Our first trip to Point Sublime, GCNP North Rim

[Fergie]

I've lived in Arizona, mostly Flagstaff, for over 25 years, and aside from the trip from MT to here, have never been to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. As someone else said recently, "The South Rim is the Disneyland of the GCNP,".....let me tell you, the North Rim is by far, the best spot to visit at the Grand Canyon. Even the commercial aspect of the NR Village has a different feel to it, and the scenery is breathtaking.



Had I known this was just a few hours away, I'd have been here more often in the years past.



Now, for the actual trip portion, we left Flag at 0930 on Saturday, and got home around 1730 on Sunday. We weren't rushed, and the drive in took a bit longer as the comms were down for the Park Service, and the Rangers thought that a dozer was still stuck on Basin Road, so we took quite the detour going in, but took the regular road out after talking with a Glampr.



On your way north out of Flag, you get the chance to stop in a Lee's Ferry and check out the engineering marvel that is the Navajo Bridge. With some pretty serious hardware, the bridge is anchored into the native dolomite sandstone, which not the best for foundations.





And I guess even AZ is somewhat of a nanny state...




The kiddos found this guy just soaking up the last days of summer. While it was a balmy 80* here, it would drop in to the 40s at the rim.




We stopped in to Jacob Lake and grabbed some cookies. These cookies are fresh baked, delicious, and delicious. On to the GCNP North Rim!




The German Chocolate:

 

[Fergie]

The drive along SR 67 was nothing short of breathtaking. Sure, the road may not have been spectacular on any other day, but with the changing colors, the vivid blue skies, and the clouds rolling across, it was amazing.




And, the rig for the trip was my late Father's truck, with an ATC Ocelot on board. Nice driving, nice sleeping/cooking/changing.



Once we got in to the NP itself, we headed for the main lodge and some bathrooms for the kids. Nestled in the structure is an old PO that I hope is not shut down. I know that some people collect cool post marks and such, and this would be one of them.



And then, outside of the lodge were these stange devices....I'm not sure what they are, but they looked somewhat neglected and seldom used.



Inside the lodge, our two knuckleheads had to pose with some ***...



And then, our first views of the Grand Canyon from the North Rim.




And the lodge from below:


And that brief visit, we headed to the Backcountry office, and began the exciting part of the trip.

 

[Fergie]

Based on the advice of Mr. Huber, our end goal was to camp out at Point Sublime. We checked in at the backcountry office, and were told that the entire permitting system was down, the communications and net were also down, so everyone was kind of flying solo. The Ranger was extremely helpful, and gave us a permit to camp at Sublime, with the caveat that if the place was occupied to just find a safe spot to camp, and they would understand. He also informed us the Basin Road(NW-1) was blocked due to a stuck dozer. So, we would have to leave the canyon, take FR 22 to FR 270 to FR 223 to FR 268 to FR268B to Kanabownits(NW-4) to Point Sublime. :dunno...OK we said.

The route was a bit of a detour, think of completing 3 sides of a square, instead of just one...like that. It turned out to be an awesome drive, with more wonderful scenery, and would make us appreciate the direct route of NW01 on the way out.

A few miles worth of this is what great you on FR 270.



Wildlife abounds....the wife snagged a shot of this guy...can't tell if there are one or two points there.



Crossing back in to the GCNP on FR 268B.



We passed the sign below, and came to what I thought was Point Sublime. We got out, started checking things out, and the wife quickly made me realize that this was not Point Sublime. There was an old Dept. of the Interior building, and a broken pit toilet; we named the place Broken Crapper Lookout.



Our first, magical glimpse of the NR....seriously, it was that cool.



And as we got to the first spot we could stop and get out.



A few more miles and we were at Point Sublime. Turns out there was only one other group there...kind of a Glampr too. We parked, walked around, and ate, and walked around, and in general, just had fun. I tell ya, dirt, sticks, rocks, and the outdoors will keep my kids entertained for hours!

 

[Fergie]

We grabbed the camp spot on the east side of the road. It was kind of cool to have camp up and ready in a few minutes, with no tent involved. Thank goodness we had the ATC too as the wind whipped around the Point all night. We were snug and warm in the camped, and the kids slept soundly!




This was the view from the door of the camper...not 20' from the edge!




With camp set-up, we took a walk down to the actual point of Point Sublime. Along the way, we saw these critters, which my daughter immediately ID'd as "Monarch Butterflies!"




Don't let the looks fool you either....they are Fergusons to the core.




Once we got to the point, we went primate poop with the camera.







We got back to camp, ate some dogs and beans, and nice, hot shmoes. Use some TJs cinnamon graham crackers, Reeses peanut butter chocolate candy bars, and regular mallows....perfection!




