The North Rim

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is much different than the south.  If you were to ask me which one you should go to if you could only go to one, I would say the South Rim.  That is where you truly experience the grandness of the canyon.  But if you can get to both, the North Rim is a great experience!  It does not have as much traffic and is more peaceful.  And cooler.  And the views are great there too!

The North Rim Lodge at the edge of the canyon

That is one of the reasons I planned for our R2R to be south to north.  It would be nice to not be bombarded with people after being in the canyon with relatively few people.  The other reason was that the views from South Kaibab trail are supposed to be the best.  They truly were awesome!  However, hiking that way is supposed to be the hardest due to elevation gain.  So, I am going with that as one of the real reasons why our hike was so hard!    

We all assumed that we would crash when our heads hit the pillow, but it didn't happen.  Maybe it was because we lacked a pillow, but we all did not sleep well.  The next day I was up earlier than the others and was able to look around and eat breakfast before checkout.  The view from the dining room was phenomenal!

We had to check out at 11 and our shuttle was not until 2.  So, we did a little walk...not really a hike, but a .25 walk to the overlook at the edge of the North Rim.  We definitely needed to walk as our muscles were sore and tight and we had a lot of driving today.  Of course we had to wear hour Rim 2 Rim t-shirts!

 

We had lunch in the lodge's dining room with the great views.  This lunch was definitely better than our pizza the night before!  We were able to sit and relax in the outdoor and indoor chairs.  I think I fell asleep on the couch...mesmerized by the great view and the lack of sleep!

We took the Trans canyon shuttle back to the South Rim.  It was a 4.5-hour drive, and the driver was great even though she drove like a maniac!  She wanted to make good time!  We got to our car and then started the 2.5-hour drive to Page, AZ.  

We had originally planned to eat in Page, but at 6:30, we were getting hungry.  The drive to Page was retracing part of the drive we had just made, so we knew there were not many choices of restaurants.  But we found one in Cameron, AZ called the Cameron Trading Post.  It was run by Navajo people and also had a good view! It was a neat atmosphere and we wanted Navajo fry bread with our meal.  We got it, but it was very filling, and it did not take long to get enough of our dinner.  But we were glad we experienced Navajo style food!   

 

Mine tasted better than it looked!  It was roast beef, gravy and a big pepper!  All on top of fry bread.

This drive was what started us not knowing what time it was!  AZ is basically on Pacific Time since they don't observe Daylight Savings, but we had to drive through Navajo Nation to get to Page, AZ from the Grand Canyon, AZ.  And they do observer Daylight Savings!  My phone would switch, but not Jenn's and hers was the one connected to the car screen.  When we would drive to Utah, we would then go back to a state that observed Daylight Savings!  So confusing!  

When we did make it to Page, we were ready for some rest.  Although the GC lodges had been comfortable, it was nice to be in a normal hotel.  And to sleep better!  We still had some awesome adventures ahead of us!