Spring at the South Rim

SPRING'S SOUTH RIM SERENADE

Spring, the hopeful time of year, dawns at the Grand Canyon, spilling its promise of renewal down rocky cliffs and ledges, along escarpments, over gorges and to the Colorado River, which courses the chasm's depths. The South Rim greets this dawn eagerly. Struggling for sustenance in beds of shale, hardy plants answer nature's awakening with soft petals now splashed in vivid color. At Hermit Creek, the music of spring water lilts in the air as iridescent droplets bounce toward the sun, then fall, some decorating the velvet of newly emerging emerald moss. Lush green vines tumble along the streambed, clasping stone surfaces with their willful force. Spring's delicate rays of sunshine don't diminish the Canyon's grandeur or mute its magnificence. Instead, spring's warming light enhances the seemingly complete visual symphony. But in nurturing new growth and color, spring reveals the Canyon's ever-changing nature. Like the season, the Grand Canyon renews itself each moment the sun dances across the sky, casting jagged canyon walls as frescoes of light and shadow, stone and form. Gentle beams alight on sandstone cliffs and waltz along stair-stepped terraces, creating softer tones than summertime's and warmer hues than winter's. Expect it all during spring in the Grand Canyon. You won't be disappointed.

At the Grand Canyon's west end, Boucher Creek churns through a side canyon before fulfilling its destiny as a Colorado River tributary.

In the spring symphony performed at Hermit Creek, a blossom-splashed Judas tree plays counterpoint to softly falling water.

Columbus Point, marked with lingering traces of snow, looms beyond Hermit Camp.

Assertive bracts of woolly paintbrush push through lavender-tipped sage bushes in Hermit Canyon.

SOUTH RIM

During spring's all-too-brief reign in the Canyon, Mohave prickly pear cacti bloom vigorously. [FOLLOWING PANEL, PAGES 28 AND 29] With intimations of a storm gathering close to the Rim, brittlebushes brighten the Tonto Basin.

SOUTH RIM