Redwall Cavernで化石&Puebloan granaries 穀倉庫の遺跡 Day2: Rafting River Trip!

2025/09/06 - 2025/09/12

コロラド川ラフティング7日間キャンプ : 7 Day Motorized Rafting Trip
あまり良く眠れなかったけれど、素晴らしい景色の中で過ごすのは最高です。キャンプ地でキャニオンを朝日が照らしていく風景を堪能してから川下りに出発。
本日はRedwall Cavernの小休止でペルム紀化石を発見(観察)したり、約1000年前のネイティブ・アメリカンの穀物倉庫の遺跡へハイキング【表紙の写真】したりして楽しみました。

エリア グランドキャニオン周辺(アメリカ)

• 旅行の満足度: 5.0

• 旅行の手配内容: 個別手配

4AM Good morning!
The moon was setting in the western sky.

6AM Coffee call

7:30 The morning sun illuminates the western canyon.

8:00AM
We start rafting again.
The contrast created by the light shining into the canyon is amazing.

Redwall Cavern :river mile 33

Redwall Caverns were carved into the canyon's Redwall limestone by high water.
Redwall limestone: very thick and resistant layer, Mississippian Period (~320 million years)
From here the cave looks small compared to the towering cliff above it.

https://grandcanyonwhitewater.com/what-is-redwall-cavern-all-about/

9:30AM
This is the view from the back of the cave.
We got out of the raft and walked to the back of the cave.

How this cave was made and why we can find many fossils around here are explained in the next video created by a geologist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3nXchFwEFo

We could find fossils like this in the cross section of a fallen, broken rock.

Discs from the columnar "stem" of a crinoid: Fossil at the fingertips
Lacy bryozoan fossil: Feather-like fossils in the upper right of the image

National Park Service’s website for Fossils in Grand Canyon is good for those who are interested in fossils.
https://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/nature/fossils.htm

I love this view.
The contrast between the distant rock formations and the nearby Red wall under the blue sky
The contrast between the shadows inside the cave and the illuminated canyon

Lizard

The nearly vertical walls of the Redwall.
We can see some layers in Redwall itself.

Going down the river again!

Mile 40
Marble Canyon Dam Site

11:30
Test hole in the limestone wall with piles of debris below the hole.

Enter the remaining tunnel

Inside of the tunnel with handy light

Mule Deer.
The most defining feature of Mule deer is their large, mule-like ears.
Males grow a new, larger pair of antlers each year which they shed in the spring.

12:20 Lunch Break
Mile 41 Buck Farm

After Lunch, Colorado river curves like a goose neck.
Pass through President Herding Rapid,Mile 43.7
<history note>
1923 USGS, first to receive radio messages (not satellite messages because satellite communication doesn't exist yet at that time) within Canyon depths, heard broadcast of President Herding’s death.

Mile 50
Bright Angel Shale appears under Muav Limestone (
Tonto group: Cambrian period)
Bright Angel Shale is colorful, I like this layer.

We passed through Nankoweap delta(Mile52) where native Americans were growling crops roughly 1,000 years ago.
Now I understand why they built such a magnificent granary.

Mile 53 Nankoweap: Today’s camp site
14:30

Redwall and Bright Angel Shale right front of us!
After setting our tents and bathing in the river, we hiked up to Pueblo Granary.

16:40
It was still hot.
Canyon wall contains heats.

On the way to the trail head

We reached about halfway through the Tonto Group layer.
The view from here was amazing.
I could see all the layers of Canyon from Kaibab formation to Bright Angel shale.
Blue sky and curving river also beautiful!

17:10
Finally I got to Redwall layer as same high as the Granaries.
My legs are getting tired.

Carefully follow the narrow trail

My legs were shaking so I slowly climbed further.

17:40
My legs weren't working properly halfway down so it took the same amount of time to get down as it did up.

17:55
I returned to near our camp site.
I found ant nests.
There’s were Cat craw which was thorny legumes.


I wanted the other members to try matcha, so I asked our guide to boil some water before we set off on the hike.
I brought tea powder, a tea bowl and a tea scoop from Japan.
But I couldn’t find those in my luggage even though I put out everything on my cot.
I thought I had left them at the hotel in Page where I had repacked my bags before leaving for my camping trip.
This was the only disappointment of this trip for me!

Dinner tonight was lasagna.

21:15
The moon rose in the eastern sky.

Good night!