My visit to the North Rim was a last minute decision as other plans (the Wave) did not work out, but I have no regrets. Unlike my trip to the West Rim, this was an absolute pleasure. The drive there is itself quaint and beautiful. From Kanab to Jacob Lake it is the arid rocky landscape which is then replaced by a dense forest all the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. What awaited for me here was a totally different atmosphere from that of the West Rim.
Much fewer people even though it was a weekend and no helicopters buzzing around.
I walked out to the tip of Bright Angel Point and found myself enveloped in quietness, only sounds the whispers of the wind and occasional bird chattering. Sitting there I could finally see the magnitude and wondrousness of the Grand Canyon. The sky got covered with heavy clouds and suddenly there was thunder and lightning, it was spectacular! By the time I got back to the parking lot, I was soaked, but who cared? I drove over to Port Imperial, and walked around in the rain, but it had gotten too foggy by this time to see much. The rain had cut my visit shorter, but it had made the landscape even more amazing. Until next time North Rim!
