Today we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is the often ignored portion of Grand Canyon National Park--meaning it is much less crowded than the South Rim. Just our style. During our drive there, we climbed over 4000' and saw the temperature drop in turn so that it never got above 70 our whole visit. Can't ask for much better than that. Except that the air is kind of thin at 8800' especially for those of us who regularly live below 1000'. But we still enjoyed a couple of nice hikes. I was happy to have the excuse to stop to look at the spectacular view every little bit to catch my breath.
The color of the landscape changed quite dramatically during our drive there. The scrub brush turned into meadows, which turned into forest, which turned in yet another version of forest and scrub. There were two factors involved in this. One is more rain and one is the increase in elevation. And another time when I have more time, I'll try to remember these zones and maybe post about them.
Wally and I confirmed that we do not like heights. Or as Wally put it, he doesn't like any place where a slight shove could send him tumbling to his death. And though that sounds a bit melodramatic, there were several places with no railings along the rim where that could have happened. Theo, however, was invigorated by the chance to scramble up some rocks to get a better view.
Here are a few sights from today.
 |
| The area was a lot lusher than anything we have seen in the last few days. |
 |
| Angels Window. Through the window you can actually see the Colorado River. This area is the only place you can see the river on the North Rim. |
 |
| Theo |
 |
| Theo |
 |
| Theo |
 |
| Fern Bush |
How beautiful, just stunning photos. I would love to see that area.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do get to visit this area sometime. Maybe a visit to Best Friends? iIm sure they have a lot of advice that could be helpful.
DeleteGorgeous pictures--almost like being there myself.
ReplyDeleteI did the south rim years ago and I've always thought the North Rim would be a fun experience. We flew over the Grand Canyon and that was an interesting perspective. Now we need to train our son not to hate heights so we can do more of these kinds of adventures!
Your son may grow out of hating heights. Or he may not. I didn't.
DeleteWard and I did the south rim years ago and liked it. However, I think I liked the North Rim better.