Day 21: Thursday 15-Jul-1999

Base camp: Kanab, Utah

Excursion: Grand Canyon, Northern Rim, Arizona

Distance: 180 mi (288 km)

It is curious how your expectations about some things do not match reality. We had expected Arizona and Utah to be boiling hot in the summer. But so far, we have hardly used the air conditioning in the trailer. On the other hand, we almost always have to use it in the truck as we visit lower elevations. This morning we were on and off about going southwest. You really have to play it by the weather at this time of the year. We decided to go to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. After breakfast and a thank-you call to Lillemor's office for laptop parts, we headed south of Highway 89. It only takes a few minutes to cross the border over to Arizona from our campground in Utah. We went through the town of Fredonia and then onto 89A to Highway 67. After a long stretch of desert we started to climb up into Kaibab National Forrest and then into Grand Canyon National Park. We were able to reuse our ticket from the southern rim.

A trip to the northern rim is a definite must. It complements what you see on the southern rim. On the south, you sort of follow a highway along the rim where you can stop at multiple lookouts. On the northern rim you basically drive to one spot where they have a campground, a lodge and several trail heads. When we got through the gates into the national park, we asked the park ranger about the weather forecast. He told us it was going to cloud over by 10:30 in the morning. We had an extra hour as Arizona does not observe daylight savings. Luckily for us, it would turn out that the park ranger was wrong about the weather.

	Above the clouds on the Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, at about 8000ft.

	Lillemor standing on the Bright Angel trail of the northern rim as clouds sweep over it .

	Everyone wants to climb this rock, Erik and Izzy being no exception (they are at the top there).

We parked the truck and the kids started to look for trash on the ground. You have to pick some trash as part of the junior range program they offer here and at other national parks. We walked down the Bright Angel trail, which is quite nice. It was quite spectacular, because the clouds were raising up from the base of the Canyon up to our level. We were in the clouds and they blew across our path from time to time. Sometimes it was clear, and sometimes it was like milk with near zero visibility. We did not hurry.

	We heard a hawk. We also saw woodpeckers, and plenty of other birds. The kids enjoyed this hike very much.

	Lillemor standing by a tree along the trail to the northern rim campground

	A reflection in a water puddle along the trail

	Karl along the norther rim during our hike

	Paintbrush flowers (?) along the trail (photo by Isabella)

We returned back to the lodge and then took the trail that leads to the campground. It is about 1 1/2 mile long (2km) and follows the rim. It was very, very nice. Not too much people. The kids did not complain. We saw plenty of birds. The forest up here is also impressive with thick Ponderosa Pines. We walked all the way to the campground in a slow pace. Karl was really good (4 years old). He did not complain and did not have to be carried. Per walked back along the road to the truck and returned back to pick everyone up. We took a short drive along the rim and stopped for picnic lunch. We had to hurry a little bit as there was a park ranger presentation for kids at 2pm.

The presentation was in the campgrounds so called Amphitheater. About 15 kids with parents showed up. The first part consisted of letting the kids find assorted plastic animals and objects that had been hidden around where the presentation was being held. The objective was to teach the kids about the need for good camouflage. Some were easy to find while others were very hard. In the second part the kids were blindfolded and had to follow a thin rope with their hands and the touch and smell objects that crossed their path. At the end they were told about how we humans tend to use mainly our eyes to experience things while most animals rely on all senses. The ranger asked the kids to also listen and smell as they enjoyed the Canyon.

	Blindfolded kids (Izzy and Erik near right tree) feel and smell a short trail with a Park Ranger

At the end of the presentation the Park Ranger signed all kid's Junior ranger papers and we could head back to the lodge to get the badges. The kids were very proud and so were we. We returned back to the campground the same way we came. We had to stop several times along the road for cows and deers. Today's trip ended up being 155 miles (248km). We found a nice grocery store in Kanab where we got things for dinner. We BBQ:d chicken. Very nice. We ate in the trailer and went to bed early.

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