North Rim of canyon keeps it low-key

Deborah Wall/Special to View Watching the sunrise can be one of the best ways to start any morning during a visit to Grand Canyon National Park's North Rim. Advertisement

If you have always wanted to visit Grand Canyon National Park's more remote North Rim, there is no better time than over the next couple of months. Lying on the Arizona Strip and thus accessed mainly via rural Utah, the North Rim has always drawn fewer visitors than the South Rim, which lies nearer large populations and has been more consciously developed for tourism.

Further geographical differences make the North Rim a different experience, and in summer, an especially pleasant one. With elevations ranging from about 8,000 to 8,800 feet, the North Rim is only about 10 degrees cooler than the opposite rim, but better for camping and hiking, with daytime highs averaging in the 70s and nighttime lows in the 40s. This side of the park also gets twice as much precipitation as falls on the South Rim, resulting in lush vegetation and superb summer wildflower displays. You will find open grassy meadows, small ponds, aspen groves and dense forests of ponderosa pine, white fir, Englemann and blue spruce.

The main draw of the park is spectacular canyon views, and the rim trails, such as the paved, 0.5 mile round-trip Bright Angel Point Trail, display them wonderfully. But they're so popular that they don't provide much solitude; after admiring those vistas, be sure to explore some of the excellent, lesser-known trails away from the rim.

After checking out the visitor center and Grand Canyon Lodge area, the hub of the North Rim, most visitors take the drive out to Point Royal along Cape Royal Road. There are plenty of signed overlook trails, such as the 0.6-mile round-trip Cape Royal Trail and the 0.2 mile round-trip Roosevelt Point Trail. Both are well worth your time, but to enhance your experience, this is an area to seek the differences of paths less traveled.

The unsigned Cliff Spring Trail is located on your left about 0.3 miles on your return from Point Royal. The trail is only one mile round-trip and makes its way along a highly vegetated, yet somewhat steep canyon. Your destination is an enormous, natural rock overhang, perhaps 75 yards long, complete with a small spring, seeps and hanging gardens. Along the way, you will pass a well-preserved prehistoric food storage granary, just one among thousands of ruins that have been documented to date in the park. Ancestral Puebloans are thought to have lived on the North Rim between the years of 1050 and 1150.

Another great hike along this road, especially for young children, is the short and easy trail that brings you down to Greenland Lake. Formed in a natural sinkhole, the lake is surrounded by grasses, evergreen trees and mature aspens. Once you reach the lake, look to the right and pick up the faint path that travels around to the other side, where you will find a small wooden cabin tucked in the woods.

Closer to the main area of the park, one-quarter of a mile south of Cape Royal Road, and about one mile off the main drag, you will find the Widforss Trail. The entire hike is 10 miles round-trip, but only has 650 feet cumulative elevation change. It's a pleasant, moderate outing that encompasses both forest and canyon scenery. In one ponderosa grove, you will even find a pine that has a 13-foot circumference, a rarity outside national parks, as most big trees were cut for lumber years ago. Other highlights include Crinoid fossils in the Kaibab limestone and wild turkeys, which are frequently sighted along the trail.

The best way to find these trailheads is by stopping at the North Rim Visitor Center and asking a ranger to point out the exact locations of the trails on your map.

For those who want to camp, yet crave solitude, I would recommend bypassing the expensive, congested and noisy North Rim campground. Instead, head out a few miles past the park's main entrance, explore the gravel roads in the Kaibab National Forest and find a spot that meets your needs. There are plenty of places for dispersed camping, and they are not only free of charge, but afford lots of privacy.

Deborah Wall is the author of "Great Hikes, A Cerca Country Guide," published by Stephens Press. She can be reached at Deborabus@aol.com.

An incorrect URL for Zion National Park was included in the Outdoors column "Workshops open eyes to natural wonders" in the June 16 View. The correct Web address is www.zionpark.org.