2005-07-02 Dam Tour 2005-07-03 Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon 2005-07-04 Red Canyon and Grand Canyon 2005-07-05 North Kaibab Trail 2005-07-06 Virgin River Narrows 2005-07-07 Zion Canyon and Gooseberry Mesa 2005-07-08 Water Canyon 2005-07-09 Red Rock Canyon

Day 3 (Monday, 7/4/2005)

Our Independence Day began early.  Most of the rest of the group was up before the dawn to catch the sunrise from Sunrise Point (this time not a misnomer.)  I, on the other hand, slept late (until 7 AM) but was up in time to take a quick stroll to Sunset Point and catch some of the morning light before breakfast.  Breakfast was hearty, for today we would be burning a lot of calories mountain biking through Red Canyon.  After the requisite schlepping of luggage, etc., we drove just outside the national park to the mouth of Red Canyon, which runs roughly west-east along Route 12.  We mounted our trusty steeds and took off along the five miles of paved bicycle path that parallel Route 12 through the canyon.

Red Canyon has primarily been carved out of an older, darker sandstone layer near the base of the Pink Cliffs.  So while the formations don't generally measure up to Bryce, they definitely have their own unique beauty ... particularly as seen from a bike barreling down the trail at 15 MPH.  We reached the end of the 5-mile bike path where Chuck was waiting with the van, but this was merely a checkpoint (or a "Chuckpoint", if you will.)  We continued on the highway for another mile or so before turning off onto an unpaved forest service road, where we paid the toll for our last five miles of paved downhill with a two-mile gravelly uphill.  This took us to the trailhead for Casto Canyon, a narrow canyon which roughly parallels Red Canyon to the north and which features an intricate trail system popular among mountain bikers and ATV riders.  The Casto Canyon Trail felt mostly flat on the way up but had some interesting little sandy knolls to climb as well as a bunch of rocky creek crossings, and there was even some water to splash through (unusual for July.)  About 4 miles in on the main trail, Chuck and I turned off onto a more difficult single-track and ground our way up it for a mile or so, but recent floods had severely washed it out and left lots of deep sand.  That combined with the fact that I had already biked 12 miles, was out of shape, and still had 4 more miles to go, led to my decision to turn around.  As soon as I turned around, it became apparent that we had in fact been gently climbing up the canyon our whole way in, and the 4-mile ride back to the van was a breeze (literally.)  Upon reaching the van, we chilled out under a shade tree and tried to bring our skin temperature back into the double digits while the guides prepared lunch.  I don't remember what we ate, but I do remember thinking that even fresh desert rat garnished with ponderosa needles would have tasted good after that ride.

The bikes were loaded, and our sweaty but satiated bodies were soon back in the van again for a three-hour haul down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, broken only by a fuel stop near Mount Carmel and a dessert stop in Jacob Lake (home of the best milkshakes on the entire Kaibab Plateau.)  45 minutes farther down the road, and after resisting numerous temptations to drive on the meadow, we arrived at the North Rim and the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the top of the first "step" in the Grand Staircase, sits at about 8000 feet ASL and is generally 1000-1500 feet higher than the South Rim (depending on where you stand.)  The first thing one might notice is that the North Rim is at about the same elevation as the rim of Bryce Canyon.  That's because each step in the Grand Staircase lies at an angle, and in particular the first step is severely warped, gradually rising nearly 2000 feet from the base of the Vermillion Cliffs at Kanab to Jacob Lake 40 miles away.  This uplift is called the "Kaibab Plateau", and it is responsible for the higher elevation of the North Rim vs. the South Rim, the latter of which sits on the lower Coconino Plateau.  The Native Americans recognized the unique geology of the region, evidenced by the fact that "kaibab" is a Paiute word meaning "mountain lying on its side."

The North Rim receives only 1/10 of the yearly visitors of the South Rim, owing mainly to its remoteness and its relative lack of facilities.  Unlike the South Rim, the North Rim does not have an IMAX theater or an airport or a village, nor does it have a tour-bus-friendly paved road leading to every overlook.  What it does have is a vast and lush pine/aspen forest which gives way abruptly to the highest and most spectacular vantage points in the canyon.  The Grand Canyon Lodge, originally built in 1928 as a destination resort by the Union Pacific Railroad and rebuilt in 1937 following a devastating fire, remains to this day the only major construction on the North Rim.  The lodge sits perched on Bright Angel Point, directly above the three-way confluence of Transept Canyon, Roaring Springs Canyon, and Bright Angel Canyon.  The dining room and bar area features an outdoor deck that you really wouldn't want to fall off of when you're drunk.  A series of short trails run along the rim beneath the lodge and out to the very tip of oblivion.

No sooner had we checked into the lodge than I found myself drawn from my cabin out onto Bright Angel Point, seeking out the canyon in the light of the "golden hour" like a mosquito to a bug zapper.  Tomorrow, we would be plumbing its depths, descending slowly along the entire length of Roaring Springs Canyon and ending up almost directly below the overlook where I now stood ... 3000 feet below.  But for now, it was time to head over to dinner and turn in early.  We needed to get an early start the next morning to avoid the heat.