Another Giant Hole : Utah Lotsa Parks part 8

Day 9 aka We Finally Reach the Mecca of Giant Holes in the Ground

 

 We left our campsite in Virgin fairly early, beating the heat and headed south on 59 to the Arizona border. Needless to say, we were sad to leave Utah. What a stunningly beautiful state. I am in forever in your thrall.

So we cross over into AZ and it’s boring. Boring, boring, boring. So out comes the guidebook. Discovery: the “Arizona Strip” is the land north of the Grand Canyon south of the Utah border. It’s the state’s most remote and least populated regions. Many of the only 3000 inhabitants in this area are polygamy practicing fundamentalist LDS weirdos. And let me tell you, stuff looked rough out there. Later on, after we left the North Rim we drove thru another juicy nugget of Arizona called Lees Ferry, where a guy named John D Lee took part in the massacre of 120 emigrants from Arkansas. He fled with his 19 wives and 50+ kids to an outpost and ran the ferry that was there. He was eventually tracked down and executed, but they decided to name the town with the ferry after him. Oooookay.

Anyway, we made our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. You drive through a wide open pasture where there is a herd of buffalo. I’ve never seen a buffalo out of a zoo, so I was impressed and a bit concerned since they’re so huge and everywhere! Eventually we made it to the entrance gate and sat in line waiting to pay our entrance fee when out of the woods came Ranger Ravishing. Him and his week-old scruff rambled their way up the gatehouse as I gaped at his every step, hoping beyond hope that he was the relief shift so I could babble nonsensically at his rugged bearing while Dan calmly handed over our Parks card. Alas, he did not aide in the transaction, but he was there, in the hut, so I could ogle from afar and drool all over the car’s interior.

When we finally pulled away and Dan handed me my lower jaw from the floor of the car, we made our way to the Lodge. Earlier in our trip we had the discussion “how can the Grand Canyon be all that impressive?” I mean, Dead Horse, Canyonlands and Bryce… all were spectacular and supremely impressive big ol’ holes in the ground. That discussion was put to rest the second we stepped to the rim of the Grand Canyon.

While only 11 miles away as the crow flies, the driving distance from the North Rim to the South is 215 miles.

Dan taking a selfie with the native fauna.

Number 7.

 

Bison!

 

Wee baby!

Okay. Yep. That’s cool. Nicely done, nature.

 

For the record neither of us are excited about heights and wind, but Dan’s got it worse than me.

 

A picture of the “Window.” The things that look like trees on top of the window are people.

 

Using the “toy” filter.

 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JdfT-cpM50Y?feature=player_embedded

This video is from standing on top of the Window and my shaky attempt at zooming in on the Colorado River rapids. The conversation in the background is quite precious. Also, I’m pretty sure this is the spot where Dan and I were asked the most times, “Would you like me to take a picture of the two of  you?” Answer, always, “Nooooo, we’re goooooood,” paired with an apologetic shoulder shrug.

 

Dan doing his job as scale reference model.

 

We left the North Rim and headed back to the main road. We stopped at a restaurant in Fredonia called Jacob’s Lake Inn, which is one of those great all-in-ones: hotel, restaurant, souvenir shop, gas/service station and bakery. The food was delicious and the service was stellar. Next stop, South Rim.

 

Number 7!!

 

The view from Desert View Watchtower on the very east end of the park. The sun was low and with the hazy sky made this picture look darker that it actually was.

 

The Watchtower. You can climb up into it and buy stuff in the store on the first floor. Woo-hoo capitalism!!

 

At this point we kind of knew we’d hit the park at the perfect time. After a quick perusal of the park map we headed to Lipan Point just down the road to wait for the sunset. It was a bit of a wait but SO worth it. I was seeing spots for a long time afterward.

 

 

Dan should get paid for his modeling. Also you can see that beast of a river, the Colorado, in this shot.

 

 

And I end this post with one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip. The Canyon had it’s hooks in me, for sure. It was a very long but a very beautiful day and a great way to be introduced to Arizona. We would be back the next day ready to hike.