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Southwest 2014
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Still not having run into the Hatko van's occupants, we started off down the paved path of the Bright Angel Trail. It undulated slightly up and down and over and around bright white crags of Kaibab Limestone. Often there would be a combination of overhanging rock and twisted pine that made a fine foreground to a shot down into the abyss.
courtesy RHanel
Craggy, Airy views
Approaching the point
Pine-framed view
Even with many picture stops, it took us only ten minutes to walk to the end of the trail at Bright Angel Point, where a 180-degree fenced off lookout provided a sweeping view of the Grand Canyon. Chris and the others were here, having had just arrived minutes ahead of us.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy CDoucet
Bright Angel Point
Jenn and Andrew
Katie at the North Rim
As one might expect, the view from Bright Angel Point was suberb. Notably, compared to the typical South Rim lookouts, there were a couple of differences in the nature of the view. Firstly, the bottom of the canyon, at the Colorado River, was much farther away from the North Rim than it was from the South Rim. The bigger, longer and more complicated side-canyon structure on the north side of the river made the whole canyon seem much wider than it did from a comparable location directly across on the South Rim.

Secondly, and perhaps more interestingly, the 1000-foot higher elevation of the North Rim allows you to see over the South Rim, over the plateau beyond, all the way to distant mountains on the horizon. The South Rim offers no such beyond-the-rim view. This added bit of backdrop makes the canyon seem bigger yet again.

In summary, the view is awesome.
courtesy RHanel
Bright Angel Point View
The Monitor
Bright Angel Point Survery Marker
The perfect weather and the great views necessitated a profusion of picture-taking. Especially popular were various portrait and I-was-here type photos - as you can see in the following pictures.
courtesy JInnes
courtesy PChen
Looking back along ridge
Bright Angel Pt Survey Marker
Andrew at North Rim
courtesy RHanel
courtesy JInnes
Happy Hanel
Jenn at Bright Angel Point
Pu and Grand Canyon
courtesy CDoucet
Roland and Stephanie and GC
Roland, Stephanie and Bright Angel Canyon
Bright Angel Point
courtesy BConnell
Bright Angel Point Panorama
courtesy RHanel
courtesy RHanel
Connel Canyon Composition
Photo taking
Jenn and South Rim
Eventually we tore ourselves away from the views and sauntered back along the ridge, back towards the lodge area. Before heading back to our campground, we detoured over to a point below the Grand Canyon Lodge (another fine example of National Park Service Rustic architecture, a.k.a. "parkitecture"). Here, we visited another small lookout that just barely permitted us to see 4000+ feet down, through the side-canyon of "The Transept", directly to Cottonwood Campground - where we had camped two nights before.
courtesy RHanel
To the Lodge
Viewpoint over The Transept
Cottonwood Camp
Temples and Mountains
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[ Return to "The Checklist Edition" Home page | Introduction | Day 1 : South Kaibab to Clear Creek Trail | Day 2 : Clear Creek Tr to Cottonwood Camp | Day 3 : Cottonwood Camp to North Rim | The North Rim | Drive to Zion | Lady Mountain Redux | The Subway | Angel's Landing | Zion in Flood | Valley of Fire | Wind-up and Return | The "Short Report" | GPS Data ]


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