Utah Vacation-Grand Canyon North Rim

Today we planned to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We got a bit of a late start, stopped to get gas, then headed south into Arizona. The drive was about an hour and a half long; first through desert, then up onto a forested (and in some cases burned forest) plateau, then over wide open meadows, and finally through forests again.

Our first stop was the North Rim Visitor Center. We parked, then headed for the Bright Angel Point Trail. This trail followed a path along the ridge that extended into the Grand Canyon. In some places the path was very narrow and in one or two places, the path disappeared and we had to cross a narrow bridge across a gap. This was not the place to be if heights intimidate you. The view was pretty amazing; it could only be better if there was less haze in the air. On the way back, we took a fork in the trail that passed below the Lodge to other overlooks.

View from the Bright Angel Point Trail

After the hike, we walked around the lodge, but didn’t enter. I was surprised by the number of cabins available to rent. I stopped at a restroom, which was basically just an outhouse. I walked away thinking that the Grand Canyon is deep, but followed closely by the depth of the outhouse. I’m pretty sure I heard nothing until after I washed my hands and opened the door, at which point I heard the very faint and distant sound of water hitting water.

Susan at the North Rim Visitor Center (Happy Anniversary)

We returned to the car and started thinking about lunch. We saw a bunch of picnic tables on the way in and stopped at one. It was near the edge of the canyon and it was quite chilly in the shade. We ate quickly, the drove out to Cape Royal.

One the way to Cape Royal, we passed the North Kaibab Trail. This trail drops into Roaring Springs Canyon and extends several miles. I wanted to walk to the Coconino Overlook, which was only seven tenths of a mile away, but with a change of elevation of almost 800 feet. We pulled off at the parking lot and drove around, looking for an open parking space, but it turned out that there were no “suitable” spaces, even though there were three available spaces. I guess that was our way of saying, “That’s too many vertical feet!”

At Cape Royal, we hiked the Cape Royal Trail. Along the trail, we had a clear view of the Angels Window natural bridge and ended up walking across it to the overlook.

Angels Window on the Cape Royal Trail

Next, we took the road to Point Imperial, which is the highest overlook in the North Rim side of the Grand Canyon. We also stopped at a few other overlooks on our way back out of the park.

Panoramic view from Cape Royal Trail

Once outside the park, we decided to have dinner at Jacob’s Lake Inn, which is famous for its cookies and thick shakes – my kind of place. Along the way, we saw bison and deer in the meadows along the highway. Dinner was great, and both the cookies and the shakes lived up to their reputation.

Finally, we headed back to Kanab. As we started our descent into the desert part of the drive, we found ourselves behind a loaded 18-wheeler. Before long, I started to smell brakes. A few moments later, I could see smoke coming off the trailer brakes. And another few minutes later, I could see smoke coming off all the brakes. Considering the windiness of the road, we were forced to follow. The smoke quickly filled the car and it was getting difficult to breath. Luckily for us, the driver realized the situation and found a spot to pull off the highway. I think it took another ten minutes before the smell was gone.

Once past the truck, we noticed that the sun was nearly set. We thought it was interesting how quickly it actually set. Because we were descending rapidly off the plateau, the sun appeared to set more quickly.

After we got home, we decided to go out to witness the night sky in all of its glorious darkness. We drove about sixteen miles East of Kanab and found a pull off. When we got out of the car, our jaws dropped in amazement. I have never before seen so many stars. I could even see the Milky Way stretching North to South across the sky. The most peculiar thing was that it was hard to find familiar constellations. There were so many stars, the constellations just vanished into the background.

We set up the tripod and camera and started experimenting with different settings. It was pretty cold, so it was a struggle making the adjustments. We quickly determined that we need a wider angle lens to capture more sky.

Milky Way captured with Google Pixel Night Sight

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