Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon

Monday, June 11, 2018

Today is the day we explore the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We had a quick breakfast at the small restaurant at Jacob Lake and gassed up.  One thing we’ve been told is to always fill up even if you’ve only used a quarter tank, because on some of the roads we travel the gas stations are infrequent.  In addition, our windshield always needs cleaning.  This station had a young man who cleaned the windows for you.  As to be expected both here at the motel and the Park there are a lot of college kids working here for the summer.

The number of bugs we’ve massacred along the way must be mind boggling.  Almost immediately after we left the gas station we hit a swarm of bugs.  So many of them hit our windshield it sounded like it was raining.  Pretty disgusting.  We have found a few car washes along the way and they do an ok job of getting rid of the dirt, but the bugs are glued on. Hopefully we’ll figure how to clean the car properly when we get home.

Once reaching the entrance to the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon we headed to the visitor center.  The park service personnel have always been extremely helpful.  We got information on several hikes we hoped to take today, along with a strategy on how to see all of the popular vistas.  We started at a short, but steep trail called Bright Angel Point that originated at Grand Canyon Lodge. The trail led to a fantastic view of Bright Angel Canyon and all of its glorious mesas, buttes, and spires

While the temperature hovered in the mid-80’s, even a short hike of 1 mile seemed to tire us out.  Perhaps it is the altitude, or perhaps we’ve been traveling for weeks and are not giving ourselves enough time to sit and relax.  Whatever the cause, we concentrated on seeing the sights rather than spend several hours hiking and exhausting ourselves.   When we were exiting the Bright Angel Trail a young couple with teenagers in the back seat asked us how long the hike was.  When we said 1 mile, they opted not to go because that had just done a hike that wiped them all out.  It was somewhat encouraging to learn that it wasn’t just us.

It was about a 45-minute ride on twisting, turning roads to reach our furthest point of the day, Cape Royal.  Considered the most spectacular view of the Canyon, on a clear day you can see 100 miles away.  An easy to walk 1/2-mile walk took us to the viewing area.  Along the way signs provided information on the flora and fauna.  Fortunately for us there were guardrails at the main viewing areas, but all about us were teenagers and young adults scurrying up piles of rocks or walking out onto precipices on the edge of the Canyon.  It was scary just looking at them.  Regardless of which direction you looked, your eyes saw something dramatic and beautiful. It offered a great view of Angels Window, an enormous opening in the rocks, and for the first time we could see the Colorado River twisting miles away from us.

Dan discovered a perfect place to have a picnic at Cape Royal.  As usual, we had picked up sandwiches and drinks that morning.  Our table was right near the edge of the Canyon, and more importantly, it was in the shade. It couldn’t have been nicer.  Walking along the edge of the Canyon from our picnic spot was a place that evidently must be used for weddings as it was called Wedding Site and provided wood bench seating for guests.

Walhalla Overlook pointed out a mesa far in the distance that was apparently the home of Puebloan peoples who had lived in the area 800 to 1,100 years ago.  Of course, it also offered more beautiful scenery.  It was at Roosevelt Point that it made clearly obvious to us that the North Rim was about 1,100 feet higher than the Southern Rim.  When you look at the Southern Rim from the Northern Rim you see a flat plateau running South from the Southern Rim.  You are basically looking down on the Southern Rim which is 10 miles away from the Northern Rim. Outside of more views of the Canyon I don’t remember what was special about Vista Encantada.  Point Imperial Point, however is the highest viewpoint of the Canyon at 8,803 feet.  Due to the rock formations, the sun, the time of day, and the color of the rocks themselves, every view offered a different perspective.  Some of the colors were somewhat muted almost appearing to be a pastel painting.

After ending our drive of the North Rim, we stopped for a cold drink at the Lodge and headed back to Jacob Lake, where we enjoyed a thick chocolate milkshake for dinner.  Neither of us were very hungry.  We also stopped at the gift shop, which I thought had the most beautiful native American jewelry and crafts that I’ve seen.  The woman who offered to help us turned out to be the daughter of the owner.  Her ancestors were the first to settle in the area and she explained how her grandfather, and now her father, have become experts on Navajo rugs.  I’ve never seen such a beautiful collection, but they were very pricey.  We met her Dad, who gave us even more information about the rugs.  I did end up purchasing a small seed pot to add to my collection. Tomorrow we begin our two-day travels to Agoura Hills-North of L.A.; and will travel to Kingman, Arizona.