North Rim: Grand Canyon - Sep 15, 2019
On Sunday, we got up early to catch our shuttle bus to the North Rim. We knew that after we caught our morning shuttle van, that we would have a relaxing day before crawling into our tent that night at the North Rim Campground, a mere ten miles away as the crow flies - or 213 miles and 4 hours by shuttle van. The start of a five day rim to rim backpacking experience was in store for us the next morning and we were excited about that.
After eating a quick breakfast Sunday morning at Mather Campground, we finished packing our backpacks. At the last minute, Right Buddy (RB) decided to not take her rain gear or her thermal layer shirt, which saved her almost two pounds of pack weight. The latest weather forecast only had a chance of rain on Monday, with no rain the rest of the week. Temperature predictions for Phantom Ranch were still in the 100’s (Fahrenheit) while the North Rim’s high will be in the sixties, with a low in the low forties. RB still had her puffy coat to keep her warm on the North Rim plus her down quilt. Left Buddy (LB) decided not to take his sleeping bag, but only take his sleeping bag liner. Prior to the trip, LB was asking RB if we could skip carrying the tent and just cowboy camp. RB quickly nixed that idea as she knew she would not be able to sleep while thinking about what creatures would be crawling over her during the night, like scorpions and snakes. Also, if we got caught in a downpour, we could use the rain fly for protection. On the Appalachian Trail, RB carried the tent poles and stakes while LB carried the tent and rain fly. However, to even out the weight more, LB took the tent poles and stakes from RB so he was carrying all of the tent supplies for the Grand Canyon. RB’s initial pack weight was 33.5 pounds while LB’s initial pack weight was 34 pounds. The weights included two liters of water each and all of our food for the trail plus a snack for the ride to the North Rim and breakfast for Monday morning before we hit the trail. RB’s initial weight also included her five pounds of camera gear.
After the short drive from the campground, LB dropped RB off at Bright Angel Lodge at about 7 am with both of our backpacks before driving our van over to Lot D to park at the Backcountry Information Center to park it for the week. He then had plenty of time to walk back to Bright Angel Lodge with no pack on his back and was back 15 minutes before the 7:30 am shuttle check-in. In the meantime, RB met Dale, one of the other backpackers waiting for the Trans-Canyon Shuttle. Dale was from Michigan. He was going to be joined by his brother on the North Rim. They had the same backcountry itinerary as us: Monday night at Cottonwood Campground, Tuesday and Wednesday night at Bright Angel Campground, and Thursday night at Indian Garden Campground.
On this particular Sunday morning, Trans-canyon Shuttle was running three passenger vans holding about 10-15 passengers each from Bright Angel Lodge over to the North Rim. Each van was pulling a small trailer which stored the occupants backpacking gear. We were assigned to the same van as five other couples. They were traveling as one group. It was about a four hour drive over to the North Rim, so we had plenty of time to chat with the other backpackers in our van. “Where are you from?” RB asked. “A small town southeast of Indianapolis.” was the response. “Would that town happen to be Shelbyville?” LB replied. “Yes! How do you know about Shelbyville?” they reacted in amazement. RB answered with “My aunt lives there.” They wanted to know RB aunt’s name. RB didn’t think they would know who she was, but, after hearing her name, one of them exclaimed “I’m a real estate agent and I have a client who wants to buy her house!”. Now RB was amazed. It continues to surprise us how truly small this world is. There are three siblings in the Shelbyville group and they plan big trips together. They seemed like a good group of people who have a lot of fun together sharing some wonderful experiences. The group’s backcountry itinerary was similar to ours, except they were only spending one night at the bottom, in Bright Angel Campground, instead of two. We would cross paths with them a few more times before then.