And then I see a 4Runner go by with a unique camper behind it. I turn to the wife and say, "I bet I know who that is." Sure enough, the one and only:





We sat and watched the sun set as a family, and the moon come up. I wish I was better at night shots, as the moon was eerily bright, and full. We got up the next morning and went back to the Point for more pictures before we headed out. We talked with T4R and he informed us that no dozer was stuck on Basin Road, so we decided to take that road out. Again, we went primate poop with the camera, with no regard for composing a shot....just taking pics for posterity's sake.






And with that, we took off towards home.

 

[Fergie]

This is the "once in a life time sighting" portion of this thread. I've been all over northern AZ, CO, UT, NM, southern AZ and many place in between, and I have never seen one of these. I'm sure many people have, but not me, so this was something really cool.

We were only a few miles out of camp when I saw the head sticking up above the pine needles. Now mind you, I am wicked bad red/green colorblind. So bad that when I was trying for an airborne school slot, the LTC thought I would not know the color difference of the lights at the jump door. Thankfully, my 1st SGT had me pick out a red lense from the flashlight as "proof" I could tell the difference in colors, and off to Benning I went. So what does that mean? Well, being red/green color bling means that camo does not work on me. Animals that blend in to everyone else, stick out like neon signs to me...same with human created camo patterns too....they simply do not work with my eyes. Great for hunting, not so great for teaching your kids their colors.

This guy just appeared to me as we turned the corner, so I scrambled for the camera while putting the truck in park. My wife still had this "****** are you looking at out there?!?" look on here face. I popped off a few pics on the first lense to make sure I had some proof, and then switched lenses to something stronger.








After that excitement, we puttered along the Basin Road back to SR67, stopping along the way to grab some more photos of the canyon, some deer, and the glamour shot of the truck+camper. I could not get over how green it was in the woods, and how different the flora is on the north rim.







Once we hit the main road, it was back to Flagstaff with a few stops.

 

[Fergie]

On the way back home, we stopped at a Historical Marker on a whim....turned out to be a good decision.

Several years ago, in a building that I was about to raze, I found an old map of the Dominguez Escalante Expedition in 1776. You can read about it here: http://ilovehistory.utah.gov/time/stories/escalante.html

The map:





The Historical Marker:





Turns out that this was part of the Honeymoon Trail for LDS in the area. Dominguez & Escalante's work would help open the area up to new, and further exploration in later years. I've been wanting to trace this trail since I found the map, and the fact that this marker was about their Expedition was too cool.



The kids had one more chance to stretch and run around while we took some more pictures.







All in all, it was an amazing trip for us. It also shows that you do not need to plan some elaborate exploration of your back yard to have a good time. We were out for less than 48 hours, and I know that it will be a trip that the entire family remembers for a good while.

 

[1leglance]

Really cool write up and amazing how much you packed in a weekend jaunt.
Too funny that you ran into another Expo rig and it would be non-other than the super glamper himself

The kids look to be having a great time and building super memories.

 

[mkitchen]

Great writeup!

Mo and I put off going to the NR for too long. We bicycled up there from UT in the 80's but had not been back since. Went up this past July and loved it. Glad to see that you got the chance to get up there. We certainly won't wait that long for our next trip.
Mikey

 

[Quest4ADV]

Great report and pics. Looks like everyone had a great time.

We're going to hit up the NR next year after we leave the Expo. I'm jotting down places to see and camp. Thanks for adding to the list!

 

[xjaugie]

Trips like that make life worth living.

 

[roverrocks]

Excellent pictures and adventure. Great wildlife pictures. Thanks.

 

[jsigone]

great pics!!!! Need to make that one of my stops in the future

 

[Allof75]

Looks like a great trip! I've always wanted to make my way out there.

 

[STREGA]

I think the glamper must live out on Sublime Point :elkgrin:, when I went last year he was there as well. Sublime Point is amazing to say the least, I have been looking at it for the last 4 months from the South Rim and I actually had a permit to go in August but the day before I was to leave my wife fractured her ankle and with her in Colorado and not being 100% sure that I would have cell service on Sublime Point I chose to not go.

Compared to the North Rim the South Rim is a little like Disneyland but even still if you can't make it to the North side the South side is worth seeing IMHO. I have been here for a little over 4 months and have been exploring the park and finding things here that the average visitor never sees. The elk mating season is about over now (which was most exciting to watch) and now were heading into the peak raptor migration season. I was out on Yaki Point yesterday with the Hawk Watch(?) people that are counting the raptors fly by, they counted about 50 raptors in the hour or so that I was there, I had no idea that there were so many it was simply amazing to see. Between work and getting out in the park I have not been bored at all being here.

 

[Fergie]

I'm a bit jaded in the fact that I grew up in Flag, and a trip to the South Rim was almost a requirement of every school class I was in. After that, I spent two years working on various different projects up there for Xanterra as well as the NPS, from small housing remodels, to remodeling the El Tovar to a new theatre complex for the park. I got tired of the drive and the hassle of operating in the park, to the detriment of enjoying the views.

The North Rim on the other hand is something else entirely!

Thanks to everyone for the kind words too.

G