North Rim of the Grand Canyon
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| Angels Window Vista |
My wife and I were able to get away for a short trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon over the Columbus Day weekend, October 7-10, 2016 . Since I'm a state employee I get a good number of holidays and this year I wanted to get back to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and to take my wife Nancy.
We left Phoenix on Friday and drove to Flagstaff where we got a motel. We had our four dogs with us so you know it was a fun time in the Explorer! We stayed at the "Butler" Motel 6 because they always accept pets. When checking in they told me they only accept up to 2 dogs. Oops. They made an exception so we settled in and ordered some Pizza Hut delivery.
We were able to take showers and get going by about 6:30 AM which surprised me. I still expected a leisurely drive because we'd have to let the dogs out a few times along the way and I wanted Nancy to see the scenery along the drive.
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| Heading north on Highway 89 towards the Vermilion Cliffs |
Nancy (and I) enjoyed seeing the western part of the Painted Desert on the Navajo Indian Reservation. It's not quite as spectacular or substantial as in the Petrified Forest National Park but it's very similar. The multi-colored hills along the drive to Page are interesting but we didn't take the time to stop and photograph them.
Before we knew it, the Vermilion Cliffs were visible. Since there were a good number of clouds in the sky the sun was only hitting them directly in a few small areas. They weren't terribly vermilion but Nancy was still impressed.
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| US 89A spanning the Colorado River at Marble Canyon |
Navajo Bridge
We turned west on to Highway 89A at Bitter Springs, eventually crossing the Colorado River at the Navajo Bridge and Marble Canyon. We continued on past the Cliff Dwellers and South Fork of Soap Creek area, with the Vermilion Cliffs on our right, and entered the Kaibab National Forest and the twisty roads heading to Jacob Lake. The desert shrub turned to pine forest as we gained altitude from roughly 5,000 feet at Bitter Springs to 7,900 feet at Jacob Lake.
At Jacob Lake we turned south onto Arizona State Route 67 which leads about 43 miles right to the visitor center at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had experienced really good traffic conditions on our drive which really contributed to an enjoyable trip.
We were planning to camp for two days at the North Rim, actually, since the national park campground was full, we were going to camp at the DeMotte campground in the Kaibab National Forest which is about 6 miles north of the park entrance. I didn't mind that at all - it was where I stayed the prior October.
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| Prime parking spot! |
We pulled into the busy parking lot at the lodge and as luck smiled on us we got the parking spot closest to the visitor center. The image at left is from last year - we got the same spot this year!
We got out a folding chair and set it up in the dirt near the east end of the parking lot overlooking the canyon. We got the four dogs leashed up, got their water dish, and I sat down in the chair with the 4 dogs while Nancy visited the lodge, store, and view points.
No Fear of Heights for my wife!
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| Trail to Bright Angel Photo by Nancy Morter |
One of my goals for this trip was to try going out to Bright Angel view point. The prior year I had tried to go out there using the trail that runs below the lodge. I made it part way but then my fear of heights took over and I had to turn around.
Since then I have found out that there is another trail which runs from on top of the hill, starting at the lodge. I have watched a number of YouTube videos of it and felt that since it was paved I might be able to do that trail all the way to the view point.
Nancy went to both of the view points below the lodge. I'd suggested starting with exiting out the lodge to the western veranda and then going down the stairs to the western viewpoint first. Then she could make her way to the eastern "lodge" viewpoint, and continue on along that trail that I couldn't finish, to the Bright Angel view point.
When she made it back to me, she had done exactly that - she'd gone to all three of those viewpoints!
I got my turn to walk around a bit but I just went to the Deli in the Pines and got some pizza for the second day in a row. If I'd thought about it I wouldn't have got pizza in Flagstaff. I like the pizza at the north rim. It may not be quite as good as our Pizza Hut but getting it and eating it at the north rim makes up for the quality. We ate it at the picnic area north of the lodge.
Since it was getting to be about 2:30 PM, we left from there to go set up our campsite while we still had daylight.
Rainy Day
As we headed north out of the park, the skies got cloudier and cloudier. We started getting sprinkles on the windshield and by the time we got to the campground it was a full downpour. We pulled into the parking for our campsite. We decided to wait for half of an hour and if the rain didn't let up we'd just go back home. It wasn't so much the camping itself that was turning me off. I just didn't want to pack up a wet tent and dogs into the Exploder, nor did I think we'd enjoy just sitting in the tent for a couple of days if it didn't let up. And it didn't look like it was going to from where we were.
But then, after about 20 minutes or so, the rain turned into almost a mist it became so light. We decided to stay.
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| Campsite # 28 DeMotte Campground |
Crap.
We kept going and did get the tent set up and all the gear inside. But since our tent is the kind with nothing but mesh for a roof (you're expected to put the rain fly on after the tent is set up), we had a good amount of puddles on the floor of the tent. We (okay, Nancy) got some of it cleaned up but we didn't have a mop and bucket with us so it was still pretty damp. It may not have helped that when the campground host came to see us I ended up talking to him for at least half of an hour while Nancy was working to set up the tent.
