North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim

This was my second visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon - the first was in 2002. The North Rim "closes" mid-October so I was getting in while I was able. I expected it to be cold.

I drove down from Zion National Park and Cedar Breaks in Utah. Zion had been windy and sunny. Cedar Breaks had been downright cold. While at Zion, I met a couple who'd visited the North Rim a few days earlier (during all the wind). From what I heard, the wind was just as bad at the North Rim. Visibility was non-existant and several trees had been blown down. I think some of the roads had been closed as well. Since the wind had disappaited while I was at Zion, I was hoping for better conditions.

I arrived the afternoon of Tuesday, October 6, 2009, for a 2-night stay. It was chilly but sunny. I set up camp, walked around the campground a bit, bought some firewood, and just relaxed. I woke up as it was starting to get light. I heard rain hitting my tent, or so I thought. Turns out I heard snow pellets hitting my tent. Brought back memories of my trip in 2003 to the South Rim. Not very much snow, but snow nonetheless. Some of the moisture leaked into the tent. Otherwise, I was fine - plenty warm enough.

After breakfast, during which it rained and I spent some time with a couple - Guy and Nicole - from Canada in their shelter, I went up to the lodge. The rain/snow had stopped and the sun was attempting to come out. But there was a lot of cloud cover and it was supposed to be that way the entire day.

I walked out on the trail to Bright Angel Point during a break in the weather. The trail starts at the lodge and goes out over a sliver of land to overlook the canyon - most of the pictures on this page are from that walk. After the walk and the Ranger talk on geology and doing all I could do at the lodge and vistor's center, I decided to drive out to Cape Royal.

Cape Royal is at the end of a 2-land 17-mile road. I drove back from the edge to the intersection of Fuller Canyon Road (that's its name on the map) and began my drive. As I gained in elevation, I encountered the storm that had been hanging around the Canyon all morning. I got to drive in rain, then snow, I think there was even hail at some point in the drive. I remember thinking (almost 6 months later as I write this) that I should turn around. But I didn't and, actually, I didn't have any problems with the snow. It was actually very pretty up there on the Walhalla Plateau.

I eventually made it out to Cape Royal. A couple of trails are up there - I took the one which took me out to the path over Angel's Window (see the pictures below of Angel's Window). It's about 1 mile round trip but, in the rain, snow, and cold, it kind of felt longer. There are some rocky parts, which I was very careful to navigate so as not to slip.

The drive back was slow and wet. It seemed as if, while I was at Cape Royal, the weather decided to take a break. However, once I started the drive back, the snow started again. It took about 45 minutes to get back to the main Park road. About this time, I started weighing the pros and cons of camping for the second night. It was a little after noon, and I'd seen what I wanted to. I wasn't that keen on camping in the wet. When I got back to the campsite, I found the inside of the tent was a bit wet and I decided to leave. I packed up, checked out, and went onto Page, Arizona, which was my next stop.