An April Hike

18 Apr 1992.  Bill Williams Wilderness, Arizona.  I'm sitting in the shade of a rock wall beside the Bill Williams River.  The day is hot but the shade is cool and a nice breeze is blowing.  We walked in about two miles.  It was pretty easy but did require a lot of in-and-out-of-water, bushwacking and scrambling in places.  The high point was seeing a family of bald eagles--two adults and two fledglings--nesting on a cliff above the river.  Two eaglewatch volunteers let us look through their spotting scope for a great view of the family.  We could see one of the fledglings perched on the edge of the nest trying out its wings.  An adult was eating a fish while the other circled overhead.  We also got good views of the nest as we walked downriver until rounding a bend.

Now we are camped on a sandy bench above the river.  The plan was to base camp and explore downriver.  The reality has been lying about, swimming and fishing.  I did wander up a side canyon looking for photos but have otherwise been pretty inactive.  I watched about 10 buzzards circling above the canyon.  We passed a dead javelina upstream so they may be attracted by that.  The buzzards are impressive birds--cruising almost effortlessly, wings folded back as they dive, wings extended as they cruise.  We also saw a large swarm of swallows, darting around a ledge over the water.  In all, a nice day.  The canyon is not as sheer as I expected.  Except for a few narrows it's pretty open.  Even the narrows are not that closed in.  The riverbed is loose rock with a sandy bottom.