Grand Canyon National Park

As usual, I'm delayed in getting the final few road trip entries up on this blog. I think it's me subconsciously in denial that the journey is done. But it's finally time to write this trip to a close.

I headed south from Zion National Park to one of my final destinations: the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Last summer I saw the canyon's southwestern quadrant in a hike down to its floor. The North Rim has an entirely different feel. It's higher, wider, and greener, making for expansive views but also making it harder to get an up-close impression.

Since I've dubbed this road trip my Summer Canyon and Volcano Tour, I concluded I had to stop at the grand daddy of all U.S. canyons. The Grand Canyon, at well over 200 miles long, is the lengthiest canyon in the United States and easily the most dramatic. Theodore Roosevelt called it the one sight every American should see.

I started at Bright Angel Point near the visitor center then tromped two miles into the canyon down the Kaibab Trail. The steep trail extends fourteen miles to Phantom Ranch, deep within the canyon. I'm glad I turned around when I did. The two miles coming back out of the canyon required a lot of huffing and puffing.

I stopped at a few more vistas before leaving, including Point Imperial, the highest point on the Grand Canyon's rim at 8,803 feet above the Colorado River. I also took in the view from Roosevelt Point, Angels Window, and Cape Royal. All offered towering views of the vertically-hewn pink and orange cliffs and boundless empty space beyond.

I spent the night in Holbrook, Arizona after driving past the massive mesas in the northern part of the state then cutting down through stormy Flagstaff.