Desert Southwest - The Checklist Edition - Transition Day - North Rim to Zion - September 2014

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Transition Day

Bright Angel Point, North Rim, Grand Canyon

Tuesday, September 23

Yesterday, our Grand Canyon rim-to-rim adventure had come to a successful end. Item number one on our Checklist Edition trip had been achieved.

The second phase of our trip took place in Zion National Park. We had budgeted the entire day to transition from Grand Canyon's North Rim to Zion. Since the road trip distance between the two locations was at most two and a half hours, we had a big cushion of time. We therefore decided to spend the morning doing a final bit of North Rim sightseeing.

Morning at North Rim CG

A perfect day had dawned over the Grand Canyon. The skies were crystal clear and the air was still and cool.

Now rejoined with the entire Hatko family, we started receiving a visitor at our campsite - a visitor that would appear with regularity over the coming days. This visitor was very fond of small rocks, furry toys, and mostly anything sweet. And wore a bright gold North Rim junior ranger badge.

courtesy JInnes

Breakfast Tea

The Camping Hatkos

Breakfast at North Rim

courtesy JInnes

Hair taming

Junior Ranger Katie

We decided that we had more than enough time to explore the nearby Grand Canyon Lodge area and Bright Angel Point. Both were situated at the end of the narrow peninsula of Kaibab Plateau that jutted southward between the canyon of The Transept and Roaring Springs Canyon. The same peninsula upon which our campground was situated.

courtesy JInnes

To the point

Gold Leaf Mushrooms

Chris, Gillian, Sandra, Alana and the kids decided to drive to the Grand Canyon Lodge parking area. Given the short distance between our campsite and the peninsula tip, we decided to hike through the beautiful open forest. We left a bit earlier so as to meet up at roughly the same time near or at Bright Angel Point.

North Rim Complex buildings

Sunny North Rim Day

Back on the Bridle Path

The walk from the campground to the Grand Canyon Lodge area was about as straightforward and as pleasant as you could imagine. We just pointed ourselves in the generally correct direction, and walked. We walked through stretches of tall, open forest, and past several park complex buildings. We eventually intersected the wide Bridle Path, which soon crossed the main park road and began leading along an edge of the peninsula, with Roaring Springs Canyon - the very canyon we just finished hiking out of on the North Kaibab - on our left.

We were down there

As we approached the end of the peninsula, we began to encounter more people - both day visitors and residents of the park's Lodge system and campground. The area we were entering was probably the busiest part of the entire North Rim (Even so, the North Rim only experiences ten percent of the visitation the South Rim receives).

We passed a crowded parking lot on our right, then reached an area where the Grand Canyon Lodge's cabins were attractively scattered about underneath the tall pines. These cabins were built in the "National Park Service Rustic" architectural style in the late 1920s. They were very attractive, and the most advantageously-placed of these cabins were a mere stone's throw from fantastic rim views.

Rimside Walk

Lodge Cabins

North Rim Interpretive Plaque

At the far end of the cabins, we arrived at the tip of the peninsula. The flat land of the Kaibab Plateau ended here, and the immense depths of the Grand Canyon spread out to the south.

Grand Canyon Lodge

Start, Bright Angel Point Trail

Oza Butte

From the tip of the peninsula, a narrow and craggy ridge of Kaibab Limestone extends south-east, out into the void for perhaps another 600 yards (6/10ths of a kilometer). Along the crest of this ridge, paved and well-constructed, runs the Bright Angel Point trail. Unsurprisingly, at the end of the trail is situated the fine lookout point known as Bright Angel Point.

courtesy PChen

Bright Angel Point trail

Sunny Ridgewalk

Scenic Ridgewalk

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