Trip #119 (50): Grand Canyon North Rim

Trip #119 (50): North Rim Grand Canyon 

May 18 - 23, 2022

Wed, May 18 — Left warmer Santa Fe, with fires burning to the east and west (Calf-Hermits & Cerro Pelado) on Wednesday driving all the way to Winslow. Diesel pries $5.19 on the rez north of Alb. The Depp Trial is on-going, and doing my best to listen in the car as long as there is a signal, which is a safe bet along I-40. Grocery Safeway stop in Gallup, not normally remarkable, except they had the SEA SALT SMART FOOD POPCORN!!! Only place I have found it in about a YEAR. Camped at Homo‘lovi #34, good thing we had a reservation, cuz it was full. And 91 degrees, too hot in the sun. Of course, dinner at the Turquoise Room at La Posada, super delish as always. The Killer Veggie Plate was good, but not quite as good as before (this is probably the 5^th or 6^th time I’ve had it, never order anything else). Bill had Bone-In Pork with Raspberry sauce, excellent says he. Took a stroll around the grounds things look about the same except greener, bought a tin Xmas ornament, that La Posada is so well done, then another walk around the campground in the dark. It was a beautiful breezy, warm night after the blazing day. [Water report: Show was like using hot tub water – super chloriny!! Bill did a flush but PU it is still in there, was afraid I would have white or green hair like a public pool. And then the used Brita filter must have grown mold cuz the water I later discovered while in Grand Canyon tasted like mold!!! Quite happy to be drinking straight out of the tab across the street, better than any of ours.]

Thursday, May 19 — Oh Lordy, it is blazing here this am, stay in the shade if there were any… prob mid 80s by the time we hit the road for the Rim. Today turned out to be a long drive than expected, long stretches east of Flagstaff on 89 and 89a through the Nav Rez in a very hot and very windy drive. Not too many road jewelry vendors out in this wind. After finally reaching Jacob Lake, it is another 42 miles south to the rim, geez, don’t remember it being THIS long of a drive, long but… anyway. It’s higher and cooler here – entrance gate says 8800 feet. Kinda feel it. Got set up in spot #55, in the interior, easy enough pull-through, then tried to ride bikes – omg are we outta shape – then drove to see the lodge and gift shop, of course. Pretty busy, everyone here for the Kaibab trail it seems, very busy at the trailhead. Had a steak dinner and early evening – too many beautiful trees for the dish and the volume suddenly wasn’t working on the bedroom TV so no Friends.

Friday, May 20 — Cold at night since a cool wave came through, about 40 in the am. Got out for a hike on The Trancept Trail (1.2 mi) right off the CG, very very nice; how come we didn’t do this before. Takes you all the way to the Lodge, only quicker than Bridle Trail it seems, and then to the Bright Angel Overlook off the Lodge – which we also never did before. Good views but extremely hazy either from dust or smoke and the high winds. Walked back on the Bridle Trail (4 miles total) and it is getting a bit warmer, tho prob didn’t top 68 degrees. Later the winds seemed cooler from that front. After lunch, walked over to the General Store down the street, not a bad store, and again with the phone since there is wifi there. After that we drove to the Widforss Trail to check it out – might have to do that tomorrow. THEN, drove to Point Imperial for an overlook. Drive goes through old burn areas now overtaken with zillions of aspens not giving the pines a chance to grow it seems. Great overlook area, too bad it is so hazy. Dinner at the Lodge tonight, at 8:15, the place is packed, but we got in about 30 minutes early even so. I think we were the only ones to have taken a shower before dinner. Lots of hikers right off the trail and many with their suitcases waiting for the shuttles after dinner I guess. Colder tonight, home by 9. TV working now.

Saturday, May 21 — Happy birthday Chris W. Was cool last night, about 44 this am. Looks like the winds have slowed down as I type this. Supposed to be 68 today, perfect. Drove over to hike Widforss Trail after it warmed up a tad. Great hike! Along the rim, but in the big pines, plenty of shade… Tho the trail went for 4 miles, we did 2, and turned back, did 4 miles. Came back and had a Napa lunch. Took the bikes out, rode around the park residential area, met two mules, and noticed some ranger types were activating – turns out later we saw the ambulance, and Bill said someone got airlifted out by heli for something. We will probably never know. Didn’t ride a lot, but was nice to ride the pavement over there. Not ready to sit around, so after reading more of the Navajo rug and weaving book, I wanted to go back to the gift shop and look at the rugs there, so I walked the Trancept Trail back for another 2 miles. Love this campground trail to the Lodge, hardly anyone on it at 5pm, and Bill stayed back and talked roads with Scott, and did some packing up since we leave tomorrow. Dinner, showered and in jammies by 7:45. Pathetic! Early night after Quinn and Friends.

Sunday, May 22 — 41 degrees this am. Time to pack up and go, to where, no one knows, but I really need a signal to hear the Depp trial! Drove through Nav country and stopped Hubbell trading Post. Not much new there. Drove on to Gallup and had plannee to camp at McGaffey CG, but as we drove in, the forest is closed for wildfire prevention even tho no fires in the area. So went to check out Red Rock Park and it is pretty full and run down so onward to the Sky Casino RV lot. Long drive so we had spaghetti and watched TV.

Definitely want to camp this I-40 Gallup area in more depth soon...

Monday, May 23

With everything closing up for fire prevention, it’s an obvious time to head home earlier than expected.