More amazing pics and description at the link: http://www.grindtv.com/lifestyle/pr...-believe-where-this-secret-canyon-is-located/ After thinking about this a little bit, what amazes me is how in a bone dry climate like that, once water is introduced, it begins to flourish with plant life. I am pretty sure most of it is from seeds that are brought there via animal droppings, but some seeds can remain dormant for a really long time - which means, in cases like this, there could potentially be new plants that we've never seen before - plants that have gone extinct and dropped their seeds which have remained in the sand, unchanged by the passage of time, until they get a chance to begin growing. And this also goes the same for some insects. They can lay their eggs and those eggs can stay dormant until just the right conditions are present and then spring to life. We probably have millions and perhaps billions of extinct species of plants and insects in our soils, waiting for the right conditions to bloom. This probably goes the same for certain species of fish.
I hiked this one with the school hiking club in 1992. There was a flood in there several years ago and it doesn't look the same as it did then, but it's still wery beautiful.
Awsome shots, and the feeling of being there is unforgettable. We hiked the canyon back in the mid seventies, it was one of the most awsome and awe inspiring events of my life. The pools under some of the falls along the trail were boulders that had a bowl worn into them over the centuries. Many were hot tub sized and with the temps hitting 90 at 8am by the afternoon some of them were indeed hot tubs. Hard water though. I wore a new pair of Levi's going in on one side and by the time we went to the other side and back they were so faded they were closer to white than blue. Bright Angel Creek was the trail and at the bottom, Phantom Ranch. Worth the effort. I'd like to do it again before I croak.
On a side note, nothing quite like the smell of donkey urine at three in the afternoon. That sticks with you too.
