Canyons without condors

The Grand Canyon was really cold which for some reason we weren't expecting.  The South Rim where all the camping and facilities are is 7000ft high so it was freezing at night.  We were very popular with the birds when we arrived. When we sat down to have our sandwiches  we were surrounded by chickadees and a pygmy nuthatch- there obviously hadn't been many other campers recently. Despite all the birds there was no sign yet of Abert's squirrel which we'd hoped to see, they have very cool ear tufts and we managed to see one just before we left the park.

keeping warm at the campsite - Dan and Nat went to the North rim first but it was even colder as it's higher elevation so they joined us at the South thinking it would be lovely and warm.

Fi pets a mule..................illegally

Ooops didn't see the sign

Sunset

It is quite astonishing how stupid many park visitors are, not only have we seen graffiti on landscape everywhere but they have a big problem with people chucking coins into the canyon.  We went to a great ranger talk about the California condors which have been reintroduced and are breeding successfully once more in the canyon.  We didn't get to see any as apparently it was hunting season over on the North Rim so they were enjoying themselves across the canyon feasting on the innards left behind by the hunters.  Individual condors are tagged on both wings for easy identification and we saw the sheet of information about each one such as whether they were brought up by foster birds or humans using puppets.  A very brave person/people took the decision to bring all the remaining 20 or so condors in from the wild to set up a captive breeding programme which seems to have been a success although they are still supplementary fed.  Lead shot in carcasses is still a risk to condors so California Fish and Game Dept will exchange any lead shot for non-lead ammo.  There is some information on California condors and their reintroduction here

http://www.ventanaws.org/species_condors/

We did a day hike 3 miles and 2000ft down into the canyon and back on South Kaibab trail down to 300 million year old sedimentary deposits called the Supai group.  

A mule train coming up from the cap down at the Colorado river at the bottom.

Mules carrying luggage up from a camp at the bottom of the canyon

It think these tall ones were Century plants, a type of Agave

Sounds scarier than it was

You can see the Colorado river from Skeleton point.....however don't be tempted to walk all the way to the river in one day......

I don't know about you but whenever I am dangerously dehydrated I slap my own forehead

A rock squirrel - but no mullet in sight

On the South Kaibab trail

If I only had a parachute

This got our hopes up unnecessarily

Sunset from Grand View Point

Vishnu's Temple

big fat hairy tarantula but no banana trees in sight, it was a sad sight as he'd lost a back leg so was limping