By Dirk Baron and Rob Negrini - Calif. State University, Bakersfield
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ABSTRACT
The February, 2010 Spouse’s Night Talk will be a documentary of a 21-day, 225-mile private float trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon starting at Lees Ferry and ending at Diamond Creek. All aspects of the journey will be presented amid a setting of beautiful Southwest US desert scenery. A brief overview will be given of the geologic units travelled during the trip and their environment of deposition will be discussed. These units range in age from 1.8 billion year-old metamorphic rocks to deposits associated with recent and prehistoric floods. Other geologic highlights will include baseball-bat sized nautiloid fossils, trilobite trace fossils, billion year-old stromatolites (algal mounds), picturesque travertine deposits, spectacular springs, etc. In addition to the fossil organisms, California Condors, Bighorn Sheep, and spring wildflowers were encountered and were happy to have their picture taken. Evidence of Paleoindians was abundant and the float group twice encountered active digs staffed by friendly and informative archeologists. An overview of life on the river will also be presented. Cooking, cleaning, fishing, hiking, leg-breaking, evacuation by helicopter, and the running of rapids are all part of this story.
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