Rambling Rabans: July 19, 2011 North Rim Grand Canyon, AZ

Arizona does not celebrate Daylight Savings - “We get enough sun, thank you.” - so we were up with the ravens at 6 am. But we all seemed rested enough for a few adventures today.

We started the day with a hike down the Transept Trail, ending at the Grand Canyon Lodge. We admired the hazy view (smoke + humidity + pollution) from the sun porch, toured the lodge and bathrooms, and signed all three kids up for the Jr. Ranger program. All you had to say was “badge” and Lindsay was hooked. She completed her 4 required pages before lunch and then begged all day to return for her reward. Karl, the naturalist that he is, tried to finish all the pages in his book by the end of the day. A haiku he wrote:

Rattlesnakes biting

Wolves and coyotes howling

This is so much fun

Can you see their shiny Jr. Ranger badges?

On the sun porch at the Grand Canyon Lodge

View from Transept Trail in the morning

We spent lunch and the early afternoon at our campsite. The sun finally came out and consequently, God turned on the heat. The kids did various crafts, rode bikes, and captured hapless critters (more on that below), while Gerry and I read and prepped for other activities.

This afternoon, we rode our bikes back to the lodge for the Condor Talk on the sun porch with one of the park rangers. I am now filled with fun little facts about condors and am anxious to work my new knowledge into all my conversations. You’ve been warned.

We also walked the Bright Angel Trail to overlook the canyon. It turns out that Karl and Gerry are not fond of heights and barely made it over some of the bridges. Lindsay and I climbed on every outcropping of rock. Billy, in standard form, was a wild card and had to be hand-held at every turn.

View from Bright Angel Trail

Today, the wildlife was abundant. We saw many ravens, chipmunk and squirrel. Karl caught a horned toad and a collared lizard (while bike riding, if you can believe it). On the Transept Trail we spotted a doe mule deer and 2 fawn. And, in what could have only happened on an episode of The Crocodile Hunter, this European guy captured a 4-foot bull snake on the Bright Angel Trail and carried it to safety down the canyon. Karl had stars in his eyes and I fully expect to see that fellow on Animal Planet one day.