May 5 - Grand Canyon and Ranger Rob

(Monday)  Beautiful bright sunshine - a glorious day.

We decided on a geology tour this morning and boy! were we glad we did! We absolutely lucked out with Ranger Rob Hannawacker who was an endless source of information and had such an enthusiasm for imparting that knowledge and his love of the Canyon we were all totally in awe.  He had us in the palm of his hand for nearly two hours.

Claire and Ranger Rob Hannerwacker

Totally captivated by Ranger Rob.

I simply cannot get enough of the Canyon.

 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Grand Canyon.

"I learnt that I eat the Grand Canyon. The Colorado River runs through the Grand Canyon and carries the iron and calcium from the rocks to the farms where they grow the broccoli that I ate for dinner at the Quechuan Indian Reservation restaurant."

We had lunch and sat outside on the rock ledge in the gorgeous sunshine on the South Rim with the Canyon at our backs.  All of a sudden two squirrels silently crept up behind us and scampered out of the brush and grabbed part of a Nana's half eaten sandwich. Nana leapt up and ran and we all laughed.  The squirrel couldn't be shooed away and turned his attention to Claire and her hotdog - and lemonade! Claire was very tempted to feed the squirrels, but having already been sworn in as a Jnr Ranger, she knew she couldn't as it is illegal, and also bad for the animals as they lose their ability to forage and hunt in the wild.

Claire and one of the cheeky squirrels.

 After lunch we hiked down the Bright Angel Trail which was was quite exhilarating. We walked right past the cabin where Josh, Nana and Pa stayed last time.  Do you remember it, Josh?

Cabin where Nana, Pa and Josh stayed.

We did a 6 km hike at high altitude from 7,000' down to 6,000' which had us sucking in gulps of air.  Each of Nana's Joseph Seibel walking sandals cracked in half right through the middle of each sole. A good excuse to shop, shop, shop when we get to Las Vegas.

Back up at the top after such an exhilarating walk.

Ranger Anna talked about the California Condor. In the early 1980's only six of these magnificent birds were alive and the US government instigated a catch and breed program, much to the disgust of the Sierra Club and the bird society.  However, the program has been a huge success and several hundred birds have been returned back to the wild.  Several Condors were born in the Canyon last year.

 

Ranger Anna called for a volunteer and you'll never guess who popped up and helped compere the show - Claire did! She helped demonstrate the wing span of the raven, the turkey vulture and the California Condor which has a wing span of 2.7 metres.

Checking the wingspan of a turkey vulture.

We learnt how to identify each of the birds flying in the Canyon by Claire flapping her arms like the turkey vulture, a little boy was the raven and the Ranger was the Condor. Claire will show you the hilarious video if you ask her!

Flapping her wings like a turkey vulture.