. The sludge is transported to a landfill outside the park; the reclaimed
water is used for many things, including watering the
lawn at the lodge and fighting fires. Excess reclaimed
water is returned to Bright Angel Creek via The
Transept. The process is a costly one—both financially
and to the environment, for it requires energy—but
allows the North Rim to host upwards of a half million
visitors each year.
L
BRIGHT ANGE
CA
O
NY
N
Oza Butte
8,065 ft/
ft/2,458
2,458 m
Widforss Point
7,811 ft/
ft/2,381
2,381 m
Bright Angel Point
8,148 ft/
ft/2,484 m
TH
AN
SE
PT
14
13
10 11
12
6
9
D
5
WI
7
1
4
U
23
A
P
E
T
A
K A
P L
I B A B
Photo Above: Aspen and ponderosa forest provides habitat for a
variety of North Rim wildlife. NPS photo by Bob Butterfield
S
In the canyon below is Bright Angel Spring, which
once supplied water to visitors and residents of the
North Rim. Demand exceeded supply in the 1920s,
and water was then brought up to the rim from
Roaring Springs, 3,800 feet/1,200 meters below the rim,
as it is today. In 1978 the drainage pattern in this area
was altered by floods and resulting landslides, and
Bright Angel Spring no longer flows.
The canyon directly below is a tributary to Bright
Angel Canyon. These tributary canyons on the north
side of the Colorado River carry more water than their
counterparts on the south side and, as a result, are
more deeply cut into the plateau. The greater elevation
of the North Rim and the plateau’s predominantly
southward-dipping strata feed nearly twice as much
runoff into the canyon as the South Rim. This intricate
system of deeply cut side canyons sets the North Rim
back farther from the Colorado River, isolates erosional
remnants like Oza Butte and Zoroaster Temple, and
gives the North Rim its characteristic look.
P
TR
For most plant and animal communities the single
most important requirement for survival is moisture.
This sunny, dry slope is home to a grove of ponderosa
pines, one of the most drought-resistant trees in the
American West.
These mountains lie 70 miles/110 kilometers away by
air, near the city of Flagstaff. In pre-industrial times it
was possible to see individual trees on the mountain
slopes from this vantage. Today the view is often
obscured by haze from urban and industrial pollutants
that are carried in from a variety of distant sources. In
recent years visibility in this region of the country has
deteriorated significantly, and views of these magnificent peaks may serve as a measure of the air quality on
any given day.
N
G
Photo Above: Jim Owens (center) with friends in Harvey
Meadow, August 1913. NPS photo by William H. Claflin
3. Water
On the southern horizon stand the San Francisco
Peaks. The highest of these, Mount Humphreys, is the
tallest peak in Arizona (12,670 feet/3,862 meters above
sea level). These mountains are part of the larger San
Francisco volcanic field, active as recently as 1,000
years ago.
Foot Trails
E
In those years the management of this land was vastly
different from today; not all animals were protected
by law. “Uncle Jim” Owens proudly boasted of having
killed over 500 mountain lions in his effort to protect
the deer population from predation. One unforeseen
effect of this was the enormous growth of the deer population to levels that the forest could not sustain. The
ultimate starvation of many thousands of these deer led
to a realization of the role natural predators play in
maintaining population size at a sustainable level.
5. Peak View
Dirt (Primitive) Roads
IN
Photo Right: Gunnar Widforss painting in Grand Canyon,
circa 1925. NPS photo
6. An Essential Facility
P
Photo Above: Aspen forest of the North Rim. NPS photo
4. North Rim Forests
A
Although shaded for much of the route, the trail can
be hot: carry water with you. Take note of the altitude
here: at 8,000 feet/2,500 meters above sea level, even
the most relaxed stroll can be exhausting. Allow
approximately two hours for the 5-mile round trip.
As you walk along the trail you may see wildlife at any
time of day or year, including deer, bobcat, mountain
lion, wild turkey, squirrel, coyote, porcupine, snakes
(gopher and king), and lizards. If you see a large, dark
squirrel with tufted ears and a bushy white tail, it is
the Kaibab squirrel, native only to the Kaibab Plateau
on the north side of the Colorado River.
2. Fossils
ROA I
Widforss Trail follows the canyon rim for approximately 21/ 2 miles/4 kilometers then heads into the
forest to emerge at Widforss Point—a distance of
5 miles/8 kilometers one way (10 miles/16 kilometers
round trip). This brochure is keyed to numbered stops
along the first 21/ 2 miles of trail, giving hikers a 5-mile
round-trip self-guided hike along the most scenic portion of the trail.
1. Harvey Meadow
F O SS TRAIL
R
Widforss Trail
Paved Roads
Sewage
Treatment
Plant 8