One of the most attractive things about the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is that it is much less visited than the South Rim. But the beauty at both rims is unparalleled. We spent a weekend camping in the North Rim in September, getting there before the height of the color season. The aspen were turning, but would be better in a couple of weeks. This was the first time that we had camped with the dogs. Aside from the tent being crowded, the dogs added to the fun of the trip.
The drive to the North Rim was interesting because we drove through desert for much of the trip before ascending through the pinyon and juniper forest to a habitat consisting mostly of ponderosa pine, broken up by grassy meadows. We saw and drove through a rainstorm in the desert. Watching the storm front and rain move across the mountain tops and over the mesas was compelling. The storms have such force, but are ephemeral in the desert. We arrived at our campsite in mid afternoon and set up camp. The worst thing about our campsite was that it was right next to the bathrooms. The dogs felt that they had to protect us from everyone trying to get to the bathrooms. However, they behaved themselves quite well.
We walked around the lodge, planned future forays, saw the exhibits at the visitor center and walked around at Bright Angel Point in the afternoon light. An Eberts squirrel played a few feet from the dogs, but they paid no attention to it. This was a recurring pattern. The dogs seemed oblivious to squirrels, paying attention only to people. We returned to the campsite and prepared dinner. We read and watched the campfire after dinner before turning in. The night was cold by our standards, but all of us slept warmly.
Saturday was our main day for wandering around the North Rim. Our first stop was Cape Royal, where we were able to walk around to view Angels Window and then walk out to the end of the point housing the window. Angels Window is a natural arch recessed fairly far back in a mass of sandstone. Most arches are much thinner. The danger of their imminent collapse (imminent in geological terms, that is), is not great. The measure of time to collapse might be measured in millions of years here. The views of the river are spectacular. If you position yourself correctly you can see the river though the arch. In any case, you can see across to the South Rim and down into the canyon. There is also a spot where weddings are held at a more secluded viewpoint, where similarly spectacular views awaited. The different viewpoints at Cape Royal could all be trip highlites if you went nowhere else. We made stops at Point Fear, Cape Final and Roosevelt Point, looking into the eastern segment of the Grand Canyon. The views from these areas are outstanding. The Cape Final viewpoint mostly leads to a trailhead where the "real views" are. The steep part of the Canyon is about a mile away at the end of the trail. Point Fear affords less expansive views and Roosevelt Point yields views that are more distant than down. After a picnic lunch at Vista Encantada, we proceeded to Point Imperial.The south side of the Grand Canyon is a couple of thousand feet lower than the north side here, so you can see well into the flat, arid lands of the Navajo Reservation. There are reasons for the grandiloquent names here.
It was still early afternoon when we embarked on our final drive of the day. Point Sublime is another spot with a grandiloquent name. It is a 15 mile drive from the campground. It only took us 2 hours to get there. So you can guess about the quality of the road. There were a couple of places along the way where you could stop to look out over the canyon, but we were far enough back from the rim along the road that the views were not great. Not great until we got to the end of the road. At Point Sublime you can see the rover miles off in the distance. The South Rim is also readily visible but even far away. The drop-off near the point is severe and I would guess that Point Sublime is lower than other points along the North Rim because the point gives you a more desert feel than the other points we visited. The other points and capes had a mountainous feel. Because of the drive to get there and because of the views, and particularly the solitude (we saw no other cars on the entire drive), I feel that this stop was the highlite of the trip.We spent about half an hour here admiring the view in the afternoon light before tackling the drive back. By the time we got back we had time for a snack at the North Rim grocery store and a little time to read before starting a late supper. I was assigned to entertain the dogs while Maggie and Beth cooked, so we went on a walk around the campground. Harley, a pit bull, was interested in everything there was to see, almost. Hog, an American Bulldog, was mostly interested in other dogs. However, neither seemed a bit interested in he squirrels that reigned over the campground. We read for a while again while enjoying the campfire after dinner before calling it a night.
Based on the time it takes to get back to Las Vegas, we knew that we needed to leave shortly after noon to get home before dark. After we broke camp and packed the car we decided that we would walk the actual trail to Bright Angel Point rather than going on the trail along the front of the lodge. The dogs could not go on that trail so we did it in shifts. The trail is between a quarter and a third of a mile long. The views again were magnificent. The biggest difference from our earlier walks were centered around lighting. The sun was in the east, so there were fewer shadows. We could also see where trees had changed color. The views were, as usual, without equal. After we had all completed shifts we still had some time before we had to hit the road so we walked the trail along the parking lot to get a view of Roaring Springs Canyon. The drop-off is not as rapid here so the slopes are more filled with trees. You cannot see Roaring Springs Creek because of this. But it is amazing how trees can grow on some of the steeper slopes. Our time was finally up so we returned to the car for the long trip home. We encountered no storms and plenty of heat as we returned to elevations where desert dominates. There were a couple of nice views along US89, but really no place to stop to record them. So we drove home pretty much nonstop, unpacked, cleaned up, and prepared to return to the humdrum of work the next morning
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