Mornings in a forest campground are different than in the desert. Birds chirp at the break of dawn, which we never hear in the desert. The people noises are different, too. Maybe it’s because folks in a shady campground are more apt to light a fire to brew some coffee and make a big breakfast, where in the desert, it gets hot too fast in the summer and folks don’t stick around if they plan on hiking before it gets too hot. We tend to like camping in the desert more than the forest, but the forest is a nice change of pace once in a while.
It’s not really that we have anything against forests, but the ground is always rock hard with sticks and pine cones that need to be cleared away before setting up the tent. Inevitably, we miss a few and feel them under the floor of the tent. In the desert, the tent usually goes on sand or pea gravel, which makes for a much cushier floor and bed to sleep on.
There are also no breathtaking views in a forest campground…just trees and vehicles and people. With no reason to linger at camp, we packed up and hit the road.
Day Eight
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Grand Canyon North Rim
The North Rim of the Grand Canyon seems like it should just be the northern version of what you see from the south side, but it’s not. The South Rim viewpoints are parallel to the Colorado River, even if you can’t see it from many of them…and there are many, many viewpoints on the South Rim.
The North Rim’s main visitor area is basically one tight spot that overlooks a smaller side canyon of a canyon that is perpendicular to the Colorado River. Bright Angel Point is the only viewpoint near the visitor center, but there are three additional viewpoints that are down the Cape Royal Road. Because the main area is so small and houses both the campground and the lodge right by the visitor center, it feels busy, even if there are statistically fewer people visiting the North Rim.
Before we went, I kept reading travel forum posts that declared the North Rim to be less busy, and somehow better than the experience at the South Rim. Perhaps it was at one time…like way back when my family took a trip there in the ‘90s. We went in summer that time and I don’t remember it being particularly crowded back then. I’m sure if one looks at the numbers, it still hosts far fewer people, but the problem is that there is not a lot of room for everyone to spread out. The Cape Royale Road was still closed for the season, so we had the choice of two viewpoints, which I’m sure didn’t help.
If we’re comparing views alone, I wouldn’t say the views are “better” from either rim, but they are different. We experienced an evening and a morning on both rims, and I prefer the South Rim views more because those views are of the main part of the canyon.
North Rim Visitor Center
Our first stop was the North Rim Visitor Center to try to get a better look around. Thankfully, it wasn’t quite as busy as it was the night before and the kids were able to earn their North Rim badges from the sweetest volunteer! She loved their drawings and talked about what she liked about all of them.
To this day, the Grand Canyon is the only park we have run across that has separate Junior Ranger books for the different districts. Some parks do have additional science-based themes, so we always ask if they have any other books.
A tour bus was unloading about 50 people when we came out of the visitor center, so we picked a good time to be in there before it was inundated with people. We were also ahead of the pack to have a look at the views from the viewing deck of the lodge. Thankfully, that was not packed full, like it had been the afternoon before!
Bright Angel Point
Bright Angel Point had nobody on it when we saw it from above, but by the time we walked out there, the tour bus passengers were all making their way there at the same time. We had to take turns being near the railing to get a few pictures. We did not stick around long with so many people all over the trail.
Point Imperial
We left the main visitor center area and took a drive to Point Imperial. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Bright Angel Point, but that might be because there isn’t anything else to do once you’re there. We took some pictures and set up the tripod for a group shot. Like any overlook, it was a quick stop, but we took enough time to enjoy one last look at the Grand Canyon. Of the viewpoints we could visit while we were at the North Rim, Point Imperial was my favorite.
In case it wasn’t obvious, we enjoyed the South Rim far more than the North Rim. Being from rural South Dakota, the South Rim’s shuttle transportation was something of a novelty that reminded us of our trips to Walt Disney World and I was happy to turn over the driving to someone else to get around the park. The South Rim is better able to absorb the larger number of people who visit.
I’m glad we went to both rims on back to back years to be able to compare the two. I’ll probably never plan a trip to the North Rim again, but I’d love for us to revisit the South Rim. We still have a lot of viewpoints that we have not looked at there because I hadn’t been sure whether or not we’d like it, based on what I had read on forums. What is nice, though, is that there’s a little something for everyone at the Grand Canyon!
Jacob Lake Inn Cookies!
After we left the Grand Canyon, we stopped at the Jacob Lake Inn for some of their famous cookies. Three cookies cost me $6, but they were so worth the price for a taste of fresh homemade goodness after being on the road for so many days. While we enjoyed our cookies, I had one last look at the map to decide which way we should go. If you remember, my last post ended on a cliffhanger where we were debating between Monument Valley and Moab or Bryce Canyon. I still hadn’t decided until we stopped for cookies.
Bryce Canyon National Park
We chose Bryce Canyon. I really wanted to see if they had a new shirt to replace the one the washing machine ate the year before. They didn’t. We also wanted to camp in one of their campgrounds. Both of them were full. We struck out on both of what we came back this way for, but I was rewarded with these images from Sunset Point instead. Ahhh….Bryce Canyon…still one of our favorites!
We got so lucky to see the hoodoos in this light and that sky. When we visited the year before, we were there on a clear, bluebird day, so despite the amazing contrast between blue skies and red sandstone, there were a lot of harsh shadows on the hoodoos. This dappled light was so soft with the puffy clouds all over the sky. The best part was being able to see so far off into the distance. The clouds and sky blend into the scenery.
Bryce Canyon is such a magical place, but now we were in need of a campsite since both of their campgrounds were full. I don’t know why I didn’t try for one at Ruby’s Inn, but theirs are super expensive for tent sites. The ranger suggested a few places to try, one of which was near the park but down eight miles of gravel road. We could’ve made it down the road, but at what speed, I did not know. If it took us an hour to get there and find out it was now full, it would be a long way back out, making the search for a campsite that much more difficult.
We decided to drive to Tropic to get a pizza from The Pizza Place. While we had a cell phone signal, Joey did some hunting around on my camping apps to see if there were any campgrounds nearby. He found one outside of Panguitch, called White Bridge Campground. It was a 45 minute drive from Tropic, but I figured it was far enough away from Bryce Canyon that we might be lucky enough to find a campsite there on a Thursday night. We enjoyed our pizza on the way there.
White Bridge Campground
We found the campground and drove through the loop. One end of the campground had a group that looked like they were having a party, so we decided to camp as far away from them as possible. We chose site four, a pretty little spot with a babbling stream behind it. It didn’t have a tent pad, and we’re not fond of camping on lumpy grass, so we set up the tent on the driveway. We could anchor it on three corners with it sitting kitty-corner. The third corner was held down with a guy-line stretched out to the grass. Tent camping on pavement is surprisingly not as bad as it might look! At least it’s flat and not lumpy!
We arrived at the perfect time, with just enough daylight to set up the tent and take a picture before it was dark outside. This was our view from across the road. What a lovely campground! Our neighbors down at the other end of the campground must have had big plans for the next day because they were all inside their campers and tents when we went for a walk a little later to the pit toilet in the middle of the campground. Yay for considerate campers!
I’m not sure where we would’ve ended up if we had headed toward Monument Valley that day, but this was a good choice. We enjoyed a peaceful rest of our evening, hanging out in the tent, while I studied the map again. As it turns out, we were only twenty miles from a national monument!
Join us next time to find out which national monument we visit next, as we make our way back home choose-our-own-adventure style.