Did you know that Arizona is the only state in the union that has one of the seven natural wonders of the world? Millions of people visit the Grand Canyon every year. We have visited several times since we moved to Arizona. We’ve driven all the way a few times and taken the train from Williams several times. The South Rim is truly beautiful.
Then, in 2014 we went to the North Rim. OMG. The North Rim is beautiful on a totally different level. For starters, it’s not as crowded as the South Rim. The North Rim is a little more remote, it’s not a quick 3.5 hour drive from Phoenix. The North Rim sits at a higher elevation than the South Rim and gets a lot more snow so it’s only open in the summer, April-ish to October-ish. I am telling you it is totally worth the extra time on the road. That first visit in 2014 was a happy accident. We did a car trip to Utah. The regular way was up Highway 89 through Page at the top of Arizona then onto St. George. The road was washed away in a rock slide earlier that year so we had to follow the long detour. That detour took us on 89A through Lee’s Ferry and right by Highway 67 that leads to the North Rim. We packed a lunch and were on our way. We stopped at the Navajo Bridge at Lee’s Ferry and marveled at the early western settlers and their fortitude. Standing on the bridge, the Colorado River is way down there. It’s an awesome sight, to see Mother Nature’s handiwork close up. I’m still an atlas girl; Google Maps is great but I like to look at the map and see where we are going next. As we plotted out the next part of the drive, we saw just how close we were to the North Rim. We could take a little detour, we’d left early enough that morning where we’d still get into St. George before it was too late. Yeah! A detour and a stop on the left!
We only had a couple hours so we walked down to Bright Angel Point, all of the vista points overlooking the canyon and to the Lodge. The Lodge was built in 1928 then destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in 1936. Can you imagine transporting all those materials not once but twice? That was quite a feat. The sun room has huge windows that bathe the room in bright sunlight. Seats there are hard to come by. I would love to sit there and watch a storm roll through.
We were back in August, 2016 for a long weekend with friends. We checked into the campground in between little storms and it smelled like fresh pine trees. It’s a typical national park campground with dry camping but unlike campsites in Yosemite, there is quite a bit of space between campsites. There is a well stocked general store and two two nice trails down to the lodge. It was late afternoon so we got settled, ate a quick dinner then went down to the lodge to catch the sunset.
The alarm clock rang early the next day. We were eager to see a sunrise. I thought we’d be the only ones but there was a crowd. It was cloudy so we didn’t get to see the sun majestically rising over the horizon. I turned to see the sun wake the edges of the canyon. It was cool to see the canyon come to life. I’m sure if we’d been all alone watching the sunrise, we would have heard the animals stirring and the birds singing their morning song. Even without that, I’m still glad we set the alarm to see it.
The North Rim is different than the south in many ways. Since it sits at a higher elevation, it gets a lot more snow. So much that it’s not open during the winter. The South Rim is much flatter in terms of the number of crags jutting out. We asked a ranger and she said it’s because of the higher elevation. There is more severe weather at the North Rim and more wind that eroded and shaped the north side in an entirely different way than the south. We had a nice day driving to the point of many of the crags and and walked out to the edge. It was a bit hazy from a nearby fire so we couldn’t see anything at the South Rim. At night we could see the lights. Funny that the other side was so close, yet so far away.
And again, we weren’t there long enough. It’s time to go back.