Mileage: 68,734

Jacob Lake Campground Kaibab National Forest Marble Canyon, Arizona

Good morning!

We are headed further south. We are trying to outrun the cold. Norht Rim and most of the campgrounds all close here on October 15th.

The temperature is supposed to be 20 degrees here tonight. But first, we wanted to take one more look at the Grand Canyon North Rim.

We stopped at this overlook to view the Vermillion Cliffs and the Staircase.

This is the best explanation I have see for the staircase…so I am posting it.

We camped in the Jacob Lake Campground in the Kaibab National Forest. We had wanted to stay in a full hookup campground tonight because of the cold…but the lady wouldn’t let us check in for another 3 hours…and we had places to go! So, we will just bundle up and run the generator!

Our ride to the Grand Canyon was through forest. The crayola color of the aspen trees was so pretty. Yellow-orange, yellow-green, orange-red…

There is evidence almost everywhere of fire at one time or another. Here you can just see the small aspens showing their colors.

Some trees had already lost all of their leaves.

We started at the North Rim Visitor Center. From here we hiked the Bright Angel Trail.

The hike was amazing and the views were spectacular.

The ranger at the Visitor Center recommended a 4WD Trail – Sublime Point Trail. 18 miles of unimproved dirt and gravel road the leads to the North Rim.

Dust and aspen leaves blowing in the wind!

We passed lots of rolling meadow where bison supposedly and evidently roam…but not today!

Aspen gold coins.

Our first view of the canyon from the trail. This was a campsite…what a gorgeous place to pitch a tent…when it is warmer of course!

Earlier this morning we thought we had smelled smoke. The ranger at the Visitor Center told us that there was a contained wildfire in the park. Some of the forest roads were closed as a result.

On our way to the point.

Sublime Point was…sublime!!! What a unique gift to be able to see this beautiful place.

Tim climbed on top of the Jeep to get a better vantage point. He said that he felt even with the rim and could see so much more.

We could see the billowing smoke from the fire.

We were driving so close to the rim.

The long 18 miles back to the paved road.

We saw a group of 4 people take the Sublime Trail on mountain bikes. The sand was so thick in spots and the trail so rough, that they sent one guy back to get the car. The other three kept riding and made it all the way to the point. They were looking forward to a ride back though!

We met two young men who did the trail on their motorcycles…it was really rough and dangerous for them but they were able to travel much more quickly than we could.

We did not do the 23 mile scenic loop that everyone else does but we really feel like we got to see the North Rim area. We also will not visit the South Rim on this trip. Although it is only about 8 miles as the crow flies to get across the Grand canyon, it is 203 miles from the North Rim entrance to the South Rim entrance!

I liked this quote today: