West Trip 2012: Day 24

Grand Canyon National Park, North Rim, Arizona

Weather: High 72, Low 45

Today was the earliest day yet-we awoke at 5:30 am in order to get on the road towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon-about 2 hours away. I made muffins last night and had some fruit cut up so we could have breakfast in the car.

Bleary-eyed and through the pitch black we made it to the North Rim entrance station (Arizona is on Pacific Time right now) so we were there just minutes after the park opened! We decided to just go to the North Rim, hike some trails, see the Canyon, and bypass the South Rim crowds.

We started out on the Angel Point trail, a short trail that takes you along a narrow point overlooking the Grand Canyon. Besides the shaky feeling in our knees as we could look down on either side of us to the canyon below, the views were pretty good. We could not see to the bottom of the canyon from that viewpoint, but it was a good introduction to the size and breadth of it all. We could look across to the South Rim and could see part of Bright Angel Trail leading down into the canyon floor.

Then we hiked along the rim and through some pine forests back toward the campground. The atmosphere at the North Rim is very different from what I have read and heard it is like at the South Rim. The North Rim is at a much higher elevation, and it is quite forested-it joins up with the Kaibab (Ky-baab) National Forest. Hearing the wind rush through the pine needles in the forest, and seeing the changing colors of the Aspens, combined with the cooler temps (about 65 degrees) really made it feel like fall, and it was hard to imagine that we were at the Grand Canyon!

After hiking back toward the visitor center, we got in the car and traveled along a route that took us to another section of the canyon where the overlooks were supposed to be much better. We went out to Cape Royal and hiked out the short distance to the overlooks. We were able to see down to the Colorado River and were also able to see quite some ways in either direction. We took some time to just sit on the rocks and soak it all in. It was a little difficult for Dennis and I to believe that we were at the Grand Canyon. We have seen quite a number of really cool and unmatchable natural wonders on this trip, and the Grand Canyon from what we saw was incomparable in size and scope to anything else. The entirety of Zion Canyon, for example, totally cool in itself, could be swallowed up in the Grand Canyon.

There was a little rain during our time at the canyon, and the skies were overcast the whole time. In fact, we could see rain clouds and rain falling to the ground in the distance all around us.

Some interesting facts from today:

-A squirrel, called the Kaibab Squirrel, only lives in the forests surrounding the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Eric saw one while hiking. Leah got a stuffed animal replica from the gift shop. It is dark colored, except for its tail, which is silvery-white, and it has little gray tufts of hair sticking up on the ends of its ears.

-Aspens: there was the largest concentration of aspen trees we have seen so far. They are probably my favorite tree. The bark is completely white like a birch tree. The leaves seems to shimmer and shake all the time, in the slightest breeze. They do this to allow light to filter down to even the lowest leaves because aspens love sunlight! They are usually the first trees to repopulate an area that has been burned by a forest fire-so if you see a large stand of aspens, there was probably a forest fire in that location at one point. The ones we saw today were all starting to change color for fall, and the leaves were a brilliant yellow-orange. They really glowed against the backdrop of the tall ponderosa pines of the forest.

After our time at the Grand Canyon, we drove back towards the campground. We stopped at a local BBQ place in Kanab, Utah for lunch/dinner. They had a cheesy gift store and old western store front village also, and we all milled around for a little after eating before getting back on the road.

Back at the campground, it was still relatively early, so we were able to fit in a swim at the pool and a round of mini golf before coming in for the night.

We are praying for NO RAIN tomorrow as we are hoping to hike the Narrows again before we leave.

Welcome to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! There was noone here at 7am so we were able to get a picture at the entrance sign. Usually at the entrance signs there are so many people taking pictures we just bypass.