Visited the Grand Canyon North rim today. Great drive into park. A lot of snow as we got closer to the park and higher in elevation. A couple large meadows completely covered still. I inquired with the ranger at the entrance about driving to Point Sublime and learned there’s a low area the road crosses which will be impassible until late June. That information both modified and solidified my plans for where I was going in the park.
The Lodge at the North rim is somewhat unimpressive from the front and even once you enter the lobby. However once you walk down the steps you get a view of the large picture windows framing unfathomable views of the canyon. Walked to a couple overlook points near the Lodge. There are definitely fewer visitors here than there were on the South Rim.
After seeing the lodge, we drove the paved park roads to several other overlooks, the last being Imperial Point. I’m glad we (unintentionally) saved it for last. It’s the highest overlook of the canyon and maybe the most impressive for the distances you can see beyond the canyon out to the Vermillion Cliffs and into the Painted Desert.
Heading back north out of the park we saw a coyote playing in a meadow, maybe hunting a mouse. I hoped to return to camp via Forest Service roads for the different scenery and serenity. The first opportunity we had to head off the main park entrance road was a couple miles out onto FS22. There was a little snow in the area still but it seemed promising enough to give it a shot. I knew if the road continued up we were not going to make it very far.
As we headed up the road (literally) there were a few old snow drifts across the road which had to be traversed, none of which were a problem with four wheel drive. A mile or so up the road, I came upon on snow drift with a Ford Explorer stuck in the middle of the road. The driver was there trying to get loose. I stopped and the idiot told me he was going to go until he got stuck, then put it in four wheel drive. When he did get stuck, he discovered his Explorer didn’t have four wheel drive, I can only assume he meant it was broken... I dug a tow strap out of my tool box and pulled him back out of the drift with no trouble. He headed back down the hill, we kept going up.
A few hundred feet farther there was an abandoned vehicle stuck in the road. We kept going about another quarter mile up the hill to a point where the entire road, as far up as we could see, was snow covered with no fresh tracks. We stopped here and went for a walk in the snow. It seemed like there were no other people around for miles.
Being stopped by the snow on this road didn’t deter us. We backtracked to the main road and headed north until we found the next possible turnoff into the forest and took it. This road passed through a recently burned area which made for unique views and scenery. We found a side road into a canyon and headed there in search of solitude. The road quickly became a rough, dirt two track in the forest. It was great. A couple miles in I spotted a small lake not far from the road so we parked and went for a stroll in the woods around the lake and enjoying the serenity of the forest.
When we resume the drive it ultimately took us up the hill we drove down yesterday on the one lane precarious drop-off road. We slowly but successfully navigated the ascent. Once returning to camp and walking sunny I spent some time figuring out where we’re headed from here.
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