26 September 2018.

(Location: Grand Canyon North Rim)

Woke up tired, despite many hours of sleep, thanks in part to gaining an hour as we travelled into Arizona. It was nice and cosy in bed and I was quite happy to stay there…but then, there is a whole beautiful canyon out there, waiting for us to admire it…

We had breakfast in the restaurant, as this was less busy than the counter and they serve the same food. Andrew declared it one of the best breakfasts he’d had, so you can reasonably conclude it was good. We got ourselves ready and headed the 30 plus miles to the park. The sun was out, skies were blue and there wasn’t a cloud in sight.

We took the Cape Royal Road towards Point Imperial, which was lined with colourful aspens and towering pines. Point Imperial is the highest point on the north rim at over 8,800 feet. Walking around was an effort, but we seem to be getting more used to it as the days pass. It was also scenic, with views across to the Vermillion and Echo Cliffs. We walked a short way west along the Ken Patrick trail for additional views, totalling around three quarters of a mile.

We next stopped at the Vista Encantada picnic area, for the view, and also had a snack bar as we were getting quite peckish.

This was followed by stops at other viewpoints including the Walhalla Point and the Roosevelt trail, where we did a half mile route.

Finally we reached the end of the road and walked the paved trail, firstly to Angels Window, and secondly to Cape Royal. The views of Wotan’s Throne and the Vishnu Temple were great, and it was good to look across to the south rim and see places we are familiar with: the Palisades of the Desert, the Desert View Watchtower, Grand View and the Horseshoe Mesa, and right around towards the South Kaibab trail.

We also wandered to the picnic area and the ‘Wedding Point’ which we had to ourselves to sit and admire the view.

We left the views behind and returned to the Jacob Lake Inn where, after resting and showers, we had dinner at the counter. The staff were extremely busy tonight, but apparently the grilled chicken club sandwich was excellent! My Portobello mushroom sandwich wasn’t bad either. We were back in the room, blogging and watching tv by 8.30pm, ready for another early night.