THE OTHER SIDE
Originally
I hadn’t planned to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Both of the backpacking trips we’d planned
started on the South Rim, so we didn’t have a compelling reason to visit the
other side. On the other hand, only
about 10% of the visitors to the park go to the north rim. So, the north rim promised a much quieter
experience. A friend of mine had also
visited the north rim a year earlier, and had strongly recommended it. We didn’t have much time, but decided to
squeeze it in. Since we were coming from
southwestern Utah, it really wasn’t that far out of the way.
We
enjoyed a pleasant drive south from Kanab, and crossed into Arizona a few
minutes later. Arizona is in the
Mountain Time Zone, like Utah, but they don’t observe daylight savings
time. Because of this, I never really
got a handle on what time it really was there.
I wasn’t the only one – in fact, I got the impression that a lot of Arizona
residents weren’t sure what time it was, either. As far as I could tell, sunrise happened
before 5am, which is clearly absurd. I
decided that we’d just stick with Utah time, since that was working fine, and
refused to change my watch or the clock in the rental car. Of course that eventually created its own set of problems.
The
drive across northern Arizona was pleasant, with nice views of the Vermillion
Cliffs to the north. This part of the
drive was all uphill as we climbed up onto the plateau high above the Colorado
River. It was a different world up
there, with pleasant temperatures and forests of pine and aspen interspersed
with vast meadows. At one point we
stopped at a scenic overlook to stretch our legs. I got out of the car and realized that I was
dizzy and light-headed. I think it was
probably an effect of the sudden change in altitude that got to me.
We
drove to Jacob Lake, which features some campgrounds and a restaurant / gas
station / store. The bathroom there was
one of the scariest I’d ever seen. It
looked like it had been the scene of an exorcism or
something.
From
Jacob Lake we left the main highway and followed a spur road south into the
park. The entrance station had exactly
one car waiting – counting ours. Based
on that alone, I knew we’d made a wise decision.
Shortly
after the entrance we passed a herd of what appeared to be bison. Later we found out they were actually “beefalo”.
About a hundred years ago somebody in the area had the brilliant idea to cross
breed bison with cattle. The result was
beefalo, which have somehow survived on the north rim of the Grand Canyon ever
since.
We
drove to the campground and checked in.
The campground was full – in fact, I got the last site when I made
reservations in April. The North Rim
campground is quite nice though, with shady, well-spaced sites. It was actually one of the nicer campgrounds
of the trip.
We
set up camp and then took a scenic drive.
First we headed out to Cape Royal, where we took a short walk to several
of the overlooks. The views were great,
of course. My favorite encompassed
Angel’s Window – a natural arch with a view of the Colorado River in the
distance. Later we visited Anasazi ruins
at Walhalla Glades before driving up to Point Imperial. It was downright chilly there, which was a
delightful sensation after the heat of southern Utah. We returned to camp to make dinner, but
finished up too late to catch sunset. I
vowed to make up for it by rising early the following morning for sunrise.
I
got up around 5 (or 4, if you believe in Arizona time) the next morning. Christy wasn’t feeling well due to allergies,
so I let her sleep while I drove down to the lodge and Visitor Center. Although the north rim gets only a small
fraction of the parks visitors, virtually all of them are confined to the tiny
area around Bright Angel Point. The
lodge, campground, Visitor’s Center, and major overlooks are all in close
quarters, so it is still a busy area. Of
course it wasn’t too busy before dawn, although there were a few folks out
waiting for sunrise.
I
hiked the paved trail down to Bright Angel Point. I was treated to a nice, if not entirely
magical, sunrise from there. Then I
headed back to our campsite and made breakfast.
We then broke camp, and I dropped Christy off at the Visitor’s Center,
so she could visit some overlooks. Then
I drove back over to the Cape Final Trailhead, on the road to Cape Royal. I wanted to do a legitimate hike on the north
rim, and Cape Final seemed like a good choice.
It’s a 4-mile round trip hike, so I could do it in the morning before we
spent the afternoon driving over to the South Rim.
