Grand Canyon - North Rim

Maybe Bryce Canyon isn't technically a canyon, but the Grand Canyon certainly is. One could hardly do a trip around US national parks without visiting the Grand canyon. I have been before but always to the more visited South Rim. This time we visited the North Rim.

The plan was to take on a number of trails across the rim on the first day and then hike down the second day.

Given the temperatures it was hard to believe the area had been under snow only a few weeks before. Also, there is more than just a canyon to look at. One the way there are meadows in amongst forest full of deer. We didn't get to see the deer until after dark, on our way back to our lodge, when they came out in numbers to graze o the meadows. Sorry no photos as was dark and in speeding car.

But of course the Grand Canyon is mostly about the view. It is the size of the view that is breathtaking. Just a different scale to anything in Europe. No photo can do justice to it.

 A little detour from the walk along the Rim takes one to the remains of a Native American village. People have lived here for a long time, albeit not in large numbers.

 This is the Walhalla Plateau. Spectacular?

 One is warned not to go past the barriers at the various viewing points, but the temptation is too great for some. Thibault acquired a book describing the deaths of many mis-adventurerers and took great pleasure in the car relating the various methods of meeting their demises. A number simply stepped back over the edge. Natural selection in my book.

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 After our rim trail we took one through the woods. Pretty and quiet.

 At its furthest point there was a view to reward the hiker before returning.

While driving down the road we came across a snake. Well in truth we came across a couple of cars who stopped to look at a snake. A strange event. the car behind edged forward as a result of which the snake dashed under it, no doubt desirous of the shade from the pitiless sun. That mean the driver of the other car, plus is trying to find a very large stick to get it out from under the car, for fear they would run over the poor beast. Needless to say the emphasis was on a long long stick since we believed this to be a rattlesnake. We wanted to help mother nature but not at the expense of hospitalisation.

We succeeded in getting it off the road and back into the forest. Our heroism only slightly tempered by finding later that this was a gopher snake, and utterly harmless.

 We took a break for some refreshments at the Grand Canyon Lodge. A very grand place in its own right.

 This was a pretty easy trail just outside the Grand Canyon Lodge. Easy but scary.

 And so to dinner, which we had in grand dining room in the Lodge. Top views, to be fair much better than the food.