Travel Tuesdays: The North Rim of the Grand Canyon

While I've been to the South Rim of the Gran Canyon about twenty times, I've only been to the North Rim three times. It is not nearly as easy to access and, because it's about 1000 feet higher than the South Rim, it gets sufficient winter weather that it closes November through April, and usually with some buffer weeks in October and May. I'll talk about the weather at the North Rim in another post (I have a very wild weather trip to share), but this photo is one of my faves and I want to talk more about it.

To set the scene a bit: we took this trip in the fall of 2020, masked up and outdoors as much as possible. We loaded up a cooler and our car with all of our food so we wouldn't have to eat indoors (if any place was offering such at the time). There was also a significant amount of smoke in the air from a pretty intense wildfire season. That's why there's an orangey-gray fuzziness to the distant landscape.

This picture is of Angels Window, a pretty easy side trail along Cape Royal Road. Because of the smoke, the visibility into the Canyon was rather muted in terms of the famous colorful rock layers (here's a National Parks photo of pretty much the same view, but at sunrise on a smoke-free day).

I decided to hang back at the car while the spouse and kid went on ahead. They are the two figures standing on the bridge right over the arch, while some other visitor is walking further out onto the lookout point. The sun was shining just right through the smokey haze to glint off the Colorado River toward the lower left of Angels Window as well. I'm pretty sure I was standing in some dense and high brush off the side of the parking area to get this shot.

The North Rim is not as iconic as the South Rim. In addition to its more limited accessibility, it's views are more disparate because it's on part of the plateau that spikes out into the Canyon as opposed to the South Rim's more hugging of a Canyon curve. It's also not quite as easy to enjoy from the comfort of a car or even a quick-to-reach bench. But it's got its own beauty and charm and hidden secrets. And if you're already planning a trip to Zion National Park, it's an easy day trip.