3646
#255: DIAMOND CREEK DRIVE WITH RYAN
February 17, 1986
Wards Natural Science Establishment had ordered 300 pounds of Bright Angel Shale as part of the rock order for this year. I have been providing Grand Canyon rocks for Ward for the last 6 to 7 years since Barbara McKee gave me the task back then. Usually each year I get an order for a few hundred pounds of Grand Canyon rock. Only place I have been able to get Bright Angel Shale is Peach Springs Canyon. So Ryan and I headed west in my old blue pickup for Peach Springs. Ryan is 8 and ½ years old now.
We left the house in Flagstaff about 8:00am and arrived at Peach Springs about 10:00am. I got a permit from the Hualapai Tribe to go down the canyon free since I am still working on geology of the Hualapai Reservation. It is a clear calm day and pretty warm. We drove on down the Diamond Creek road which was in very good shape. About half way down we found the green shale. There Ryan helped me gather a few rocks and we weighed them on our bathroom scales. We only collected a few and decided to go on down to the Colorado River since Ryan had not been down here before.
The road was excellent. One other vehicle was down here, a man and his son going fishing. The trees were already leafed out and it was hot. The usual good stream of water flowed in Diamond Creek, about 6 inches deep and one yard across. The Colorado River was almost clear and flowing about 28,000cfs. We watched the man and his son catch trout in the river; one every 5 minutes and averaging about 2 or 3 pounds, 20 inches long. The temperature was in the high 80’s as we left to go back up the canyon. We stopped at three or four places and collected the rest of our rocks, about 300 pounds of shale. It’s nearly a three hour drive back to Flagstaff. Ryan was impressed with the canyon and especially the fish so we made plans to come back in a few weeks and go fishing.
