Grand Canyon Tour

When I started this blog, I intended to have a focus on birds because, well, I just like them. I think they're an incredible part of God's creation. Of course, doing an entire blog about birds turned out to be not so feasible. Still, over time, I've sprinkled in a few entries.

Saturday my wife and I went with some friends to the Grand Canyon. (It's fun to live close enough to make it a day trip.) Lots of great scenery and all. The canyon itself is amazing. It is 277 miles long. It is up to 13 miles wide at its widest. From the rim to the floor is up to 5500 feet. (Note to those who have forgotten their distances from school: That's more than a mile.) The friends with whom we went had just finished a rim-to-rim hike last month. Walking from the north rim to the south rim took them 16 hours. (The official line is that this is not a day hike. It should be done in two days.) They weren't record breakers. That just gives you an idea of the magnitude of this canyon.

The canyon is home to a wide variety of animals. There aren't too many places you can go to walk alongside a bull elk. The javelina is native to the area. And there are indeed a variety of birds. One of the more interesting, however, is one of the newest additions ... or, should I say, reintroductions. In the late 20th century the condor was reintroduced into the Grand Canyon. We were fortunate to catch sight of one of these. (Number 23, as it turns out, has been there since 1997 and is the father of two living offspring.) Oh, sure, he's in the vulture family, so it's hard to think of him as cute, but he is certainly an amazing bird. Don't let the picture fool you. An adult male condor (like this one) can have a wingspan of 9 ft. (By way of contrast, a golden eagle can have a 7' span and a turkey vulture a 6' span. In fact, the condor is the largest flying land bird in North America.

Oh, I suppose I could regale you with descriptions and pictures of the amazing geology of the place. It was indeed a beautiful day at one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It was a great time sharing it with my wife and friends. And it was a wonderful opportunity to see the wildlife I enjoy so much. But I'll just leave you with this smattering. Enjoy.

(FYI, for the curious, I took the pictures. They aren't "canned" photos from other sources.)