Thursday 11 June

I'd decided to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon as it got about a tenth of the visitors of the South Rim and so would be much quiter - something I generally enjoy. The drive to the Grand Canyon wasn't exactly short and the most remarkable thing about it was the 45-mile drive from the nearest settlement to the canyon itself where the only sign of life were a campground and limited services just outside the entrance station to the park. Even once pass the entrance station it was still about 10 miles to the nearest place to see the canyon itself.

Point Royal

After finding my campsite and a visit to the visiter centre to get some presents for my parents (as a thank you for taking me to and from the airport) I drove to one of the further away view points for my first view of the canyon itself. Although not as steep as I was expecting it was certainly amazing and the thing that got me the most was the size of the cliffs that were entirely within the canyon and indeed looked small in comparasion.

Cape Final

I next went for a relatively short walk to a couple of viewpoints which as they were out of the way were much elss touristy and lacking safety rails and stuff which made it all a bit more impressive. The walk through the wood to get to them also made a ncie change from the desert I'd been in over the previous days. Unfortunately on the way back I really started to feel ill with my stomach really playing up (possibly due to not eating enough) but I somehow managed to get back to the car where I ate what I could and started to make my way back towards my campsite and the other facalities.

Point Imperial

I did however call of at another view point on the way back. I'd originally planned to go for a walk from here but that idea went out of the window. This was however my favourite viewpoint of the Grand Canyon.

Bright Angel Point

Later that evening I started to feel a bit better so before getting my dinner (a take-awat pizza) I went to Bright Angel Point, the most touristy point on the North Rim as it's right by the services. The weather was a bit moody but I still stayed around to watch the sunset which was good but not spectacular.

Friday 12 June

The second part of this day was to be spent driving to Flagstaff in preperation for the long drive back to California the next day. My original plan was to leave in the morning but I decided I oculdn't leave without getting at least a little bit below the rim so I delayed leaving to lunchtime.

Kaibab Trail

This trail went all the way down to the Canyon Floor. However that's a full day trip one way so I went for a much shorter walk of about three hours to Supai Tunnel - a point where there was water and a toilet and which was a regular day-hiker turn around point. It still got me some 1400ft below the rim in only 2 miles. I was a little bit disappointed by this trail as the viewsweren't great and there wasn't much else to hold my attention. The walk back up was one hell of a slog as well!

Navajo Bridge

I then started the reasonably long drive to Flagstaff. The first crossing east of the Grand Canyon is via the Navajo Bridge where there is a very small visitors center and where I stopped off for a short break. The orignal bridge was now a pedestrian bridge as it had not been designed for the traffic of today. The new bridge looked very similar to the old bridge so it was rather wierd seeing them side by side.

Sunset Crater National Monument

Near Flagstaff I also stopped off at Sunset Crater, the remains of a volcanic eruption which created a very wierd landscape include cinder cone hills. Walking on Sunset Crater itself was banned as trails a foot deep had cut into the hill and so hiking was banned and the hill is almost back to how it was. Some of the lava flows and the like were really interesting and I was very pleased I had called in.