It's a little like going to church, only the cathedral is the canyon. The payoff, of course, is the animals. More than 170 species of birds have been sighted here, including 14 species of hummingbirds. You may find black bears feeding off the apple trees or spot a bobcat resting in the meadow. Wild turkeys are common visitors.
Butterflies drift through the sycamore trees.
But on this day, we are searching for the trogan. I opt for the guided nature walk and join the visitors tagging along behind Sandee Corbett, our Nature Conservancy guide, who slowly leads us up the canyon and into a restricted area, where, I'm hoping, the shy trogan will reveal itself. Except for trogans, of course. We also get a tour of the cabin once occupied by Nelson C. Bledsoe, the man responsible for setting aside the land for the preserve, visit ponds harboring the endangered Ramsey Canyon frog, which sings underwater, and walk to the edge of the narrows that mark the upstream preserve boundary. On the way back to the cabins, two elderly women from Iowa ask for news about the trogan.