Sunday at the Grand Canyon

Sunday was our last day on our trip and the day we got to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and go on the world famous Grand Canyon mule ride!!   (Although the mule pics will be on another post.) We left Page in the morning and headed to the North Rim.  Our drive was a scenic one and of course we stopped a lot to take pictures!

We drove past the Vermilion Cliffs...

...then we stopped at the Cliff Dwellers.

 

                                                 

This formation reminded us of an ice cream cone!

The road we drove on was first established as a route for Catholic missionaries to spread their religious message to the Native Americans.  The road was also known as the Honeymoon Trail for Mormon couples who needed to go to the Mormon Temple in St George, UT.   

As we got closer to the canyon, the road started curving up into the mountains, and at the top, the weather changed from warm to cold and windy!

After we passed the closed Visitors Center near Jacob Lake, we drove through lots of burned out forest with emerging Aspen tree growth.  The leaves of the Aspen trees looked like they were glittering when they blew in the wind.  The road we drove took us over the Kaibab Plateau which included meadow lands.  

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The fire that burned this forest happened in 2006.  

The fire actually has helped new Aspen growth because it destroyed the overstory.

Mom really liked the Aspen trees.

We finally made it to the North Rim after all of our stops!  The view of the canyon from the North Rim didn't seem to go on forever, however, it was just as beautiful!  There were also more trees and overall green.

We had time to do the popular Bright Angel Point trail, not to be confused with the Bright Angel Trail at the South Rim.  It was a short trail with great views!  I got lots of practice telling Camden to stay away from the edge!  He really likes to climb and has no fear!  

For being a short trail, we certainly found lots of places to take pictures!!

The other neat thing of the day was seeing many people who had also run the Lake Powell Half.  Us VR racers really are into the vacation part of Vacation Races!

We ate our lunch after our hike and got ready for our mule ride!!  We had been looking forward to this all week....but it will have to wait for another post!