Camping On The North Rim

April 2, 2021 Camping On The North Rim

Desert Canyons RV Park Saint George, Utah Day 2 AND RTT in Whitmore Canyon

We were planning a two-night overland camping experience in the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument. This is an area accessible only by high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles. The entire monument is one million acres and has 6,000 miles of rough road. There are no services here…no gas, no water, no shelter, few bathrooms, no cell service. There are strict warnings on the National Park Service website. They advise all terrain tires with at least one spare, extra fuel, extra water, extra food. In some places in the park, visitors rarely go…you might not see another person for weeks. All of this being said…it is a wonderful, rare opportunity to be able to visit here. We knew it was important to respect the information and be well-prepared…or it could hurt us.

The beginning was a hardpacked gravel road in very good condition.

We began to see the mountains ahead and the landscape began to change. In fact, all day, as we climbed mountains and then descended into canyons and valleys, we drove through continuously changing habitat and environment.

We traveled up to Quail Hill Pass at 5,082 feet, through a juniper and pinyon tree forest.

We drove through almost 70 miles of wilderness. The hawks were soaring. The weather was perfect.

We traveled along Hurricane Cliffs. The area was dotted with free range cattle and a few small ranches nestled in the valley.

It is hard to wrap your head around the vastness, the scope and scale of the wide-open land. The extraoridnary beauty, the isolation, the wildness, without being in it.

There were some derelict, neglected buildings.

The road was extremely dusty. Though we saw few other vehicles, they definitely left us in plumes of dirt!

We passed the Trumbull Schoolhouse, built in the early 1900’s for the children of ranchers trying to dry farm in this place.

We passed through the Bar 10 Ranch. This is a dude ranch where you can sleep in a covered wagon and ride horses in the canyons.

Now, we were in the National Park. We drove on a rough winding road that follows a lava flow. The sharp black rocks are embedded in the earth. They are the result of a volcano, Mount Logan, that was active 3.6 million years ago. Additionally, lava fountains spewed hot lava and rocks into the melting snow, leaving behind jagged dramatic black rock formations. The overlapping flows were created 72,000 to 850,000 years ago. These lava flows were so extensive that they blocked the Grand Canyon. The river was blocked and the water backed up 90 miles. Below the level of the blockage, the river dried up and the fish and animals perished. At one time, it was possible to walk across the flow from one side to the other…then, the Colorado River broke the dam and moved it 75 miles to the end of the canyon.

This cinder cone is 87,000 years old.

At last, we arrived at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We set up our campsite right along the rim. We chocked the Jeep wheels! We were 900 feet above the Colorado River and 1,500 feet below the South Rim. We could hear the water rapids below.