Phantom Ranch Walking Tour Brochure
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National Park Service Bright Angel Creek The Colorado Everyone’s Responsibility U.S. Department of the Interior Like Bright Angel Creek, the Colorado River and What color is the river today? Consider yourself The Phantom Grand Canyon National Park adjacent habitat have changed considerably in recent lucky if it is muddy and truly colorado (a Spanish Ranch area is North Rim years. word meaning “reddish”). Historically muddy, today unique, a last the river is usually clear and green. Though flood- vestige of ripar- Exit the campground at the north end, cross the waters from tributaries below the dam sometimes ian habitat in creek, and continue south to the boat beach near the tint the river, most of the sand and silt traditionally Arizona. It also Phantom Kaibab Suspension Bridge. If it is winter, you’ll likely transported by the river now accumulates behind boasts a long see people fishing. Notice the thick vegetation the dam. Sunlight penetrates the clear river allowing history of around you and the color of the river. Try soaking Ranch algae to grow. Introduced crustaceans that feed on human occupation. In some ways it has remained your feet. Most of the year the water temperature the algae are, in turn, a food source for trout. remarkably unchanged—still remote, still accessible averages 45°F (7° C). This is very different from the Recently, bald eagles have come to prey on trout, only by foot, mule, or river. But it is a dynamic envi- environment that existed here prior to the 1960s. A Walking Tour and now eagles nest at Grand Canyon in increasing ronment. Phantom Ranch and Bright Angel Why? numbers. Campground, like the rest of the park, are under Many dams presently impound the Colorado River tremendous pressure from public use. Demand for Other changes are less benign. Native species of fish to provide inexpensive and relatively clean hydro- use far exceeds the carrying capacity of the fragile are proving unable to adapt to the altered river and electric power to growing urban populations. Since desert and riparian environments. National Park are either endangered or already extirpated from Glen Canyon Dam was constructed 100 miles/ Service rangers at Phantom Ranch, challenged to Grand Canyon. Most require warm backwater 160 kilometers upriver in 1963, much change has provide for the enjoyment of the visitor and the marshes to reproduce. These environments are occurred. Water is released through the dam from ecosystem around you, have embraced numerous increasingly rare due to the lack of spring flooding 200 feet/60 meters below the surface of Lake Powell, strategies. You also play an important role. Do your since the dam began operation. Loss of habitat and Follow the stone steps from the campground down the reservoir formed behind the dam. Water from part. Stay on trails. Don’t feed the animals. Carry out extinction of life-forms is more than a local con- to the creek. This is a good place to rest, soak your this depth remains cold year-round. Nonnative rain- your trash. cern—it is one of the greatest threats facing the feet, and observe the stream. Most of the water in bow and brown trout, introduced by the National world today. Share in the responsibility of preserving this area Bright Angel Creek comes from Roaring Springs, Park Service many years ago, now thrive in the cold, and the greater Grand Canyon. As a national park it located 3,800 feet/1,200 meters below the North clear water. These waters have become one of the A net loss in river sediments has reduced the size of is part of the heritage we all must protect. Your pres- Rim. As park visitation increases, so does the most productive trout fisheries in Arizona. beaches. In an effort to mediate the effects of the ence, as the presence of those before you, shapes demand for water. More water is then diverted to dam, federal and state agencies have experimented Water volume released through the dam is carefully this inner canyon region. All who pass through here the transcanyon pipeline from Roaring Springs, and with water flows, releasing varying amounts of water regulated, reducing seasonal variations in flow. In are accountable for its future. the creek’s flow is diminished. This has been espe- into the river below the dam. The resulting changes the absence of spring floods, riparian vegetation has cially visible in recent years; annual park visitation to the riparian environment are temporary. flourished. Native flora such as mesquite, catclaw now approaches five million people. The network of Determining appropriate water flows from the dam acacia, willow, and Apache plume thrive, as do non- Above Photo: The Phantom Ranch Canteen as it looks plants and animals that are dependent on the creek’s may lessen some of its negative effects, but as long today. NPS