Grand Canyon National Park, North Rim

This will be another easy post, because there's so little to comment on other than my poor planning and its marginal results.

This view is looking SSE from Point Imperial (8819) on the Kaibab Plateau across a small sector of the Grand Canyon and the Walhalla Plateau. The pillar in the lower left is Mt Hayden (8362) and Brady Peak (8121) in the right middle ground. Slightly right, on the horizon, is Humphrey's Peak (12,637), 66 miles away near Flagstaff and the highest natural point in Arizona.

As I mentioned early on, well after I decided I wanted to be part of the 10% - no, not that 10%. . . the 10% of Grand Canyon visitors who make it to the North Rim - I discovered that the road to the North Rim is closed from mid-November to mid-May and consequently had to delay my trip to arrive here on May 15.

This view is looking NE from Point Imperial across the ridge that runs from Woolsey Point (out of frame to the left) and Bourke's Point (out of frame to the right). Barely visible on the horizon is Navajo Mountain (10,346), across the state line in Utah. The line of sight crosses the Colorado River about 7 1/2 miles away as it flows through Marble Canyon about 6000 feet below.

It took me so long to pin down that date because most of the references to park roads are so resolutely vague! Even the normally helpful Google Maps only included the parenthetical "Closed May" along with the road ID. Once I did find a reference that was bold enough to specify May 15 as the opening date, I slacked up on the actual planning and amused myself surveying other adventurers' pictures taken from the North Rim and working myself into a frenzy to sieze my own opportunity to shoot the canyon.

What looks like a cache of rocks on the mesa to the left may look familiar from the first image. It's the opposite side of the peak of Brady Peak, looking NE from Vista Encantada. Once again Navajo Mountain is barely visible on the horizon. I didn't realize until a few minutes ago that I had enough views from this location to create another panorama, which I'll include in the last post of the series.

The blocked off road up Zion Canyon put me way ahead of schedule. I arrived early in the park in spite of having to stop and confirm that the road in was, indeed, open. The electronic traffic sign at the Jacob Lake portal alternately flashed two messages: (1) Grand Canyon Highway Closed and (2) Grand Canyon Highway opens May 15, 2014. (Well, it's noon on May 15, dumbass. Is the highway open or not?) Realizing that the lady in the convenience store was not responsible for the the ambiguous messages flashing outside her front window, I restrained myself and asked kindly for the highway status. She smiled, mentioned something about how much extra business they were getting because of that sign, confirmed that the highway was open and told me she hoped I would have a wonderful afternoon on such a pretty day.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out where I was when I shot this image of the Angel's Window. Eventually, I zoomed in on Google Maps and found an unnamed overlook between Walhalla Overlook and the Cape Royal parking lot. I shot this from this serendipitous overlook, 1/3 mile (line of sight) from the window.

The drive in to the visitors center is about 42 miles, and that was a very enjoyable drive through Kaibab National Forest, predominantly poderosa pine. Parking at the visitors center was a mess and I opted out  of the concomitant chaos that reigned in that sector, driving instead to the eastern cliffs of the Kaibab and Walhalla Plateaux. I expected a limited number of overlooks/photo ops, so I took my time and enjoyed the drive from one to the next: Point Imperial, Vista Encantada, Roosevelt Point, Walhalla Overlook and, the pièce de résistance, Cape Royal.

Since 1984 thousands of acres of the park's ponderosa pine forest have burned, but only 2% burned hot enough to kill pure ponderosa stands. During the spring of 2000 a fire swept through this area and killed most of the nearby trees. It's clear that, when fully recovered, the pine forest here will have been replaced by an aspen forest.

Everything had been good up to this point except arriving in the very early, very bright, afternoon sunlight. I wasn't mentally prepared for the poor lighting conditions, and it took some of the wind out of my sails. I'd considered shooting the sunset from Cape Royal and even brought my flashlight with me for the walk back to the truck in the dark and my folding garden bench to rest on the way. The overlook is .4 miles from the parking lot. I'm not sure of the elevation change, but it was clearly downhill. The hike back was likely to be uphill, but with the light and the bench I could handle it. . . he said, wheezing. What I couldn't deal with was how high the sun was. It was going to take forever for the Golden Hour to arrive. . . then the slow walk back to the truck. . . then 230 miles to the hotel in Flagstaff. What time did I leave Panguitch this morning? Six o'clock, maybe? No, the planning was haphazard. No viable backup. I needed to accept what I'd already gleaned from the fine day and head for the barn.

I have additional images in my Grand Canyon Album in Flickr. You can access them by clicking here.