To Elk and back - Grand Canyon's South Rim in November

Here you go, Nickie. Now get over to Valle, Arizona and enjoy it.

I wanted to stay longer at the gas station/trading post/casino and enjoy Nickie's parking space, but I kept moving. 

Almost as good as stealing a parking space.

A friend told me this is A Duck. NOW I see it!

A fat, happy duck. What a lucky duck! I wonder if she gets tired of the show.

The Watchtower. 

A Mary Colter building at Desert View. This is near the eastern edge of the park, near the border of the Navajo nation.

Navajo Nation

Having your picture taken under the bell is reported to bring good luck. I don't need no stinkin' luck! But, I don't turn it down, either.

I've been thinking of a name for the New Mexico cabin. Like Cold Comfort Farm, or Tara. I wonder if Ms. Colter would object to me borrowing this name. It feels right. I could go ahead and do it, and if she minds she'll let me know.

I wasn't crazy about the idea of driving back down 64/180 in the dark, but it was that or sleeping on 64/180 with the elk. I saw two carcasses in broad daylight that reminded me to stay alert. They had been killed by elk. [SOUTH RIM-SHOT!]

Mather Point

There's a thing that should have a name. You're nervously driving at night on a lonely, two-lane, elk-strewn highway. The speed limit is 65 mph, but no way in Elk you're going to do 65.

You get behind someone else who is not going to do 65, and he has his brights on, managing the occasional oncoming car and large ungulate. It feels comfy. Reassuring. He's doing the heavy-lifting of holding up impatient elk-proof traffic, and you just draft behind him. Someone comes up behind you, you shrug. I'd go WAY faster than this, but that guy! Everyone gives you a pass when they pass.

That was the guy behind me for the last 50 miles. Hat tip, Dude, for at least keeping your brights off. It was fun getting to know you. I was happy to realize that when I made Elk Impact, there would be another human who knew about it. And an elk. I think we bonded a little.

Camp for free at the North Rim, Grand Canyon.

View Boondocking North Rim 2 in a larger map
Our time has come. To leave the North Rim, I mean. This place is crazy-special, and I hope you'll make a way to visit.

We'd stay longer and like it, but we're running out of groceries and we haven't juiced in a week. Every day's question is what kind of beans today? Annie told me this morning that some beans are more discomfort-inducing than others, but that may be something for you to Google. Teaser: pinto beans are your tiny friends.

We have an appointment for some Duck work in Utah on Thursday. Please send low-$$$ vibes. Or, send $$$.

The meadow we're camped in has been great. We're outstanding in our field every day. It's an excellent site for solar power, and I'll give you the location later. For sheer density of cool places to pull in, I'd choose 611, but 22 is a main-ish road, and you'll find plenty all along it, too. The sites I list are all on good roads, places we'd be willing to take the Duck.

Best Grand Canyon experience ever! North Rim

Gaelyn set aside a precious day off to go on a ranger's holiday: she took us to Crazy Jug Point!
Crazy Jug is ON the Grand Canyon's North Rim, but it belongs to the National Forest Service rather than the National Park. Take a step over the edge, and you just scored a free admission into the park, which begins where the rock ledge ends.



I didn't think it was possible to be more awed by the Grand Canyon than I already was, but Gaelyn proved me wrong. Quiet so solid I could feel it in my chest. All the North Rim points seem to offer panoramic (from the Latin "canyon all around you") views, but Crazy Jug Point also usually offers complete seclusion (offer does not apply on holiday weekends).



There's a reason tourists don't flock here, and Gaelyn's giant diesel crew cab is a BIG clue. This is a definite "yes" for boondocking, but don't try it with a big rig. High-clearance and low-profile is what you need to get here. And a Kaibab National Forest map, because I'll never be able to give you directions. Marianne's Shunpiker's Guide to Boondocking in Arizona is our friend, too, because she camped here and lived to tell you how to do it, too.

This would work.

In the distance, you can see other view points (right to left: Timp, North Timp, other points I can't remember).  At the South Rim you can walk out to points, but the North Rim points demand a greater devotion, and a car.

We behaved unlike tourists and spent hours oohing over the vista. There was nowhere else in the world to be. We had brought a lunch, and Gaelyn sensibly carries blankets in her truck.







The point to the middle-right is Havasupai land on the South Rim.

Here's some cows. You'll see their corral, and maybe their snouts, on your way to Crazy Jug.

Thank you, Gaelyn! We keep saying "that was a great day!" to each other, so we say it to you, too.

More tales from the North Rim, Grand Canyon

I don't really have tales. I have pictures. I'll make up stories for you as I go.

Sorry, hawk. I just can't stop laughing at you. That pose is ridiculous. You look just like a AAAACCKKK MY EYES!!!

Back at the General Store for wifi. The crowd got unruly and suspicious when I began uploading photos, and I didn't appreciate the latte to the head. I'll save them for another time when they won't be so appropriate. 

