Arizona February

Work in Progress

Brief snowbird getaway

Wednesday: Lake Havasu City, AZ

Washington to Lake Havasu via Las Vegas, got lost in Needles.

The Colorado River is damned by Parker Dam to form Lake Havasu. The river cuts through several mountain ranges, and there is geological evidence for lakes upstream from each range. The oldest lakes are to the north, the youngest to the south.

Thursday - Saturday: Yuma, AZ

The Colorado River meanders between Arizona and California here. Yuma has an altitude of 143 ft here. El Centro Ca has an altitude of -39 feet. The Salton Sea, north of El Centro is over 225 ft below sea level.

Why is the river that cut through three mountain ranges to get this far flowing to the Gulf of Mexico at sea level instead of into the Salton Sea? Or more interesting why was the river flowing to the gulf before a canal broke and the flooding created the Salton Sea in an existing depression.

This was a clothing store(?) Too bad this showed up after my years of coding were over; would have loved to have this on a personal business card.

 Yuma had its own "swap meets", but I'm not  sure what they were selling

Dang power lines...

Date palms - had a good date shake

Protected by a friendly fence

Yuma was the site of a federal prison, which is now a tourist attraction(?).

The rocks used in the prison have their own story to tell, a story of compression and folding:

Arizona icon

Too bad we didn't have the  trailer

After the Dreamers came the climb up the Mogollon Rim

This is the southern edge of the Plateau Country, the south side of the Kaibab Plateau(?) Congress AZ at the base of this grade is a little over 3000 ft, the summit was over 6000 ft. The south rim averages 7000 ft.

Sunday - Monday: South Rim, AZ

Geologic backstory--

This one week winter get away went through areas showing three stages of growth of the Colorado River:

Progression of lake cascades south of Black Canyon

Stream Capture somewhere in Grand Canyon

Reversal of Little Colorado at the edge of the Kaibab