To the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Morning came without any further fire alarms, and it was again a beautiful clear sunny daybreak in Kayenta. Today we are planning to get on the road to the Grand Canyon! And we're not sure about our level of connectivity while camping there so we get caught up on our blogging over breakfast. Sue and Fletcher are very tolerant regarding the time we spend creating our daily blogs, and they have ribbed us a bit as we collaborate on our selection of photos and word choice. Our friends' home is quite a nice place to spend the early morning working on the iPads...here's a view out their living room window...pretty nice!

Tonight we will be in the path of the annular eclipse (also known as the Ring of Fire eclipse. Both Kayenta and the Grand Canyon will have great views of this astronomical event, and Fletcher spent a little time getting his telescope out and set up to track the sun...once he got it aligned, you could look at the sun and see sun spots! Fletcher also gave us a black film frame to look through so we can watch the eclipse. Once we're packed up, we're off to the Grand Canyon, and Sue and Fletcher will catch up to us on Monday.

We retrace a bit of our drive from Friday when we drove from Bryce Canyon through Zion and into St. George. It didn't really get any prettier over the weekend...but Patty again leaned out the window to get some shots of the landscape...

Northern Arizona...'nuff said...

As we drove up the plateau that would take us to the rim of the Grand Canyon we came across a scenic viewpoint. You know the rule...we're stopping at every viewpoint on this trip...so here it is, the Vermillion Cliffs. As we continue on, we're taken by the amount of altitude we are gradually gaining...and we're not going up a mountain! 5,000 feet...6,000 feet...7,000 feet...

We're really lucky...the road from Jacobs Lake to the North Rim has been repaved, and it is a smooth, quiet ribbon of black stretching and winding across the beautiful Kaibab Plateau. This is the quietest the RV has been on this trip...nothing rattling or vibrating, it's actually kind of eerie...

As we continue to wind through the Kaibab Forest, we see remnants of a fire, can't be more than a few years old. The further we drive the more extensive we see that it is...countless acres of tall scorched poles, some still black, some bleached and weathered by the elements.

More of the Kaibab Plateau, it is really beautiful

We made it!! The North Rim of the Grand Canyon! It exciting to be here, neither of us have ever been here before! Elevation...8827...and the weather is perfect, sunny and 72 with a low of 41 tonight.

Once we're inside the park we get the necessities out of the way...we register for our campsite, we fill our water jugs, and we fill the water tank in the RoadTrek. With all of that done, we find our campsite...number 14. What a primo spot! Patty picked it out from the campsite map online months and months ago, and she has scored. The site is perched overlooking the transept canyon that runs into the Grand Canyon just about a mile from the campsite. We think the transept canyon looks pretty grand...! And doesn't the RoadTrek look just perfect here?

We're watching the clock a bit because we don't want to miss the eclipse...it is supposed to reach its peak at 6:35 PDT. Now here's where the math could be a little confusing...Kayenta is on MDT, and Arizona does not change to daylight savings time, so they are actually on MST which is now really PDT...you still with me?don't worry about the calculation, we figured it out and we headed out on the Transept Trail at about 5:30 so we could be around the Grand Canyon Lodge at the time of the eclipse. The trail runs right past our campsite so it is very convenient, and along the way we pass scores of people who have found clearings and viewpoints along the trail from which to view the eclipse. We get to the lodge and see quite a crowd of people hanging out on the patios and outlooks talking and waiting for the big event. We'll be back at the lodge for dinner on Tuesday, so we decide to head back down the Transept Trail to find our own sunny vantage point for the eclipse.

Just like clockwork, the eclipse hit its peak, the Ring of Fire, at 6:35 (that's MST remember) and it is impressive. We tried to put the black film Fletcher had provided us over the lens of the camera to take a photo of the eclipse but it really didn't work. We did get a photo of the funny shadows that the eclipse created... As luck would have it, Fletcher emailed us a picture of the eclipse from a telescope that was set up at Kayenta last night. It is an amazing photo of a rare occurrence. Thanks for the pic Fletcher...

On the hike back to beautiful campsite 14, we came across some ancient ruins. These are the remnants of a Pueblo Indian site that is more than 1,000 years old...and it's just a few minutes from our campsite! (Sorry for the sideways picture, this photo refuses to rotate!)

Another viewpoints on our short hike and then we are back for a campfire and s'mores...Hopefully we'll get another clear sky tonight so we can take in all of the stars...

We like having campfires in the evening, and making s'mores. Now here comes a shameless product plug...

The Rolla Roaster -- as seen on the Oprah Show-- the Original Telescoping Roasting Fork! It telescopes from 12 inches to 42 inches...yes 42 inches! The beautifully crafted wood handle never overheats. The fork is perfect for hot dogs, marshmallows, s'mores, toasted buns and more! Be sure to include a set in you camping supplies! A big shout-out to Donna and Craig for giving these to us...changed our lives!

Tomorrow we hope to be up and out at a decent hour and hike a portion of the North Kaibab Trail.