June 13 - North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park

Demotte Park

We were up and on our way into the north rim early this morning once our coffee was made. We decided to have a picnic breakfast somewhere on the road to Point Imperial.  The drive was beautiful, it was so nice to be cool again after heat of the past 2 weeks.  I really hadn't expected to see all the tall pines and sweeping meadows, 

Demotte Park

along with a large herd of buffalo crossing the street!  This picture was taken along DeMotte Park which is a large meadow stretching 10 miles, mostly west of the road approaching the North Rim Visitor Center.

Point Imperial

Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon came at Point Imperial, which is 11 miles from the visitor center. Point Imperial is the highest point in the Grand Canyon, rising to an elevation of 8,803 feet overlooking the Painted Desert and the Navajo Reservation.

Retracing our route we drove out and continued driving along the Wahalla Plateau finding

Vista Encantada

an enchanting view at Vista Encantada. 

Continuing on we arrived at the final view after traversing a narrow and rather windy road along a steep sided ridge, Cape Royal.  The drive to Cape Royal is 20 miles from Highway 67.

We hiked along the half mile trail to its terminous at Cape Royal, the second highest point in the park at an elevation of 7, 865 feet.  

Mark looked for shots along the trail.  

Hiking the half mile trail to Cape Royal  we passed Angel's Window.  Through the keyhole theColorado River can be seen.  Weathering of the Kaibab Limestone has caused the keyhole to form.

I loved the scent of  of the cliffrose (cowania stansburiana), an evergreen member of the rose family, that lined the trail.  Hopi Indians used the stringy bark to make sandals, mats and rope, rope from the wood and medicine from the foliage.  The trail was lined with these plants.

Cape Royal

The drive from  Highway 67 to Cape Royal was 20 miles and 53 miles from Jacob Lake.  

We retraced out route out, glad to have a short rig, as rigs over 30ft were not recommended on this road.  The drive to the visitor center was 23 miles and about 45 minutes
from Cape Royal.

 By the time we reached the visitor center it was time for lunch.  

Enamored with the view from the lodge we decided to get a table for lunch.  


The times they are confusing!

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim the clock on the wall said 11:00, Mark and I presumed it was an hour later since the clock in the truck and my iPad said 12:00. We assumed we'd slept in. This was the same time we'd used at Canyon De Chelly and we met our guide at the correct time. I looked up “Time Zones” in my Rough Guide and discovered that when we're in Arizona they are not on daylight savings time, so they are the same time as California is when it's on daylight savings time. The other mountain states AND the Navaho Nation do have Daylight savings time, so we gained our hour back sooner than we expected.

With the extra hour we'd gained yesterday, but realized it today, we showered and did laundry at the campground. 

Us dwarfed at Kaibab CampRVillage

 Pluses with Kaibab CampRVillage: 

•  got in during the busy season a few days before
• ,management was helpful and friendly
• had showers and laundry room we could use at the same time.
• had hook-ups when we needed them to recharge our low battery 2.25 to wash and 1. 50 to dry,
• outhouses didn't smell
•  in the forest and comfortable temperatures

Negatives: 

•  Boy do they pack them in
•  outhouses (chemical toilets)
•  2.50 for a 5 minute shower,
• no plug to dry hair in shower room near the mirror, it's in the laundry room causing one to dry hair by Braille
•  nice forestry campground nearby, but no amnesties
•  logging operations nearby started around 5 am.

This worked well for this trip, would I choose to stay here? Probably not.