Today we're at Grand Canyon National Park on the North Rim.
We'll take you on two spectacular hikes and along the scenic drives to see some amazing sights.
We've been to the South Rim in the past, so we'll see how the North Rim compares.
So I remember one of the really striking things about the last time we visited on the South Rim,
was how you just drive through the forest for what seems like forever. You just go and go
and go and there's just lots of really nice forest. And it's pretty much the same thing
here. So I'm really just waiting until the view breaks out. I know it's about to happen.
I think it says we've got still nine miles to go to the visitor center up here, but at some point
in the next nine miles I know the view is just gonna break out and be spectacular. It's kind
of funny because it's like a little bit of uh anticipation of just driving through the forest
and you know it's coming. All right we are parked at the visitor center up here at the North Rim.
What hike are we doing? We are about to do the Bright Angel Point Trail. We drove in.
Here we are parked by the visitor center and the lodge.
And we are gonna take this little trail past all of that out to Bright Angel Point.
And it's only about half a mile round trip. Yeah. So it's really easy. It starts over
by the visitor center and the lodge, but where we're parked in the parking lot there's actually
a trail that starts and we can just get right on the trail here and keep going.
Ready? Come on everybody. Let's go. This way.
And we're just now leaving the parking lot and there are already great views.
Let's go to Bright Angel Point and check it out from there.
We've all just been sitting here for probably 10 minutes having a snack
and water and stuff and just looking at this view, and it's incredible.
Say it again. It just keeps getting even better. That's the truth. Oh look at this.
This is why there's a wall. It's steep.
So here we are at Bright Angel Point. We made it all the way here. It's really not very far,
only about half a mile. But from here you can look all the way across to the South Rim. That's maybe
22 miles away. You can't really make out a whole lot with just the naked eye, but you can kind of
see some of the trails snaking across the canyon. But it's neat to think there are a bunch of people
on the other rim. We've been over there before. A huge Grand Canyon between us. The North Rim is
actually higher so we are looking down on the South Rim. pretty neat. Let's go do our next
hike. So now that we're recharged a little bit we are going to do the scenic drive and head all
the way down to Cape Royal and do the Cape Royal Trail which is about as long as what we just did.
But at the end of this next hike there is an arch called Angel's Window that you can
supposedly see the Colorado River through. So that'll be super cool. Let's go do it.
This one's called Roosevelt Point. You have to hike down just a little bit to get the views
from the parking area, but it's it's just as good if not better than the last one.
You guys doing your Junior Ranger books? Yeah. Can I have my badge?
Yeah. You can have your badge.
Sometimes in places like this it's kind of hard to find words for it.
But, I think a good comparison of North Rim to South Rim of Grand Canyon now would be,
if you can only see one, if you only have time to see one, I would say go see the South Rim. And it
is just, it is just the kind of place where you drive up and it just blows your mind. The view
there is so big and so magnificent it's almost hard to wrap your mind around the size of it.
I think coming to the North Rim kind of gives you a little bit more of a complete perspective on how
big this canyon really is, especially if you come in from the Page area. Because then you have Lake
Powell, and then you go down through Lee's Ferry and you have Marble Canyon where it starts to
get deep and that's technically the beginning of Grand Canyon. And it just gets bigger and
bigger. And then from up here, because the North Rim is so much higher, you just get this amazing
view from a thousand feet higher here on the North Rim where you can just see the entire thing, the,
this huge expanse. I would say it just gives you a better perspective of how big this canyon
really is. Either way, I think our next Grand Canyon adventure is gonna have to be some
kind of hike down into it when little legs are a little bit bigger. But this has been spectacular.
Now we are continuing on.
So, we just saw Angel's Window from the side driving up. So now we are at the trailhead,
and we are walking out there. So that's gonna be us in a few minutes. And then
we're gonna continue on to Cape Royal. So apparently this is an easy hike,
but they say it has the most sweeping grandiose views of the canyon.
Here's the split to the left where we go to Angel's Window.
It shows Glen Canyon Dam is upriver, which we showed you guys in Page with the five best things,
we think, to do in the area. And so then the river continues down, except now it's this
greenish blue water that is way different than what it used to be. So they, there used to be so
much sediment in it that it was basically called the river colored red. Interesting. Not anymore.
Look at that. Wow.
Now that is quite the dropoff.
So this is the top of the Angel's Window. Right now we are the only ones standing here.
Which is pretty incredible considering how many people we've seen up here so far. The view is
incredible. I just can't say that enough. It's amazing. There are more people coming now, but
this, this has been great being up here and also having it to ourselves for just a few minutes.
It's almost deceptive how high up you are from here. We think we're like five maybe six
thousand feet above the the river off in the distance out there. It's just wow.
We'll make it there one way or another.
This is obviously amazing. Yeah. We're gonna head out and go to the end of Point Imperial
Scenic Drive as our last stop for the night. So this is not something you see in a national
park very often. Check this out. Absolutely empty parking lot, except for us of course.
Just the way we like it. We are at Point Imperial. Elevation 8,803 feet.
This is the highest point on the North Rim. So we couldn't not see it.
This has been an amazing day. I mean we've both been so impressed by it. How could you
not be? But we weren't sure how the North Rim was going to compare to the South Rim.
I mean what can you say? It's amazing! Yeah. Go to North Rim. Go to South Rim. You're gonna be
blown away either way. This has been amazing. I can think of a lot worse places to spend an
entire day. So, we're gonna leave you here and we will see you next time. Thanks for watching.
Bye. Bye. So we are parked at the visitor center for the...
Where are we? I don't know.
We're at the Grand Canyon. Vista Encantada. Oh. But they say that it has the...
What do they say? The most sweeping grandiose views. Will Nathan make it awake? We don't know.
I think either way he'll probably fall asleep on the way home.
Kind of a, ooh rabbit! Woo squirrel woo! Try again.