Although a bit delayed, I am working to post about my last few weeks in Arizona and drive back to Atlanta ending August 25. Life got hectic between finishing my internship and trying to enjoy my remaining time in Flagstaff, hence the delay, but hopefully it will still be fun to read about my adventures a couple of weeks after they happened. Here is the story of my trip to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
Despite living 80 miles from the park, Jay, Laurel and I were able to visit Grand Canyon quite often this summer. We even had the opportunity to visit the remote North Rim. Only about 5% of the park's visitors last year made it to this park of the park, which is about a five-hour drive from the South Rim.
Laurel and I packed our bags and headed up to the park separately from Jay, as we were headed to Zion National Park in Utah for the weekend and he was headed back to Flagstaff for his family's visit there. We left around 2 pm on Wednesday and stopped along the way for a special shopping trip. Details forthcoming, but the most interesting part was buying clothes for Jay with only his measurements. Pretty good teaser huh?
To get to the North Rim, we drove up familiar highway 89 north through the painted desert of the Navajo Reservation. When we were not quite to Utah, we took a left on 89A towards the North Rim. Along the way we crossed the Colorado River at Navajo Bridge National Monument, took a detour to Lees Ferry (the put-in spot for Grand Canyon rafters and kayakers) and drove past the beautiful Vermilion Cliffs. It was another amazing drive in Arizona.
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| American and Arizona flags at Navajo Bridge. |
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Navajo Bridge originally built by very tough
Navajo workers who were not afraid to be suspended hundreds
of feet above the Colorado. |
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Rock formations on the edge of Vermilion Cliffs on the
drive to Lees Ferry. |
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Rafts and boats with supplies getting ready to launch
down the Colorado River on what must have
been a multi-day journey. |
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| Laurel and I at Lees Ferry - well at least our shadows. |
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An amazing view of the Vermilion Cliffs on the way
the North Rim. |
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| My attempt to smile with my eyes open and sunglasses off. |
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| Laurel managing to the open eyes. |
As if the beautiful drive was not enough reward, we made it in to the park in time gaze at the beautiful meadows, ponderosa pines and aspen groves on the drive from the North Rim entrance to our employee housing for the night. It was so beautiful and green! We we made it to the park we were greeted by our manager Tom, who arrived earlier in the week, and Jay who arrived hours earlier because he did not make stops at Lees Ferry, Navajo Bridge or the fun clothing store in Flagstaff (it will make sense soon, I promise). Tom brought his amazing new camper and we enjoyed a cookout feast there with Tom and two park friends Nicole and Quin. As at any good cookout, we also told some ghost stories just in time for Jay, Laurel and I to head to the employee bunk house while Nicole braved the night in one of the park trailers and Quin was the bravest staying a campsite.
We woke up early Thursday for Tom to take us on a tour of the North Rim. The tour started with the Visitor Center and a short nearby trail to
Bright Angel Point. After exploring the area around the Visitor Center and Grand Canyon Lodge, we hopped in the car and took a 30-minute drive to hike along the North Rim at Cape Ro
yal. We saw some more amazing views of the canyon - the North Rim feels so different than the South Rim.
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| View from Grand Canyon Lodge. |
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| View from Bright Angel Point. |
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| Visitors enjoying the view on top of Angel's Window. |
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| Tom, me, Laurel and Jay at Point Imperial. |
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| Point Imperial. |
After our morning adventures, we attempted some work in the afternoon, but had internet connections. We did manage to get in some photo-taking for our business plan when we caught our friend Nicole in action with a group of volunteers in the park (VIPs).
When we finished photo-documenting the volunteers for the business plan, we changed into our new and amazing clothes from the vintage store in Flagstaff for a photo shoot of our own. The following are some of the amazing photo results. There is also a video, but it is too long to post here, so the photos will have to do.
As if we had not had enough fun for one day, we went to the North Rim Cookout where we ate delicious food and heard some fun music and jokes by Woody and Cleeta Jane.
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| Woody and Cleeta Jane lent us cowgirl hats for the photo! |
For a beautiful end to an amazing day, I enjoyed the sunset over the canyon from the lodge balcony before hitting the sack. What an amazing day!
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