Images shot with Nikon D200 using the AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm 3.5-4.5G ED DX lens. Camera was on a tripod.

Music is the Grand Canyon Suite first movement (Sunrise). Music depicts a sunrise with the early morning sounds of birds. The rhythm depicts the passing of the seconds before a Grand Canyon sunrise. The musical sun rises with a crescendo of cymbals and timpani.

Duration : 0:6:57

Technorati Tags: Arizona, grand canyon, Sunrise, Yavapai Point

Duration : 0:4:37

Technorati Tags: Arizona, arnybarn, awe, cliffs, climbing, colorado river, Dave Colvin, erosion, fear, grand canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Hiking, music, piano, reactions, song, tourist, walking

From: http://timvp.com

Duration : 0:10:57

Technorati Tags: airlines, airplane, angel, Arizona, boulder, bright, Canyon, city, Dam, flight, Grand, Hoover, lake, mead, monument, nevada, scenic, utah, valley

Duration : 0:4:52

Technorati Tags: aircraft, airline, Arizona, Canyon, flight, Grand, grandcanyon, spectacular

Duration : 0:1:36

Technorati Tags: America's, America's Best Idea, Arizona, Best, Burns, Canyon, Colorado, colorado river, Dayton, Dayton Duncan, Duncan, Films, Florentine, Florentine Films, Grand, grand canyon, idea, Ken, Ken Burns, National, National Park Service, National Parks, National Parks Service, NPS, park, parks, River, Service, The, The National Parks

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By AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press Writer Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 3:21pm PST

Water flows from the number one and two jet tubes as seen from atop the Glen Canyon Dam Wednesday, March 5, 2008 in Page, Ariz. The Department of Interior is experimenting with high flows of water from the dam to help, in part, to rebuild beaches along the Colorado River that runs through the Grand Canyon. (AP Photo/Matt York)

PAGE, Ariz. – Twin torrents of water unleashed from a dam coursed through the Grand Canyon on Wednesday in a flood meant to mimic the natural ones that used to nourish the ecosystem by spreading sediment.

“This gives you a glimpse of what nature has been doing for millions of years, cutting through and creating this magnificent canyon,” Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said after he pulled the lever releasing the water from Glen Canyon Dam, upstream from Grand Canyon National Park.

More than 300,000 gallons of water per second were being released from Lake Powell above the dam near the Arizona-Utah border. That’s enough water to fill the Empire State Building in 20 minutes, Kempthorne said.

The water gushed from the dam into the Colorado River below, creating a churning, frothy pool that glided past the salmon-colored sandstone walls of the canyon.

The dam is releasing four to five times its usual flow during the three-day flood. The water level in the canyon will only rise a few feet, but officials hope that will be enough to restore sandbars on the Colorado River downstream from the dam. Officials have flooded the canyon twice before, in 1996 and 2004.

Before the dam was built in 1963, the river was warm and muddy, and natural flooding built up sandbars that are essential to native plant and fish species. The river is now cool and clear, its sediment blocked by the dam.

The change helped speed the extinction of four fish species and push two others, including the endangered humpback chub, near the edge.

Shrinking beaches have led to the loss of half the camping sites in the canyon in the past decade. Since Glen Canyon Dam was built, 98 percent of the sediment carried by the Colorado River has been lost, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Steve Martin said.

Martin said man-made floods need to occur every time there’s enough sediment to do so — about every one to two years depending on Arizona’s volatile monsoon season.

“The science is really clear that’s what we need to do,” Martin said.

The Grand Canyon Trust, a Flagstaff-based group that has been critical of the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s management of the dam, also is calling for more regular high flows.

“The power industry is driving the Bureau of Reclamation more than anything else, as opposed as to what’s best for the canyon,” trust spokesman Richard Mayol said.

Scientists will document habitat changes and determine how backwater habitats are used by the chub and other fish. Another study will look at how higher water flows affect the aquatic food base.

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On the Net:

Grand Canyon National Park: http://www.nps.gov/grca

Bureau of Reclamation: http://www.usbr.gov

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Duration : 0:0:47

Technorati Tags: Arizona, Canyon, Flood, Grand, rehab, River

Duration : 0:9:14

Technorati Tags: Arizona, Canyon, Elderhostel, Grand, River, trip

Duration : 0:28:54

Technorati Tags: Arizona, grand canyon

*There’s another part to my story, someone who was in the background, but the reason behind my successful solo hike.

Eric Stanley, a supervisor at the Grand Canyon General Store and top-notch in wilderness and adventure sports, advised me — especially on how much water was needed for a trail like this. He loaned me some of his gear, saving me on costly rentals. He believed in me.

Sadly, he died while hiking late night in the Canyon, eight months after I hiked Hermit’s Trail.

Stanley is one of the biggest influences in my life. I use the knowledge that he gave me in so many aspects of my life.

He is missed….

Duration : 0:5:16

Technorati Tags: Ariz., Arizona, AZ, Canyon, Difficult, Grand, Granite, hard, hermit, Hikes, Hiking, Rapids, Strenuous, Trail, Trails

Duration : 0:5:45

Technorati Tags: Arizona, Canyon, d'agostino, earth, escape, Grand, guitar, National, nature, park, peace, peppino, tranquility, wonder, world