I think I may have mentioned? There are laundry facilities and showers here in the park. You can eat a meal at the Lodge while sitting on, and I mean ON the rim. We haven't tried that, although we've eaten food on the rim, so is there a difference? Only in the financial sense.

The altitude sickness seems gone. Thanks for the suggestions and timeline - they all helped. Boy, am I hydrated!

Things to do while boondocking in a National Forest. And RSS feeds. And our cameras.

 You've been very gracious and flattering about my photos. My camera is an unassuming Pentax Optio RX18. I have no knowledge about real photography, and so I'm glad to have a camera that knows stuff for me.

Reading Cherry's tutorial on template tweaking, I realized that my feed settings need to be on "full" to enable threaded replies. We'll see how that worked.

Which raised another question: how do you like to get your feeds?

I switched my setting to "short" a while back, for a couple of reasons. But, Camille makes a great point about full feeds. Reading blogs at work! How could I have become so quickly out-of-touch with work life?!? Not everyone has the luxury of filling their computer histories with RV travel blogs. Although, it looks better than ShirkingForDummies.biz. And other possibilities, not that I've ever been to those sites.

If you get this blog by feed (email or reader), please come over and state your preference. Do you just like to be reminded by email or reader, or do you read the whole thing there? Or, do you read the whole thing? [eyebrow raised] Bloggers, how do you feed, and why?


When we go to a new place, I like to explore by volunteering for Find-a-Grave. I just change the zip code in my settings. The Pioneer Cemetery inside the Park reminded me.

We geocache. It's fun to see what might be hidden within walking distance of our campsite. Often, lately, I don't use a GPS; I study the landscape by Google Maps and then use my geosense.

I'm especially fond of benchmarks, of which the South Rim has several.

Several days ago I messed up my jaw in a situation involving an avocado pit (don't ask - I'd tell you, and then we'd both be embarrassed). Can you suggest some self-help?

Grand Canyon photos and philosophy

The best way to deal with shuttle bus crowds is to remember these other saps are on vacation. You can indulge their impatience.

There are three ways to get to Hermit's Rest, and the stops in-between: 

• your feet
• your bike
• a shuttle bus

There are no private cars allowed on the Rim Road, unless you have a permit. Buses get very full, and are usually SRO. When a storm hits the rim, people want to get on the bus. It's logical. Dispatch scrambles and redirects and suspends traffic heading out to the end. There is no shelter until you get all the way to Hermit's Rest, so the emphasis is on getting people off the high and exposed rim trail.

 

We intended to do a short stretch of trail we haven't covered yet. It's only 1.7 miles, but it turned so hot today we bailed and did a teeny weeny trail. 

This will be a hard place to leave. The tourists, those poor saps, they won't be so hard to leave. Really, everyone is well-mannered. They're well-mannered in more languages than I've ever heard in one place. Including Cornell. 

If they saw it from this postion first, would they still go out there?

I doubt it.

"Man" on left is spoofing a dive. I'm so amused I vomit.

I'm not feeling like myself today. I blame Facebook. What a weird dinner party it would be if Facebook were in real time. And, we all say things Face-to-Book that we wouldn't ever bring up face-to-face. I'm thinking of a FB holiday. You're all invited.

I woke up thinking about irony. When we were both employed full-time, we could never afford to spend two weeks at the South Rim, and then sashay up to the North Rim. Or spend a month in Sedona. Or three months in Flagstaff.

I'm reading Red: passion and patience in the desert, by Terry Tempest Williams. Her partner asks her "What if we are living half-lives? What if there's more?" They decide they want more. They want less. It finally occurs to me how literally that can happen.

Holy Dove! Chapel, Flagstaff

Annie and I decided to do a mini-reboot, which requires more organic produce than is available at the General Store in Grand Canyon Village (none). So, we toddled back to Flagstaff, that toddling town. We also stocked up on the most crucial personal hygiene product: clumping litter. Even got some for the cats.

I am naturally clumpy.

Up 180, just out of Flagstaff, is a little building called Chapel of the Holy Dove.

Cute, no? And, how 'bout that church!

Check out the gap under the door. When we arrived, Bibles and literature were scattered around like a bad day at the Kingdom Hall. Annie started picking them up, which made me feel guilty, so I helped.

What's one more sermon from Annie?

All over the walls are inscribed sacred graffiti, like PRAY FOR UNCLE JIMMY. I guess that makes them prayer walls. I wish they were updated more often. For example: THANKS EVERYONE. UNCLE JIMMY RECOVERED! so we could stop getting filtered to God's spam folder.

Can't you feel the snark? Place Prayer Requests HERE, not the walls, you Philistines.

It was the Holy Dove's day off. Meet Sacred Raven.

Department of What Passes for Excitement: we had neighbors last night, for real. These people asked if we minded, told us they would only stay for one night, and wouldn't make noise. Plus, they were European, so we felt like ambassadors. See how friendly we can be, when provoked? I didn't even consider using my ocarina, which is classified by the ATF as an assault weapon.

I'm getting itchy to see the North Rim. What say you?