A Rise Of Fifty To Seventy Feet Is Not
So Very Unusual In The Heart Of The Gorge, Where It Is Narrow And The
Waters Would Necessarily Pile Up.
To see such a rise, without any evidence
of a rain above, is a wonderful experience that one occasionally enjoys.
Snow on the Rim. Another remarkable contrast is observed by winter
tourists. On the rim at El Tovar, Grand View, or Bass Camp snow may fall
during December, January and February, and sometimes in March, though it
quickly disappears. This is not surprising when one considers the high
altitudes. The weather is then sometimes quite frigid, but it is a dry cold
which rapidly yields to the warm midday sun. Do not imagine from this
general statement that winter, as we know it in the East, is the usual
thing at the Canyon. Quite the reverse. There are more sunshiny, warm,
windless, stormless and no-snow days than otherwise, taking one year with
another. Real winter weather often stays away until well into January. Some
years it is a negligible quantity. At no time need it be feared by the
traveller.
Trails in Winter. The trails for half a mile, or even a mile, down into the
Canyon, during a part of the winter, are sometimes covered with light snow.
As soon as the snow line is passed, the climate begins to change. The cold
is less penetrating, and by and by one enters what might be called a
temperate zone.
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