This is the last of this year's installment of "Big-Rig Boondocking on the North Rim." Enjoy, but maybe wait until next year.
Showing posts with label Grand Canyon North Rim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grand Canyon North Rim. Show all posts
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Big-rig dispersed camping (boondocking) at the North Rim, Grand Canyon
This is the last of this year's installment of "Big-Rig Boondocking on the North Rim." Enjoy, but maybe wait until next year.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
More big-rig boondocking at the North Rim
View Boondocking North Rim 3 in a larger map
We're in Utah tonight, waiting for some repairs to happen tomorrow. Which means we get to explore Kenab tomorrow, and the Internet tonight! We did get a little antsy amid all the grandeur of the North Rim, wanting to see what was happening on Facebook. Yes, it's very high; I'm losing track of Twitter.
If you were tracking our dwindling groceries, let me assure you we won't have to eat beans tomorrow. We may choose to eat beans.
I will keep posting dispersed camping sites until my supply is exhausted. If you happen to know of any good boondocking around Kenab that isn't in a service station parking lot, I'd be grateful. Not grateful that you know - grateful that you're about to share.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Camp for free at the North Rim, Grand Canyon.
View Boondocking North Rim 2 in a larger map
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.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Hiking Transept Canyon Trail, North Rim Grand Canyon
We were proud of ourselves for walking three miles without summoning National Park EMS. Even more unusual? We did it before noon.
Go to the General Store at Visitor Services. Park there, then walk through the campground to reach the trailhead.
...and this was how I saw her last.
A ruin. Still, some nice curtains, a few throw rugs...
This is how chuffed we were at halfway. Annie says this face is looking for a brain.
The Castle ARRRGGGGHHH.
Later that day, I was cold. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Boondock on the North Rim, Grand Canyon
Most RVers just aren't interested in dispersed camping, and that's okay. We're sitting down here by the campsite at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and it is full, full, full. Reservations are required well in advance of your trip. It is also dry camping everywhere. It's also not free.
If you're still not intrigued by the idea of cruising on in on your own schedule, choosing a quiet section of the Kaibab National Forest, and putting out a couple of lawn chairs, I've added a picture of the Canyon for you to enjoy while I have nothing interesting to say.
But, you protest, I want to be near the Grand Canyon while I camp! I can't do that if I'm camping for free in the quiet forest!
In fact, you can be ON the Rim, if that's your desire. Looking out your windows to the other side of the Grand Canyon. On a good gravel road, just a few easy miles from the main road. Just outside Grand Canyon National Park. But, I'll save that for another post.
For now, here are a few campsites we admire. I've added the main Park complex for perspective, in the south of the map.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Meet a Grand Canyon Ranger, North Rim edition
We were just hanging out, broadcasting our location to the world, hoping someone fun would find us. It worked!
Gaelyn, a National Park Service ranger, spent her break with us. She told us stuff about the Canyon, cleared up misconceptions (mine), and offered to show us amazing high-clearance sights that Prius drivers don't usually witness.
We had listened to a California condor program, and somehow I "heard" that all condors in the wild now came from one breeding pair. That has troubled me every since, because a genetic bottleneck like that is not a "fix." But, Gaelyn explained that a condor won't canoodle with a close relative, and that there was more than one pair involved in the comeback. Whew. Glad I heard that incompetently.
On hot days, condors cool down by uri-cating (peeing and pooping) on their legs. That's an August hiking tip from me to you. I think birds do that all in one activity, but remember: I have no Google.
Humans are still heavily involved with the condor population. The birds are radio-tagged, and blood is taken regularly to watch for lead poisoning caused by lead bullets in game hunting.
The bullet shatters into the guts (and into the meat eaten by hunters and their families), leaving teeny, tiny bits of lead in the gut pile. Condors are scavengers, and a gut pile is the dinner bell. They're very sensitive to lead. It hits their central nervous system and they can't fly, and forget to eat. Eagles are also sensitive to lead, but turkey vultures chew it into clever shapes to sell to tourists.
If you're a hunter, the solution for your kids and the condors is to use copper ammunition. In Arizona, compliance is voluntary, and when you get your license you also get a voucher for lead-free copper ammo, compliments of Cabela. There are still the die-hards. The "you'll get my lead when you pry it from my cold, developmentally-delayed hands" hunters. Is this a multi-generational Darwin award?
[This is more than you've learned from me in four years of blogging, and yet there's more.]
I said they're bison, but I lied (1992, Michael Bolton).
These guys are wild beefalo. Gaelyn says they're genetically closer to cows than to buffalo. The smart ones seek asylum in the Park, where they are protected from lead in their own gut piles.
