We got on the ‘net by using our phone and found that the Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge serves buffet breakfast so I foolishly insisted that we get up, drink our fortified coffee and drive into the Lodge for breakfast which they quit serving at 10:00 AM. We departed our RV park by about 8:25 headed for the Lodge. It is about 40 miles to the park boundary and the speed limits are not high on AZ-67 but we got to the Lodge by about 9:30. I parked while Peg got us a table.
We had a great seating location overlooking this granddaddy of national parks. However, despite the absolutely terrific views, the food was not anything to write home about. I would describe it as nominal. Service was great. After dining, we headed outside to get in some strolling along the rim of the Grand Canyon. The views are truly magnificent but the rim is up over 8000′ elevation so fast walking is almost terminal for old, fat, out-of-shape retirees gasping and wheezing along the edge of this extraordinary demonstration of geology and erosion.
We crept along the canyon rim a while, snapping pictures, looking for places to sit until my heartbeat got below about 200 and jealously guarding the shady spots we found on the rim trails. Peggy is not real skookum on abrupt edges, particularly mile-high ones, so she steered clear of the more ugly passages out to some viewpoints. From the north rim, you can see many geologic layers extending down a mile to rocks near the Colorado River that are over a billion years old. The colors of the layers are fantastic here. Also visible is the south rim about 10 or 15 miles distant and 1500’ lower than the north rim. Beyond the south rim the flat terrain of northern Arizona extends to the horizon.
We finally left the Lodge area and headed for one of the only other north rim roads which goes down about 20 miles from AZ-67 to a promontory called Cape Royal and a wonderful viewpoint called Point Imperial, where there are great vistas with stunning views of the east end of the canyon. It was here that the food I insisted on eating this morning started to have a peculiar effect on my digestive system so we headed back down the extremely narrow road to AZ-67. On the way, we spotted some of either the biggest coyotes we have ever seen or funny wolves, condors, bluebirds, deer and, surprisingly, a big herd of bison. We also encountered a myriad of apparently suicidal drivers coming at us on the very narrow road who had decided that driving on our side of the double yellow line was okay on tight inside corners. I would happily blow my horn at them and watch their faces as they shit themselves while trying to get their vehicles back into their own lane without careening over the edge of the extremely narrow road into nothingness for several thousand feet.
I was fortunate to make it back to our RV at about 4:00 PM since I got to see the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway which we saw during last year’s trip up the east coast. Truex won.
We took some pix and you can see them by clicking here