We started the day by realizing that we might need propane. We are headed to a campground at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon; there will be no electricity (or any other hook-ups) and it will be cold at night, so propane becomes pretty important. So rather than having a leisurely morning and leaving at the indicated time, we hitched up and headed to the town of Kanab…
According to Yelp, there are 3 places in town that offer propane. The first one we came to had a giant sign that said, “We’ve Moved”. So we traveled on. The second place was closed. No signs or anything – just no one there… The third one looked good – large lot, lots of activity going on. We pulled in and I walked to the office to see what the procedure was. I was told, “Sorry – our RV propane guy is not here today…!” I asked where else I could go, and the nice lady told of a nearby gas station that has propane. So the fourth time was the charm and we topped off our tanks. (It turned out we were getting bad readings from our gauges and we really weren’t that low…)
So we headed south, across the Arizona Strip…
Our intermediate destination is Jacob Lake, a really tiny lake, campground, and lodge. It gave us a nice break and a chance to stretch our legs. When we arrived there were 5-6 Airstreams already here. By the time we left, there were 20…
We decided to stay for lunch with another caravan couple…
After lunch we continued on south. The scenery changed along the way…
We are traveling to a much higher elevation – about 3,000 feet higher…
We soon were treated to the Aspens changing colors…
This meadow is called Grass Lake… there are many similar meadows. At one of them, there were several Bison in the distance… we just didn’t get any pictures of the bison…
As we approached the campground we found ourselves in the forest…
8,827 Feet!
It doesn’t take long to set up when there are no hook-ups…
We had been sitting all day, so we went looking for a hike (really a walk…). We have 8:00 pm reservations for dinner in the lodge tonight, so we have some time to kill, too…
We walked the Bridle Trail from the campground past the Lodge to Bright Angel Point. It was late afternoon and the sun was about to be setting, so it was lighting up the cliffs across the canyon…
Out on Bright Angel’s Point some people are braver than others…
The drop off into the canyon below is steep!
More brave (or crazy) people…
More steep canyons…
Lynda was brave enough to walk across this bridge to get to the far point…
She didn’t look down…
More sun-lit canyon walls…
More crazy people…
We returned to the Lodge…
And watched the sunset…
The Grand Lodge is a spectacular pile of stone and wood. It looks exactly like what you would expect for a National Park Lodge. The Front of the Lodge:
The Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood and was finished in 1928. Native stone and timber were used to make the lodge with much of the main lodge featuring Kaibab limestone that makes up the cliff at Bright Angel Point. The stonework makes it appear to grow right out of the cliff! Very “organic”! Frank would be proud!
They built 120 cabins surrounding the main lodge then later added 20 more in 1928. The lodge was initially owned by, financed, and run by the Utah Parks Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, who also did the same in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and at Cedar Breaks National Monument.
The lodge flourished after it was initially opened, but a devastating fire that began in the basement nearly destroyed all of the main lodge and two of the cabins. In spite of this setback, in 1936 the lodge began being rebuilt. While the original stonework was reused, the lodge was scaled back to ensure it could withstand the strong winter snow that comes to the North Rim. For this reason, the original second story and the third story observation tower were not rebuilt; however the main Dining Room and Recreation Rooms were reconstructed with higher roofs. It officially earned designation as a National Historic Landmark on May 28, 1987.
The Lodge is great fun and it has many places just to hang out. After our viewing of the sunset we headed to the Saloon for a drink while we waited for another caravan couple who would join us for dinner
We went to dinner in the Dining Room… Dinner in the grand dining room was much fun. Food was OK, as expected in a remote location like this, but the service was good (most servers (and other employees) live here in the National Park, in dormitories…).
Our friends gave us a ride back to the Villa (walking 1.5 miles on a dirt trail in the dark didn’t seem like a good idea…).
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 