GRAND CANYON, NORTH RIM -3

Today we did some hiking after a wonderful breakfast at the Lodge with Vickie and Sharon. Vickie and George traditionally had a birthday breakfast the first week in August so we continued the celebration this year. After breakfast I dropped George at the trailhead for the No. Kaibab Trail and then headed for The Widforss for a hike of my own. This is considered the most beautiful hike on the North Rim.

Transept Canyon

George hiked down to Supai Tunnel and unofficially did his PSAR thing of helping hikers, and passing on information about the trail. I was doing the same thing on the Widforss Trail. I hiked about two miles out before turning around. The Widforss is a pleasant hike with some rolling ups and downs along the rim of the Transept Canyon with woodlands, wildflowers, and views into the Canyon. After our hikes we met back at the Admin area as we had promised Bill Archard that we would check in with him. We finished close to the same time.

Lupine Pattern

Emerging Mushroom

Delicate Mushroom

Gnarled Tree

After a rest back at our cabin, we headed out to “The Scenics” and stopped at the various viewpoints. As we drove South we could see a storm brewing. Our first stop was at Vista Encantada. Here you get a view North to Pt. Imperial and Mt. Hayden; and to the East across the Canyon to the plateau and on to Navajo Mountain.

Mt. Hayden from the South

At Roosevelt Point,

View from Roosevelt Pt.

A Closer Look

We could see several squalls on the East side of the Canyon. When we got to Walhalla Overlook the storm was occurring in the Canyon in front of us. We enjoyed watching and photographing it. Our patience paid off as we saw a double rainbow over the Unkar Delta. 

At Cape Royal we saw more squalls developing to the West.

 

Back at the Lodge we followed a lightning show on the South side of the Canyon. Regrettably the activity was about ten miles away so there was not much of a photo

opportunity. Sharon, I believe put in a good word for us,

and we had a window table looking out to the South. We

were able to see new light distractions from Tusayan, south of Grand Canyon Village. Still, it was a very pleasant ending to our visit to the North Rim.

Night Show from the Grand Canyon Lodge

The next day was a day of driving. It is about a 12 hour drive to San Diego. We got home early enough to pick

up Phoebe from the kennel and get a much needed walk in for all of us.

GRAND CANYON, NORTH RIM 2

The next day we were off for sunrise at Point Imperial. 

MT. HAYDEN

The area had just recently been opened up after a major fire had burned in the area to the North of the Point and then West. Once again the weather was not favorable for a nice sunrise but we stuck around for a while and I took a few pictures.

SLOPE CLEARED BY THIS YEAR'S FIRE

We then returned to the Lodge and had our traditional breakfast of coffee and a scone from the Rough Rider Saloon served by our friend Robert, the master barista and ardent hiker of the Canyon and neighboring locations. It was great to see him. We had hoped for a more in depth visit, but he was off after the morning work for three days of camping and hiking in the area. We then visited a while with Vickie at the Mule Desk. At the Visitor Center I was thanked and complimented for the Wildflower Books that I had compiled and are still being used regularly by the staff.

We then set off to the Employee area and onto the Administration area. In the housing area we touched bases with Sharon, who has been working the dining room for about 20 years.  Finally we were off to the Admin. area. Before we got out of the housing area we met up with Mike K., who we worked with for ten years, and Bill who we had known there for about seven years.  At the Admin. office we saw Steve from the back country office, and finally Bill Archard, who is now the head of Law Enforcement. We had worked with him and his wife, Sarah for a couple of years before they had moved onto another Park. They are now back with their six year old son, Parker.

Parker started the school year today in Kanab (80 miles to the North), and Sarah had signed on as a teacher’s aide. They were in Kanab, but they insisted on returning to the Rim to join us for dinner at the Archard’s home. It was a great visit and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting Parker.

GRAND CANYON, NORTH RIM 1

After leaving our friends in Winslow we headed North to visit the North Rim, Grand Canyon for three days. Along the way we noticed the improvements to Hwy. 89 and the traffic circle installed in the Cameron area. We did not stop at the Cameron Trading Post as we wanted to enjoy lunch at Cliff Dwellers, which is located West of Lee’s Ferry. We have always enjoyed meals there, and they had introduced us to sweet potato fries, which they do most deliciously!

The drive South on SR 67 from Jacob Lake is beautiful and we enjoyed it once again. There are several long meadows along the way which are framed by ponderosa pine and aspen. The aspen had not yet started to change, but I could visualize the drive in late September/early October.

TENACIOUS TREE, A FAVORITE OF MINE AT BRIGHT ANGEL POINT

The first afternoon was spent around the Lodge and walking out to Bright Angel Point. Met up with Rangers Gaelyn and Jeremy.There was no sunset to speak of so we enjoyed touching bases with a few of our other friends, Nate, Mark, Ed, and Sharon, before heading back to the Kaibab Lodge where we were staying, for dinner. Their menu does not really change but occasionally they have a special. We enjoyed their BBQ’d ribs.