Grand Canyon - North Rim

June 11 - June 13, 2013

We enjoyed the south rim of Grand Canyon so much that we decided to see what the north rim was like. It was an easy 150 mile drive from Bryce, and we were settled into our campground by lunch time. The NPS campground was fully booked months in advance, so we stayed in another Forest Service campground, about 15 miles outside of the park. While not as wonderful as the NFS campground that we enjoyed during our stay at the south rim, this one (Demott) was also attractive, quiet, and inexpensive.

No hookups made for an easy set-up, so we headed into the park for a visit to the Visitor's Center and a peek at the canyon. Several years ago we started collecting patches from the national parks, national monuments, and national historic parks that we visited. We were sewing them onto a backpack that we (OK, Rick) carries when we hike. We quickly found that there were way too many patches for one backpack, so we began to collect stick pins instead. I guess it's a little dorkey, but the pin display is always my first stop in the visitor's center.

After purchasing my Grand Canyon - North Rim pin, we talked to a ranger and got  hike recommendations. We paid a visit to the nearby Grand Canyon Lodge and were very impressed. We always make it a point to check out the park service lodges which are usually historic, and often, quite beautiful. This one was everything a national park lodge should be: rustic, comfortable, and in harmony with its surroundings. The views of the canyon from its sitting room, back porch, and dining room were spectacular.

From the lodge's back porch we hiked a short trail down to Bright Angel Point for a lovely view of the canyon. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

How about those hats?

Rick preferred the North Rim to the South Rim because there were no crowds, and it was much more green, while the South Rim was more desert-like. I preferred the South Rim because the vistas were more expansive, and I enjoyed the various museums and historical exhibits.

We spent three nights at the canyon. On our second day we took a long drive out onto the east rim, which had, perhaps, the best vistas in the park. Here are a few shots from that section of the park:

This is known as "Angel's window." If you enlarge the picture you can see the Colorado River at the bottom.

North Rim was nowhere nearly as dog-friendly as South Rim. The only trail SiSi was allowed on was one we didn't care about. So on our last day, we took SiSi hiking on a trail toward a nice view of the east rim. Since that hike was on forest service land, she was allowed to come and we kept her off-leash the entire time.

                                                      Are these Buffalo or Beefalo?

Good question! Bison are not native to this region. But they were brought to the area in 1906 in an effort to breed them with cattle and produce a heartier bison variety. The project wasn't economically successful and was abandoned several years later. The "Beefalo" have been running wild, and thriving, in the area ever since.