Tuesday September 12th 2017

Today I drove 130 miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s a long distance for a day trip, but this is the closes I’m going to get this year. If I were a crow flying it would only be about 64 miles, but the roads to get there follow a real sawtooth pattern. I also had to climb from around 3500 feet to almost 9000 feet at the north rim.

–

–

–

With the altitude came trees. I was actually in a forest for a change. The desert of the southwest has many remarkable geology, but I miss the trees. The tall pines and Aspens in the Kaibab National Forest were a striking departure from the open spaces at the lower altitudes. I was even reminded that fall is approaching. At the highest elevation, the Aspens were starting to turn golden yellow.

Shortly after entering the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park area, I was greeted by a heard of Bison. The heard was not close to the road so it was not possible to get good pictures. I’m not sure if it is the season or the variety, but these Bison seem to be darker in color than the Bison in Yellowstone. Apparently these are decedents of Bison introduced into the area in the early 1900s in an attempt to crossbred them with cattle. There are currently about 600 animals that officials are looking to reduce to 200 in two to three years. A relocation and hunting plan has been approved to keep the Bison population from growing too big and further damaging the park resources. The official news release on Reducing the Bison population can be found here.

–

–

My visit to the park began at the North Rim Visitors Center. The Bright Angel Point trail begins behind the center. It is half mile round trip walk on a steep paved trail to magnificent views of the grand canyon. At times the path is narrow as it works its way around large boulders or across steel and concrete bridges between boulders. I try to allow people plenty of room so neither of us feel crowded over the edge. It is very clear that some people don’t want to get very close to the edge even with guard rails. I sat on a rock at the point for half an hour or so admiring the view. I understand it is even more impressive at sunset.

After visiting the Grand Canyon Lodge and the gift shop next door I drove out to the highest point in the park, Point Imperial at 8,880 feet. You don’t have to walk far from the parking lot to enjoy more spectacular views. I must have had a sign on my back that said “photographer” today. I was asked to take peoples pictures four times today. It isn’t unusual to be asked by one or two people, but four times seems to be a record.

I drove back to camp at Lake Powell and found ninety plus degree temperatures and humidity. It had been in the low 70s at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Shortly after I got back, a series of thunderstorms passed through cooling things down a little.

Tomorrow I am moving on. My destination is Holbrook, AZ. This town is near the Petrified Forest National Park. I plan to be there through the weekend.

Once again I have had a hard time uploading pictures.  I have only been able to include a few of the images I prepared to include.  I may try again tomorrow or just wait until I get all of the images uploaded to Google Photos.