After leaving the Valley of Fire, it was nice to drive and go up in elevation (8,000 feet) to where the temperature was only in the 80's. We set up camp at the Jacob Lake Campground about 35 miles from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Since we still had daylight, we drove to the North Rim to experience sunset.
The North Rim has a different "look and feel" than the South Rim. The difference being that you can't see directly down into the Colorado River. Because the North Rim is at higher elevation, it gets more snow, and therefore more erosion from meltwater, which cuts more canyons. The South Rim, with less water, has a steeper dropoff and feel.
The slow sunset....
Onions going off trail near Bright Angel Point
And the last fading light. Highlight? A very mice man (I hate to say, looked completely like a MAGA guy, you know the look) had extra pizza and gave us each a slice. Dinner!
Along the drive into the North Rim, were these beautiful grass meadows and lots of deer and bison. What was fun about these bison were the recently born little ones and watching them fight over a chance to feed from their mothers.
With the "warm vibrant" filter on my phone. This is from Imperial Point, the highest point in Grand Canyon National Park.
Way in the distance the Vermillion Cliffs. Many of the maps and signs kept pointing them out, I wondered why.
Our first glance of the Colorado River!
Window Rock! And yes you can walk on top of it.
Here's the view looking directly down.
The view from the far end of Window Rock.
The next morning, we got up early and packed up to drive east....and here are the Vermillion Cliffs.
The cliffs do form an amazing geologic feature to reference in a flat, nearly featureless landscapes.
Horseshoe Bend. Alas, the morning sun casts a shadow on the bend itself!
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