This morning we all woke up bright and early to spend the day at the Grand Canyon. We had been to the South Rim back in January, this time we explored the North Rim.
The North rim is much harder for the regular tourist to get to and is closed during the winter (for about 6 months). Consequently it only receives 10% of the visitors compared with the South Rim. Suits me! Today we found out that the North Rim is by far the more spectacular of the two aspects. We had flown over it in a helicopter back in January, but today we had a closer look from the ground.
Bright Angel Point.
We started at Bright Angel Point near the visitor centre. You will notice that the nearby ridges are very close giving a much better feel for how deep the canyon really is.
For some reason Kerri (in particular) and Julie felt the need to find dangerous overhangs and climb out to have their photos taken. This was the first one in the Grand Canyon. Kerri had started the trend upstream at the Glen Canyon Dam viewpoint.
It is worth noting that the North Rim (2300m) is further above sea level than the South Rim (2100m). Despite that fact, there seems to be taller and more dense forests on the North Rim. There are exceptions and the trees closest to the edge of the canyon are beaten up the most (above).
Vista Encantada
This lookout point is called Vista Encantada. Back in January from the helicopter, we saw the Battle Ship covered in snow. In mid summer it is a very different look with the white ship sitting on the red rocks contrasted against green trees and blue skies.
At Vista Encantada, this guy was painting the spectacular view and doing a pretty good job too. He had quite an audience.
There's a road that runs along the North Rim for about 20 kms and along the way there are a number of view points to stop at (Vista Encantada is the first). A season or two ago, a wildfire ripped through a large part of the national park. The forest is just starting the long process of recovery. It made for a cool photo with the black, green, orange & blue.
Walhalla Overlook
This was another opportunity for Kerri to scare her mum. It was another of many beautiful view points along the way to Cape Royal. You can see the Colorado river in the background some 1.8 vertical kms below.
Cape Royal
Cape Royal was totally worth the drive. We spent quite a long time just sitting and admiring the view. This photo is only about a quarter of the panorama.
Angel's Window
Yet another strange formation in the Grand Canyon National Park. Angel's window almost looks man made.
Point Imperial
Heading off in a different direction from the Cape Royal road, we came to Point Imperial. From there you can see across the plain toward Page and the upstream part of the Colorado River. Just in front of the lookout point is Mt Hayden (centre). Unfortunately the light was poor at that point because a serious electrical storm had just passed over. It had been a pattern for the previous few days. From lunchtime the clouds would build up amd then late in the afternoon a wild electrical storm would hit and dump a nice quenching dose of rain on the parched red countryside. It was just like summer afternoons growing up in Brisbane.
The Grand Canyon is one of those places that you really have to go and see before you "Check Out" of this world, but given a choice, go to the North Rim.
Vermilion Cliffs
On the way back to Page we descended the escarpment to the plain below. The photo above shows the view from about a quarter of the way down. Across the plain was part of the Vermilion Cliffs. It's one of the escarpments of the Grand Staircase that covers most of Southern Utah. The Vermilion Cliffs is the second bottom step and the Grand Canyon, the bottom. Tomorrow we are going to another step, Zion National Park.
Marble Canyon
Up at 2300m the thin air was relatively cool. By the time we had descended back down to the plain below, the ambient temperature (as shown by the gauge in the car) was close to 40C.
We had to cross back over the Colorado River at some point. The area is called Marble Canyon (below). At the narrow point there are two bridges. They are the old and new Navajo Bridges. The old one is to the left and had to be replaced because of the increase in traffic over the river. Part of the increase was heavier trucks. It's not exactly steeped in history, but cool looking bridges all the same.
It was a long day and by the time we finally caught sight of Page again, there wasn't much daylight left.