After roughly 4 hours, including a couple of stops for gas and bathroom breaks, we reached the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park. As we were heading south on Arizona 67 to reach the canyon rim, we spotted a herd of bison in the open meadow to the west of the road, on the Kaibab Plateau. The Shelbyville group was excited and made sure everyone was awake to see the bison, as some members of their group had dozed off during the long ride. Bison have not always roamed the Grand Canyon (Bison History at Grand Canyon National Park). They were not present in the park until the late 1990’s. They have migrated down from the House Rock Valley due to a combination of bison hunting and wildfires. The National Park Service is now attempting to keep the bison population under control as they affect both the natural and cultural resources inside the park (Bison Impacts and Monitoring).
Our shuttle van dropped us off at the North Rim Campground registration kiosk. The Shelbyville group was also camping in the hiker/biker area of the campground. The hiker/biker area is for people tent camping without vehicles and is first come/first serve. The campground charges $6 per person per night, which gave us access to flush toilets, water, picnic tables, and fire rings. However, there were not enough tent pads, bear boxes, and picnic tables for each couple to each have one, so the Shelbyville group graciously shared picnic tables and bear boxes among themselves. The tent pads were large enough to hold a normal backpacking tent, but, since we are both tall, we have an extra long tent which didn’t fit on the tent pad. There was plenty of ground space nearby to set up our tent next to the tent pad. The campground also has a camp store and dump station along with coin operated laundry and showers.
The hiker/biker area is located in the southwest corner of the campground, at the end of the tent-only campsite area and is adjacent to the Transept Trail. After we setup our tent, we walked about a mile and a half down the Transept Trail, along the canyon rim, to the Grand Canyon Lodge. The Grand Canyon Lodge sits on the rim of the Roaring Springs Canyon, which is one of many side canyons of the Grand Canyon. The North Kaibab Trail that we would be heading down on Monday morning starts out following the Roaring Springs Canyon. We continued another quarter of a mile past the Grand Canyon Lodge on the Bright Angel Point Trail to Bright Angel Point to take in the view. From the point, we tried to pick out the spot in the distance along the South Rim where the Bright Angel Lodge was. We thought we figured it out, but there was no one to tell us we might be wrong.
The historic Grand Canyon Lodge is beautiful and is perched on the canyon rim surrounded by cabins. The view of the canyon from the wall of glass in the Sun Room is spectacular. There are patios on both sides of the Sun Room where you can sit and stare at the canyon views. On the north side of the lodge is Deli in the Pines and it was time for ice cream. They serve soft serve instead of the hand-dipped ice cream we ate at Bright Angel Lodge, but it still hit the spot.
A friend of ours, Kensie, is a park ranger on the North Rim. Originally, she was going to meet us and show us around the North Rim. However, the Friday before we got there, she hit a deer with her car. She was not hurt and her car was drivable, but she needed to drive it several hours to the closest garage to get it fixed. She would not get back to the North Rim until Monday. So we made arrangements to meet her the following weekend on the South Rim, after we finish our rim to rim hike.
There are two options for dinner in the Grand Canyon Lodge. One is the Grand Canyon Lodge Dining Room, which serves a variety of menu options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The other, Bright Angel Buffet, is only open for dinner. Kensie had already made reservations for the Lodge Dining Room, so that is the option we chose. Next time we might try the Buffet.
Our timing and luck of the draw for the table were both great as we were seated by the window with the view of the canyon just as the sun was setting with a glorious glow. For dinner, we both had the bison burger with fries. However, the fresh bread served before the meal was so good, we filled our bellies with it and almost didn’t have room to finish our meals. It was dark by the time we finished our meal. We had our headlamps with us to light our way back, but we did not feel comfortable taking the Transept Trail back to the campground as it had sections very close to very steep drops. Instead, we opted for the trail called Bridle Path, which somewhat follows alongside the road. We believe our chances of getting lost or stepping off the canyon rim were greatly reduced. When we got back to the campground, we quickly prepped for bed and crawled into our tents and tried to get to sleep. Tomorrow we would enter the canyon!
Check out our related video: North Rim: Grand Canyon.
(RB)