Our first trail on the second day at the North Rim was a trip into the canyon on the North Kaibab Trail. We left the distance open ended and instead set a time limit for our hike down the canyon.
As we climbed down into the canyon, we got to see a very different perspective of the canyon.
Seeing the canyon from inside the canyon lets you see how big it really is. We were only about one eighth of the way into the canyon when our view began to get more narrowed even as it was sharper on those places we were approaching.
Close up shots got clearer as we got further into the canyon.
At about 325 feet down into the canyon we had reached our time limit. We wanted to go further, but when we looked back to where we needed to climb, we knew the time to return had arrived.
This is a picture of the trail down into the canyon.
Our next adventure in the Grand Canyon was a drive to Cape Royal. It was a forty five minute drive that turned into an hour and a half with all the stops at overlooks.
This was one view from the Ken Patrick Overlook.
There was also a great view down into the canyon from there.
The next overlook was at Vista Encantada. From this overlook you can see the plain on the south rim much better.
At Vista Encantada you could see a broad area of the canyon.
Roosevelt Point was named for Teddy Roosevelt because of his involvement in the establishment of national parks. The south rim seemed much closer here.
There were many vistas like this from Roosevelt Point as well.
At Walhalla Overlook we got our first view of the Colorado River. There was a lot of information about the native Americans that farmed in the canyon in the farming season and spent summers on the North RIm at Walhalla Point.
One of the questions the information did not directly address was how the tribe moved up and down the canyon walls each year.
The Walhalla overlook was the widest overlook on the drive up. Looking from this end of the overlook, you could not find an easy path to the top. It is almost 2400 feet to the bottom. The researchers said the shortest trail they could find was an arduous two day hike.
Our final overlook stop before Cape Royal was Cliff Springs Overlook. It gave us our first view of Angel’s Window at Cape Royal.
Cliff Springs also showed how steep the canyon can be. This downward view looks directly at the top of a rock formation that is a few hundred feet down. It was quite a surprise when we looked over the edge, expecting to see more than empty space.
From Cliff Springs Overlook we were able to capture both the depth and breadth of the Grand Canyon in a single photo.
We finally arrived at Cape Royal. This is a better view of an arch called Angel’s Window. This is one of the few arches you are permitted to walk across. If you look closely you can see the large cracks in the arch.
We took a relatively short hike to Cape Royal from the parking lot. You can get a full 360 degree view of the canyon from here. A single photo cannot capture the full impact of the view.
We will give you a feel for the magnificence of the view by showing pictures around the cape.
Here is a new view of the Colorado River from Cape Royal Point.
And then a continuation of the tour of views around Cape Royal Point.
One final shot looking to the west showing the Grand Canyon continuing on for miles and miles. This picture is almost 270 degrees around a circle from the first Cape Royal photo.
We got our best photo of a sunbathing lizard at Cape Royal.
On our way back to the parking lot we took a short detour to Angel’s Point. This required walking over the arch. While you could not see the arch from above, you knew you were there when you stepped over the large cracks in the rock surface.
It was worth the scary entrance to the point. We got yet another view of the Colorado River with more river showing, and with even more hues and color tones in the photo.
We could almost see a huge number of pine trees growing on very steep cliff sides. How did the seeds get there?
We next traveled to Point Imperial. It is the highest point in the park. At 8800 feet you can see a very long way. You could see the canyon to the east much better from here. Notice the large plain the canyon is in to the east.
Here is a zoomed view of the canyon farther to the east. The canyon is not as close to the mesas, so there are not as many branch canyons with high elevations around it.
To the south the mesa top at the south rim is very obvious.
From Point Imperial you could see a whole new interior of the canyon. Perhaps it was the time of day or the location, but the colors seemed much more vivid from here.
While walking around Point Imperial we saw many birds soaring on air currents. There were small birds, medium sized birds, and one very large bird. Based upon its size and the way it floated on the air currents, we think it was an eagle. Wish we could have gotten a picture of it!
As we prepared to leave the North RIm we took one last picture of the Grand Canyon.
From Point Imperial we headed to Zion National Park. On the way we saw many National Park worthy views that were not part of any park. We saw mountains.
We saw mesas.
And we saw deserts.
It seems every day in a national park is a good day.