We think it's rude to call someone by his food name, so what do you think: Cattlo? Buffacow? Mooalo? Buffattle? Buffa-Lite?
Inside the Park, there is a dining room in the Lodge, and a deli alongside it, if you'd like to eat out. There is a Post Office (North Rim, AZ 86052), and a gift shop. There's a general store in the campground (that's where you'll go to surf and buy V-8). There's gasoline nearby, either inside the park or just outside on 67. We found the outside station about 50¢ cheaper per gallon, but don't let me influence you.
If you know the South Rim, and you're thinking this might just be the northern version, I'm here to contradict you. This is another world. The pace is slow. The tourists have had to work to get here, and they're here for a while. There are no sardine-can shuttle buses. It's cool here, and clear, and bright. And quiet. Y'all come visit. Set a spell.
Unlike the South Rim, the North Rim has a season. It seems to run from May ides to November, but winter is already here on the plateau by then. Come early, or come with long underwear and chains (or whatever your own kink is - I've said too much).
While we were in the thick of monsoon down in Flagstaff, our solar panels were having trouble keeping our batteries topped off. We're in good shape now, but we've started turning off our inverter at night, and when we're gone. I think it's the single biggest drain, and we don't miss it when it's off. Still, Annie has her eye on a couple of full-sun meadows and a field.
What's the difference between a meadow and a field? Like obscenity, you'll know it when you see it.
Fellow boondocker Gail has just installed a Nature's Head composting toilet in her RV - hurray Gail! We hope you enjoy the freedom from dump stations and the less-frequent water trips.
Gaelyn, a National Park Service ranger, spent her break with us. She told us stuff about the Canyon, cleared up misconceptions (mine), and offered to show us amazing high-clearance sights that Prius drivers don't usually witness.
We had listened to a California condor program, and somehow I "heard" that all condors in the wild now came from one breeding pair. That has troubled me every since, because a genetic bottleneck like that is not a "fix." But, Gaelyn explained that a condor won't canoodle with a close relative, and that there was more than one pair involved in the comeback. Whew. Glad I heard that incompetently.
On hot days, condors cool down by uri-cating (peeing and pooping) on their legs. That's an August hiking tip from me to you. I think birds do that all in one activity, but remember: I have no Google.
Humans are still heavily involved with the condor population. The birds are radio-tagged, and blood is taken regularly to watch for lead poisoning caused by lead bullets in game hunting.
The bullet shatters into the guts (and into the meat eaten by hunters and their families), leaving teeny, tiny bits of lead in the gut pile. Condors are scavengers, and a gut pile is the dinner bell. They're very sensitive to lead. It hits their central nervous system and they can't fly, and forget to eat. Eagles are also sensitive to lead, but turkey vultures chew it into clever shapes to sell to tourists.
If you're a hunter, the solution for your kids and the condors is to use copper ammunition. In Arizona, compliance is voluntary, and when you get your license you also get a voucher for lead-free copper ammo, compliments of Cabela. There are still the die-hards. The "you'll get my lead when you pry it from my cold, developmentally-delayed hands" hunters. Is this a multi-generational Darwin award?
[This is more than you've learned from me in four years of blogging, and yet there's more.]
I said they're bison, but I lied (1992, Michael Bolton).
These guys are wild beefalo. Gaelyn says they're genetically closer to cows than to buffalo. The smart ones seek asylum in the Park, where they are protected from lead in their own gut piles.
We think it's rude to call someone by his food name, so what do you think: Cattlo? Buffacow? Mooalo? Buffattle? Buffa-Lite?
Inside the Park, there is a dining room in the Lodge, and a deli alongside it, if you'd like to eat out. There is a Post Office (North Rim, AZ 86052), and a gift shop. There's a general store in the campground (that's where you'll go to surf and buy V-8). There's gasoline nearby, either inside the park or just outside on 67. We found the outside station about 50¢ cheaper per gallon, but don't let me influence you.
 |
| What hump? |
Unlike the South Rim, the North Rim has a season. It seems to run from May ides to November, but winter is already here on the plateau by then. Come early, or come with long underwear and chains (or whatever your own kink is - I've said too much).
While we were in the thick of monsoon down in Flagstaff, our solar panels were having trouble keeping our batteries topped off. We're in good shape now, but we've started turning off our inverter at night, and when we're gone. I think it's the single biggest drain, and we don't miss it when it's off. Still, Annie has her eye on a couple of full-sun meadows and a field.
What's the difference between a meadow and a field? Like obscenity, you'll know it when you see it.
Fellow boondocker Gail has just installed a Nature's Head composting toilet in her RV - hurray Gail! We hope you enjoy the freedom from dump stations and the less-frequent water trips.
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