Day 29 (7/26) Grand Canyon, North Rim. (Everyone—joint entry) Today was a bit of a lazier day, even though we started off with a hike. We got up later than usual and hiked to Bright Angel Point, even though it was hot and generally not shaded. At the end there was an awesome view of the Grand Canyon, and at a couple of points there were drop offs on both sides of the trail (but compared to Angel’s Landing trail in Zion, this was so easy, since the path was paved and it wasn’t as scary). Dad made us take pictures again, and we took a family selfie with the GoPro again – we know exactly how to line up by now!
After Bright Angel Point, we hiked along the rim of the Roaring Spring Canyon, which is more wooded and green, even though it is still a large Canyon. The green contrasted nicely against the red rock (some of us thought the green made the rocks look moldy!). The North Rim is 1,000 feet higher than the South Rim, so it gets more rain and snow—even more snow than Anchorage, Alaska! That trail joined the Nature trail that took us away from the canyon and through a nice wooded area. It was the least populated trail we’ve been on this whole trip. We saw a few birds (Elliot is totally into birding right now – bought a binoculars, two birding books, and a little birding journal) and the Kaibab squirrel, which has a huge bushy tail with a black body, almost like a small skunk without the white stripes.
The Nature trail led to Transept Trail, where we stopped for a while at a gorgeous overlook, where we were cooled by a strong breeze. It was hot today – in the high 90s at least.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around, first at the visitor’s center, then at the camp store for wireless internet, and then at the lodge to attend a ranger’s talk on condors. Condors are scavenger birds with a wingspan of 9.5 feet. They feed their babies until they are 5 or 6 years old. We learned they can store up to 4 pounds of rotting flesh in a special throat area called the crop (we think) for up to two weeks. Yum! We had seen a few of them in Zion as well, and up close. They aren’t pretty birds – featherless heads.
Harrison and Helena completed the junior ranger program here, earning them their sixth badge on this trip. We all learn a lot in the process.
In the evening, we tried to drive out to a different lookout to watch the sunset, but somehow we couldn’t find the right road, so we gave up and went back to the main North Rim lodge to watch the sunset and have dinner on the Veranda, which was nice.
(Click on the pictures for larger versions.)
Fisher Family Travels 