photo by Michael Quinn native species such as tamarisk, which typically steady flow suffers from the loss. as the dam remains, native fish and streamside vege- colonizes disturbed areas. With its long root system, tation will be impacted. Published by Grand Canyon National Park in cooperation with tamarisk secures a foothold as it competes with Grand Canyon Association. Tom Pittenger, NPS Editor; Ron Short, native plants for nutrients in the soil. The resulting GCA Art Director. Copyright 2004 Grand Canyon Association, Above Photo: Fishing Bright Angel Creek, circa 1941. mix of native and nonnative species sustains a large Post Office Box 399, Grand Canyon, AZ 86023. Printed on recycled paper. NPS photo animal population. Your Historic Walking Tour Rust’s Camp The Great Depression A Growing Concern Phantom Ranch Begin your walking tour at the Kaibab Suspension Stroll northward from the pueblo site toward Phantom Ranch continued to grow in response to Deer can often be seen in the mule corral as well, feasting on hay and grain. The inner canyon deer Grand Canyon National Park Bridge. Observe the site of an Indian pueblo 54 Phantom Ranch. Locate the commercial mule growing numbers of hikers. Electricity arrived in yards/50 meters north of the bridge. Perhaps three corral opposite Bright Angel Campground. Here, 1966, putting the noisy and unreliable generator population may be unnaturally large due to these Welcome to Phantom Ranch. Having or four families lived here for 30 to 40 years, in 1903, David Rust built a small ramada, pitched to rest for good. Visitors could count on evapora- dietary supplements. descended more than a vertical mile below hunting and farming where the ranch buildings several tents, and called it Rust’s Camp. The mod- tive coolers in the summer and heat in the winter. In response, the rim of Grand Canyon, you have stand today. The ancestral Puebloan people who est construction was an important step toward The transcanyon pipeline from Roaring Springs, rangers have reached the bottom of one of the largest their descendants, the Hopi, call Hisatsinom, lived development of this area and attracted growing completed in 1970, provided chlorinated drinking taken measures throughout Grand Canyon for hundreds of years. numbers of tourists. It was not long before the water to campground and ranch visitors, as well canyons in the world. Carved by the to encourage all Dating from approximately A.D. 1050 to A.D. Fred Harvey Company and Santa Fe Railroad had as all facilities on the North and South Rims. In animals to forage. Colorado River and sculpted by water from 1140, the site reminds us that we are not the first plans for a “luxury” guest ranch to replace Rust’s 1981 a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant was innumerable storms, the canyon reveals an Metal food storage to discover this inner canyon oasis. tent camp. completed at the mouth of Bright Angel Creek as boxes are provided unparalleled record of Earth’s history in the the only responsible answer to the needs of large Visited by nonnative people only sporadically in each campsite In 1933 President Franklin Roosevelt established numbers of visitors. Commercial operations cliffs above you. The dark walls in your since the sixteenth century, the canyon has seen to keep all food, Phantom Ranch the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to pro- expanded as well to include a canteen and four immediate vicinity, metamorphic schist, are rapidly growing numbers of tourists in the past trash, and plastic bags out of reach of animals. vide jobs during the Great Depression. CCC modern dormitories for hikers. close to two billion years old, nearly half 100 years. The completion of the Santa Fe Designed by Mary Colter and constructed in Feeding animals is illegal and dangerous. Animals Camp 818 was established where Bright Angel Railroad line to the South Rim in 1901 allowed 1922, Phantom Ranch provided food, lodging, and Increased visitation necessitated an inner canyon quickly become dependent on handouts. Deer the age of planet Earth. Campground is today. The CCC played an enor- for regular visitation. This, in combination with comfort against an austere backdrop. Continue park ranger force. By the 1960s a year-round kick and squirrels bite, and many wild animals mous role in the development of the inner Erosional forces formed the watery oasis the primitive inner canyon trail network, a legacy north to Phantom Ranch and wander among the ranger presence was established to provide med- carry diseases transmissible to humans. canyon; their work forever changed the nature of that is the setting for Phantom Ranch and of late nineteenth-century mining efforts, provided cabins. Look for those built mostly of stone. ical assistance, law enforcement, and education These four cabins and the north half of the lodge the area.