On May 19 I hiked the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. Last week I rafted the canyon for 200 miles with Western River Expeditions. It is a stunningly beautiful experience.The crew were great, the other passengers were fun and unselfish, the food was terrific and the experiences were unbelievable. If you want to learn more go to Western River Expeditions web site. Or just scroll down through these photos that I took.

Red Wall Cavern on the 2nd day gives you an idea of the magnitude of the canyon.

My fellow travelers on the river. A great bunch to suck rubber with.

We saw a surprising number of Big Horn Sheep. Many more than my other three trips combined. This might be another environmental success story.

The rapids vary in size and difficulty but the crew is very experienced and safety conscious. Nobody was ever in danger of falling off.

There were lots of side excursions off the boats for frolicking. Bob and I took advantage of a natural shower to rinse off.

This is the Black Bridge near Phantom Ranch. It is where the river trip intersected the Rim to Rim hike. I am a lucky man.

There are reasons to protect some of the wild country in the world but we have to keep reminding ourselves that “wild” is a luxury good and when we indulge our desire for luxuries we are in the margin depriving the poor of basic necessities.