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| Wife was cold! |
Of course, once we'd finished setting up the tent and had sat inside of it until about 5:00 PM, the rain stopped coming down. We were just left with the puddles on the floor. Other tenters came in after we were done setting up and pitched their tent in the dry weather. When I walked around the campground later there were a good number of tents that were set up after ours and they were perfectly dry!
The dampness probably helped it seem very cold that night too. In the morning the thermometer in the Explorer indicated a toasty 28 degrees Fahrenheit!
Off to Cape Royal
Cape Royal is at the southern end of the WalHalla Plateau east of the north rim visitor center area. Along the drive you pass the Vista Encada picnic area, Roosevelt Point, and Walhalla Overlook before reaching the large dirt parking lot at Cape Royal. There's a nice paved trail there which takes to you Angels Window and Cape Royal view points. Once again, I sat behind with the dogs while Nancy explored. There are no dogs allowed on the trails.
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| View from Cape Royal Photo by Nancy Morter |
We had been to the south rim together in probably 1988 but haven't been back since. We plan to return sometime but frankly I prefer the north rim. I don't remember, however, either of us having as many "wow" moments at the south rim.
Don't misunderstand me. I am not for one minute trying to get more folks to visit the north rim. I think everyone should only visit the south rim and leave the north rim for me! There were enough cars at the north rim as it was!
Back to Bright Angel
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| Bright Angel Point to the right! |
I decided to try it without taking any photo gear. I wanted to be unencumbered. I headed along the asphalt covered trail thinking I was hot stuff. Then I got to a point where the trail headed downhill and the trail had a significant crown as well. It is about 3 to 4 feet wide. There were other people coming up and going down, forcing you to hug one side or the other. And on each side are significant drop offs. I got a couple of steps down it and knew that it was too much. I couldn't even think about trying to come back up that trail.
I got some tunnel vision, my pulse picked up, and basically I was scared spitless. I turned around and struggled to get back up to higher ground. What a wus. I was disappointed with myself.
I walked to the lodge and thought I'd try the viewpoints there. I'd done them the year before. But when I got to the west viewpoint I couldn't get out to it either. I didn't even bother trying the east viewpoint below the lodge.
I went back to the Explorer, got inside and calmed down, explaining to Nancy that I couldn't do it. She didn't make too much fun of me as we headed back to our campsite.
Relaxing at DeMotte Campground
When we got to the campsite we started discussing what we were going to have for dinner. Nancy drove over to the North Rim Country Store to get some cooking oil. With that I made some of the hiking type of food we have been wanting to try. I browned up some chicken chunks from a foil pouch in the cooking oil on top of my Primus stove. Then I added a Knorr rice mix with water. When it was ready we put it on some flour tortillas and topped it off with a Tillamook cheese stick before rolling up our tortillas.
They really tasted good! And we didn't have any plates to wash or throw away! It went down good with our Grand Canyon beer!
By the time we were done and I'd washed my pot and stowed my stove it was getting dark so we headed into the tent. We both started at our Kindles a bit (I read part of my Captain Cook eBook that I was in the middle of). We fell asleep pretty early - about as soon as the sun was gone!
Sunrise at Cape Royal
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| Sunrise from Walhalla Overlook |
We drove out to Cape Royal again where I stopped at Walhalla Overlook. It was still dark and cold as I sat up my Nikon D610 on the tripod. Nancy and the dogs sat in the Explorer tolerating me.
Once the sun started coming up Nancy thought it was wonderful. I did too. I was liking the photographs I was capturing and was feeling like the trip was going to be worthwhile photographically after all!
I shot for maybe an hour and then decided to head on down towards the Cape Royal parking lot. I wanted to try a shot of Angels Window as the sun was hitting it. I wasn't disappointed with that shot either!
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| Angels Window at Sunrise |
After I got a few shots we went back to the Walhalla viewpoint to feed the dogs now that the sun was up and I'd got some cool photographs.
Our big dog, Docie, started barking. We looked across the parking lot, across the Cape Royal Road, and saw a mule deer buck looking back at us! Then we saw there were more than one over there.
I got out of the car to try to take a picture. I still had the camera on the tripod. I walked slowly across the road and sat it up and shot. As soon as they heard the shutter they took off. It looked like there had been maybe 6 to 10 of them in the herd. None of my photos turned out.
Oh deer!
When the dogs had finished we headed back down the road. We saw more groups of deer out and about getting their breakfast. Then I spotted something crossing the road ahead of us that I couldn't quite make out. When we got to the point where they'd crossed, we saw there were maybe 3 or 4 wild turkey trying to eat. I rolled my window down and made some noises and one of them stuck it's head up and looked at us then they wandered off.
A short drive after that Nancy spotted a coyote along the side of the road. It was looking over the bank down into some brush that stood between the road and a small meadow. As we slowly approached it wasn't paying any attention to us and then it jumped down into the brush. We assumed that it had its eye on some warm breakfast too!
Nancy said that the only thing missing now was seeing some bison!
Oh bison!
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| Herd of bison near the park gate |
The bison were impressive. I got close enough to become a bit nervous, probably around 50 feet or so away. There was a group of 3 of them that looked me right in the eye as I was taking their photograph and I was both trying to get the shot as well as wondering if I could get out of their way if they charged!
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| Bison wondering what I would taste like |
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