The
hike to Cape Final was easy, pleasant, and quiet. I ran into a few hikers along the way, but it
certainly wasn’t crowded. Most of the
hike was in the woods, but there were a few nice overlooks along the
trail. The best was at the end
though. Cape Final itself is
spectacular. It was probably my favorite
part of the north rim. Interestingly,
there is an actual backcountry campsite just before the end of the trail. That would be a great place to camp after a
1-hour hike in (as long as you don’t sleep walk – the campsite is very close to
the cliffs!). I’m sure it’s a great spot for sunset and sunrise, as well.
I
drove back to the Visitor’s Center and picked up Christy. Then we stopped at a picnic area for
lunch. We ate lunch while watching the
family at the next table feed the squirrels.
I was really hoping that a squirrel would bite one of them, but it was
not to be. I guess you can’t have
everything.
ROUNDABOUT
After
lunch we made the long drive around to the South Rim. The South Rim is only a few miles from Bright
Angel Point, but the drive takes over four hours. Fortunately most of it is scenic. First we drove back out to Jacob Lake,
backtracking on the route we’d taken the previous afternoon. Then we dropped down off the plateau,
enjoying views of the Vermillion Cliffs along the way. Near Lee’s Ferry we passed the lower end of Paria Canyon, which is one of southern Utah’s finer
multi-day hikes. A few minutes later we
reached Navajo Bridge, which spans the Colorado River. We stopped at the Visitors Center there for a
closer look at the bridge, the river, and Marble Canyon, but we didn’t linger
long. The temperature was well over 100
degrees, and just getting out of the car was difficult. From there I started to drive down to Lee’s
Ferry, which afforded the only crossing of the Colorado River back before
Navajo Bridge and Glen Canyon Dam were built.
I was interested in checking the place out, as it is the starting point
for paddling trips through the Grand Canyon.
However, my curiosity waned when I discovered that there was a $15 fee
just to drive down there. A made a quick
(and no doubt very popular) U-turn and returned to the highway.
We
resumed the drive by crossing the bridge and then climbing up out of Marble
Canyon. We then turned north briefly,
towards Page, Arizona and Lake Powell.
We went a couple of miles out of the way to take in the view from a
roadside overlook at Antelope Pass. It
gave us a nice aerial view of Marble Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs, but we
didn’t hang around long. Instead we
drove south, through a vast Indian reservation.
This part of the drive was a little dull, but it did feature the first
(and only) rainfall of the trip. It
didn’t amount to much though. Whereas
rainfall is usually measure in inches, this particular storm could’ve been
measured in “drops on the windshield”.
We
finally reached the turn to the South Rim.
Once again we climbed up onto a plateau, this time high above the Little
Colorado River Canyon. There was no line
at the entrance station, which was a pleasant surprise. Just after the entrance we made our first
stop at Desert View. There is a
watchtower here, and I imagine most visitors make this their first stop (if
approaching from the east). The tower
features some nice views, and although the area was crowded, it was worth the
visit.
Before
we left we got ice cream and I purchased an extra memory card for my
camera. I still had space on my backup
card, but I wasn’t sure if it would be enough for the remainder of the
trip. This turned out to be a good move,
as that second card was full by the middle of the next day. Even though I bought the memory card in the
park, the price really wasn’t outrageous, either.
We
stopped at most of the major overlooks along the way to Grand Canyon Village,
though we did skip a few. We also
visited another Anasazi ruin. This one
was a little more impressive than Walhalla Glades on the North Rim. Then it was on to Grand Canyon “village”,
which is actually more like a small city.
I’d been there once before, in 1998, but didn’t remember it being such a
full-blown metropolis.
We
checked in at the campground (which was full) and made our way to our
site. It was nice and cool that evening,
as we were back up over 7,000’ in elevation.
After dinner we spent the rest of the evening packing for our first
backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon.
This initial trip would be tame – a simple hike down
the South Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch, followed by a layover day and then a
return hike out on the Bright Angel Trail.
We would be on the Corridor Trails (i.e. mule trails) the entire time,
which didn’t really excite me. On the
other hand, I was looking forward to the scenery along the South Kaibab route,
as I’d missed it on my previous visit.
Plus, Christy was looking forward to visiting the Colorado River and
Phantom Ranch, as she’s heard countless stories from our 1998 trip over the
years (we met in ’99).
The
evening also featured a rock concert from a nearby campsite. It wasn’t too annoying initially, but it went
on well into the night. Luckily I can
sleep through anything. Unfortunately
Christy didn’t fare quite so well.
Back to Arizona
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!