Although the ramble along the short mile from the parking lot to the old homestead is very pleasant, water shoes are necessary to get into the spectacular part of the canyon. We followed the trail to the first creek crossing after the homestead, then walked a long mile on the opposite side, then descended to where the creek takes a sharp bend and crossed back. The crossings were shallow and easy and switching shoes and boots back and forth was well worth it, because this route got us well into the canyon without dead-ending in dense shrubbery and tick heaven. The best of this hike begins after the second creek crossing. We passed through a pretty aspen grove, then along a group of snags where in a previous year we'd seen a flock of Lewis's woodpeckers (only courting flickers today). Then the trail widened before pushing us against the canyon wall along a good trail across a couple of talus fields. We saw huge, lone ponderosa pines, vast swaths of orange lichens on the canyon wall, and wonderful hoodoos that just kept getting better. Because of time spent wayfinding earlier, we probably went only about 3 miles into the canyon, not as far as the good trail continued. Birds: violet-green swallows, a pair of ravens in a mesmerizing courtship flight, and lots of kestrels and harriers, including a long view of a splendid adult male harrier sitting at the base of a tree. The highlight was a golden eagle that appeared above the canyon rim like a submarine and coursed along it before catching the thermals high above. Very few wildflowers were out. Instead, our seasonal reward was seeing and hearing thousands of wild honeybees working the newly blooming vine maples that were everywhere.