Kaibab Camper Village, Fredonia, Arizona (Grand Canyon North Rim)
Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him. ~ Proverbs 24:17-18
Blaine has been doing research to see how close he can get us to Grand Canyon National Park, since COVID-19 still has the North Rim closed.
Today, we got real close.
We actually broke the law and walked within the Grand Canyon National Park’s boundary. It was no Sublime Point, but it was closer than we’ve been! And it just gets more awe-inspiring the closer you get!
Here’s how it happened.
We left home about 6:30am because it was an hour drive and we expected the lighting to be better early in the morning. Once it reaches its zenith, we’ve noticed that things – Grand Canyon views and other places out West – get sort of washed-out looking.
Once again, there were a ton of deer out feeding alongside the road, but only maybe two or three cars passed us along the way.
As usual, we listened to Sirius music. And now I’m gonna share a moment from my past. Melissa Manchester’s song, ‘Midnight Blue’ came on. Every time I hear that song, I’m reminded of a middle school project I did. The assignment, I’m not sure what it actually was, but a friend and I put together an interview with a shark. The movie ‘Jaws’ was pretty popular at the time. 😊 We used a cassette tape recorder (remember those??), and asked questions, and the shark answered with lines from songs. I’m sure it took forever, because there was no Google, itunes, youtube, etc. and we didn’t own a bunch of records. We had radio. So I imagine we listened to the radio and recorded what we wanted.
Anyway, the response to one of our questions in the interview (don’t remember what the question was), was from Melissa’s song – – – – ready???
Wouldn’t you give your hand to a friend? Maybe it’s not the end.
Pretty good, huh? Hahahaha!!! We received an A+ for our efforts. 😊
The first place we went, was the Fence Point viewing area. We enjoyed it so much the other day, we thought we’d check out the lighting today. It was about the same, but it was chilly and breezy in the early morning, so we left to try to get to Blaine’s researched spot.
He wasn’t able to get there.
There was a very deep chasm between us and that rock out there.
We travelled the appointed road, only to find . . . .
Unfortunately, it was a green tree, so it was too difficult to saw through.
We had to turn around. : (
Curses! Foiled again!!
But by scrolling over the gps, Blaine was able to locate another route. (There are tons of dirt roads around here!) Yay!! And we ended up parked at the Grand Canyon National Park boundary. And yes, there were signs.
And yes, there was fencing. But we only walked the fence for a few feet before discovering that most of it is lying on the ground. Guess they’re not too concerned about people getting in.
So in we went. We had no idea where we would end up, we just walked in the general direction of the Canyon, ended up back on the road (on the other side of the gate), and walked until it dead-ended. And there it was!
Persistence paid off! Still not Sublime Point, but this time, we really are as close as we’re gonna get. Majesty!
Guess no one towed it, and no one is waiting for us to return. : )
We found a most wonderful lunch spot today, alongside a portion of the Arizona Trail (Remember that? It’s Arizona’s answer to the Buckeye Trail in Ohio? Runs north and south through the middle Arizona?). Anyway, there were picnic tables here, but the best view was on a hillside. WOW!
Lunch at 8,875 feet with a view like that!
That’s Navajo Mountain in the distance and it’s 80 miles as the crow flies. Blaine had guessed 70-80. Pretty darn good guess! 😊
Once we’d eaten, we dragged ourselves away from the view and walked a small portion of the trail covering both sides of where we’d sat. We got in maybe five miles? But it wasn’t particularly scenic – just a walk in the woods. We’re spoiled now!
There was much more traffic on the dirt roads today than we’ve seen in a long time. Signs that the country is opening back up once again, so that’s a good thing!
Almost home.
Tomorrow we move closer to Zion National Park.