Road Trip - Day 7 - Kanab to Grand Canyon North Rim
Kanab, UT to North Rim, Grand Canyon, AZ
7:30 am, 54 degrees. Cold
Once again a cold start and once again I put on my jeans and sweatshirt at the car.
Today we are headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Most people head for the South Rim but we like to be different.
The road we take out of Kanab is 89A, which is not be be confused with the main Highway 89. We drive through Freedonia which is just over the border in Arizona. We were on the lookout for a Starbucks but we were out of luck. Tom is suffering from withdrawal symptoms from lack of strong coffee.
Tom told me an interesting fact about towns in Utah. All of them have very wide streets and it is because Brigham Young decreed that streets should be wide enough for a oxen team to turn round in.
Arizona is one hour behind Utah even though they are both on Mountain Time because they don’t have daylight savings time. I read today though that one part of Arizona does have daylight savings time and that is the Navajo area where we will be going tomorrow. Very confusing!
The scenery has changed dramatically from the red messes of Utah to almost flat with scrub land and grass.
At 7 a.m. we enter the Kaibab National Forest which is a large pine forest and we start to climb. The undergrowth has been cleared from the forest floor and for mile upon mile we pass hundreds of mounds of dead wood looking like unlit bonfires. What a huge undertaking that must have been. And what are they going to do with all that debris? Are they going to burn it or haul it away? One huge section to the south has been burnt. It must have been one hell of a fire.
Finally we come to the end of the burnt trees but the forest continues. It looks completely different here. Among the pines there are aspens and, not only that, but there are grassy areas. It reminds me of the New Forest in England. There are also cattle grids because cattle room free here, not that we saw any. No horses either. The aspens are beginning to change color. Some are really bright yellow.
We enter Grand Canyon National Park at 7:45 (different time zone) and go straight to the Visitors Center. There was a sign at the entrance saying there is a 30% chance of thunderstorms and rain today. We were hoping that they would have an orientation film but it was a very small Visitors Center.
The Bright Angel Point Trail started right outside the Visitors Center. It is only a quarter of a mile long but 200′ lower. As the elevation here is over 8,000′ you are warned to be careful if you have heart or respiratory difficulties. Tom and I are both a bit wary of heights and knowing how far it is to the bottom of the canyon - well over a mile - it was a bit scary. There were a couple of short bridges which I managed to walk over, making sure I did not look down. The view was worth it when we reached the end. From here we can see the South Rim not not the main canyon or the Colorado River. Although the South Rim is only six miles away as the crow flies, it is nearly 200 miles to get their by road. There is a trail which goes down the canyon and up to the South rim but it is not recommended as a day’s hike.
We walk back towards the Lodge, stopping at one of the viewpoints along the way. I’m getting very brave. At the Lodge we finally found some real coffee for Tom in the saloon. There we met a guy from Colchester, England named Tony and had a short chat. Tom and I sit on a comfortable sofa in a room which looks over to the South Rim - a million dollar view. Around the walls are pictures and details of the Lodge going back to 1928 when the original building was built. The first Lodge burnt down in 1930 and the present Lodge was built in 1936 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
On our way back to the car we bump into Tony again and met his wife Trish and have a long conversation with them. They used to live in Georgia for five years but are now living back in England. They are on their way to Cape Royal - that’s our next stop - so will probably meet up with them again.
On the way to Cape Royal, a drive of 23 miles, we pass an area where managed fires are taking place. There are plenty of signs warning that smoke is ahead and not to report the fire. It’s a way of getting rid of the undergrowth build up to prevent wild fires destroying huge areas.
Towards the end, the road is very close to the edge and it was a bit of a white knuckle ride. There is a large car park at the end. Near the beginning of the Cape Royal Trail is a fire engine and a very informative fireman who for twenty minutes explained to us what a managed fire is. The fire that is burning now - called the Roosevelt fire - was started by a lightning strike back in July. Because this area has been properly managed over the last ten years it never really got out of control. The fire management team are not attempting to put the fire out but are monitoring it very closer. All that is burning is the undergrowth, the tops of the trees are untouched. The fire will burn slowly until the first snow, probably sometime in October, will put it out.
The Cape Royal Trail is just 0.6 miles long. About half way along is a spot where you can see a promontory with a hole in it called Angels Window. Through the window can be seen the Colorado River. Without binoculars or field glasses it just looks like grass as it is so far down. On top of the promontory is a viewing area with railings all round. Will we have the nerve to walk out on it? We spoke to some folks who had been out there and they said the view from there was worth it. So we did venture out to it when we arrived. The worst bit was a very narrow section with a sheer drop on both sides but it was OK if you did not look straight down. And the view was worth it. Down below we could see a small section of the Colorado and even some rapids. With the binoculars I could see three rafts on the river until they went out of sight (Tom here…yeah, I was chicken).
We walked onto the end of the trail to a viewing area and here the sheer size of the Grand Canyon began to dawn on us.
What we could see was just a very small portion of the entire canyon. How to described that view is impossible. Photos, film and words cannot do it justice. You just have to see it with your own eyes. And ‘grand’ is not a big enough word. How about ‘immense’ or even ‘humongous’? We sat and contemplated the view and soaked in the solitude and peacefulness of the area. We took a deep sigh and stood up and walked back to the car.
We didn’t meet up again with Tony and Trish but we did talk to lots of other interesting people including one group from Oklahoma and a couple from Pittsburgh.
On the ride back towards the Visitors Center, we saw small flames as well as smoke but knew it was nothing to be alarmed over. At the end of the road we turn right and exit the park and head back the same way we came.
Although the clouds have built up and it looks a bit black in places, we have had no rain. Thunderstorms in the afternoon in late summer are common.
Returning through the Kaibab National Forest I realize that I have learned the answer to one of my earlier questions as to what they are going to do with all the piles of cleared undergrowth. Come the first snow, they will be burned thereby ensuing that the fire will not spread to surrounding trees, that the goodness will be returned to the earth and that there will be no huge hauling costs. Maybe the undergrowth was cleared from the unburnt section was done after the big fire to prevent another fire destroying it.
Coming down the steep hill towards the plain between here and Fredonia the view in front is amazing. The red mesas of Utah fill out the horizon from left to right. There they all are, stretched out in front of us.
Yesterday we noticed, just outside one of the small towns we drove through, a sheriffs car parked. It was still there when we returned. This morning we noticed another sheriffs car parked on the other side of the road just outside Kanab. As we passed it again on our way back into Kanab I look inside the car. There is a dummy sitting in the drivers seat! Obviously a warning for speeding drivers but I bet it doesn’t fool the locals.
When we arrived back at the hotel, a bus load of people were arriving. Later we got a phone called in our room to ask if we had any luggage in the room that didn’t belong to us.
We went into Kanab for dinner and found a real gem. It’s called Rocky V Cafe and we had the best meal since leaving home. Tom had buffalo (cross that one off the list) and I had fillet mignon. We even had wine (in Utah?) and dessert. Upstairs they had a neat little art gallery and we were tempted but resisted. One piece of artwork is enough.
September 27 2007 08:13 pm | Further Afield
