Grand Canyon Trip: North Rim, Point Sublime

[twogone]

[upzmtn]

Update from Fruita, CO:

This weekend was full of fun and great scenery. As we made our way out of Boulder for our travels further west, we decided to take the scenic route up Clear Creek Canyon out of Golden, CO.



We stopped in Frisco, CO for the day/night to visit with friends from KY that were also in Colorado. We met at the ten mile canyon trailhead and rode up to Copper Mtn and back. It was a beautiful ride even though it was along the interstate. While in Frisco, we saw a Silver SMB 4x4 with fixed top. We waved, was that anybody on here?



On Sunday morning, we headed west on I-70 to Fruita, CO. We left early enough that we had a fun day in Fruita at the North Desert Trail system mountain biking.

I-70 West



Fruita – 18 Road



Fruita – North Desert Trailhead





Fruita – Jack Rabbit at Campsite



Fruita – Sunset

[rionapo]

Switchgrass Trail is an oasis in the middle of Interstate craziness. Your wind turbine pics put mine too shame.

Don

[86Scotty]

Your sunset pic puts most to shame. Awesome.

[upzmtn]

Thank you for the compliments on my pictures! I am a professional photographer. Though, it is always nice to hear accolades about my photos.

We just completed week two of our trip. Here is an update with more photos!

We made it to the Grand Canyon – North Rim. This week we left Colorado, traveled through Utah, and arrived in Arizona. We have taken in a lot and built great memories along the way. Even though our destination for this trip is the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and we have made it here, we have enjoyed all of our travels, stops, and adventures on this trip.

Here are some highlights from this week:

We visited Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. Our daughter had not been there and we wanted her to take it all in. She got her Junior Ranger badge for Arches. She always has fun completing the requirements for each National Park Junior Ranger badge.

We went to Arches one evening to get some night photography and we also went during the day to see some of the rock formations.

Arches Night Sky



Delicate Arch



Balanced Rock



We drove up to Dead Horse Point State Park and camped there for one night. It is a Utah State Park and is up on the canyon rim above the Canyonlands National Park and the Colorado River. We loved the area and the park.

Dead Horse Point State Park



Utah High Desert



Once we left Moab, we headed to Page, Arizona. On the way, we passed through the Navajo Nation and got to see Monument Valley from the road.

Monument Valley



Page, Arizona was just a pass through for us with a night stay to break up the driving as we head toward the Grand Canyon. As we left Page, we wanted to stop and see Horseshoe Bend. It was beautiful, but it was swamped with tourists. We could not believe how many people were there. Lots of rental RVs.

Horseshoe Bend



Toward the end of this week, we wanted to be close to the North Rim approach. We scoped out Jacob Lake through some internet searches. We stayed at Jacob Lake Campground. It is a nice campground with the cleanest vault toilets my wife and I have ever seen. We really enjoyed the solitude of Jacob Lake after being around so many tourists. This type of camping and even being more remote than this is more to our liking.

Jacob Lake Campground



We only had an hour or so drive into the Grand Canyon National Park – North Rim on Friday. We enjoyed mountain biking some of the fire roads in Kaibab National Forest and stopping at their Visitor Center before we drove to the National Park. It was a nice relaxing day with a stop at Demotte Campground for lunch.

Demotte Campground - Aspens



North Rim – Bright Angel Point – First Evening

[swampdonkey]

What an awesome trip report to read and your photos are stunning. Horseshoe Bend brings back a lot of memories as we used to rent jet boats out of Lee's Ferry and run up river to fish. It's probably one of the most beautiful boats rides we've ever done. If anyone is in that area its worth taking a day to explore the river.

[upzmtn]

Thanks swampdonkey!

I will have another trip update for week three to post later this week. But, I wanted to let JoeH know we arrived in Flagstaff this evening. We will be here all day tomorrow (Thursday). Do you want to meet up and do mountain bike ride? Let me know. You can email me at j e n n i n g s at f u s e dot n e t

[86Scotty]

Looks like you're covering a lot of the same ground we did. Love the pics!

[blupaddler]

Wow!

Your photos and story do exactly what a trip report are supposed to do: Make me want to travel!

Thanks for sharing them with us.

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by upzmtn

Thanks swampdonkey!

I will have another trip update for week three to post later this week. But, I wanted to let JoeH know we arrived in Flagstaff this evening. We will be here all day tomorrow (Thursday). Do you want to meet up and do mountain bike ride? Let me know. You can email me at j e n n i n g s at f u s e dot n e t

Dang, I just got back from a ride. Sorry I didn't see this sooner. If you are still around tomorrow (Friday) I would be more than happy to pedal the push bike. I'll send you an email as well but I'm right behind the Museum of N. Arizona and across Fort Valley Rd from the trails.

Joe

edit to add: you are more than welcome to fill up your water tank and jugs and stuff if you need a convenient source. Flag water is pretty good.