Watchtower replica of ones Anasazi and other ancients built thousands of years ago

In the Kiva, looking up at two more levels

Hopi Paintings in the Watchtower/Kiva

This place is awsomely beautiful and dangerous at the same time

Fri, 6/26/09

Mather NF Campground, Grand Canyon, South Rim: Rained last night. A nice, steady rain. Great sleeping. And I started reading the book, “Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon”. An amazing read. It’s amazing how stupid people are. They disregard the walls, climb over and get out on an outcropping so they can get their picture taken or whatever. One went over two days ago. Everywhere we stopped people were taking great chances—until a ranger would come along and give them a talking to. They had to get a 350 lb. woman out of the canyon who was hiking in flip-flops with no water. Anyway, this book is a great anthology of episodes in the canyon written by a couple of park rangers. We left early this morning and headed back to desert view where we first came in yesterday. Started pouring down rain with lightning and thunder. Dashed into the restaurant for breakfast there and after eating checked out the Watchtower—which is a recreation of these strange, prehistoric towers built by the Anasazi and other ancients. Mary Colter was the architect and also designed Bright Angel Lodge, Phantom Ranch, and several others. The second level of the tower is a Kiva with beautiful pictographs representing Indian ceremonies painted by a Hopi artist. I think there are 4 levels in the tower—each one with beautiful Indian paintings. The top of the tower is the highest point on the South Rim with great views of the canyon. While taking pictures outside a piece of rock fell from somewhere and you could hear it falling and echoing all the way down. Started driving in the direction of our campground stopping at all the turn-outs to gaze at this magnificent place. We also stopped at a Tusayan Pueblo ruin. They lived here 1100 years ago. Had lunch at Bright Angel Lodge. Again it started pouring down rain. And the temperatures were now in the upper 50s. And people were in shorts and tank tops freezing. When you were in the sun though, even though the thermometer said 60, it felt much warmer. Back to our campsite to relax the rest of the afternoon.