July 1, Wednesday – Moving from the South Rim to the North Rim

Ben, Jack and I said goodbye to Linnie and we all got on the road around 8:30. Lin is heading hope after a stop in Santa Fe to visit friends and we are going to the North Rim – a first for Jack and I. We couldn’t get any campground reservations at the North Rim, so we are winging it as we have been told that we can just pull off a forest service road outside the National Park and camp for the night.

It is 225 miles from the South Rim to the North rim and it took us about five hours. The scenery through the Vermillion Cliffs is awe-inspiring with the pinks, reds and greens of the 1,000 foot cliffs rising from the desert floor.




I stopped at a Forest Service office in Jacob Lake and found that we could get an actual camp site at the forest service campground, so we stopped and paid $9 for a site. When we got to the North rim, we stopped at the campground Office and were excited to find that there was a cancellation and we got the only spot available right in the Grand Canyon park.

The weather has turned cloudy and as we walked around the lodge area, thunder and lightning made a spectacular display. Lightning strikes on the Canyon rim are common and dangerous, so we retreated to a café in the campground to check the internet. We met some folks in the café that were returning to the forest service campground and we asked them to let them know to release our site so someone else can use the spot. After dinner, we played cards and read.