25 April 2018
Fredonia, AZ
Wheel Inn RV Park
A short drive east from Utah, back to northern Arizona, the time change has been driving us nuts. Utah is Mountain Time, Arizona does not change for Daylight Savings, so it is Pacific Time. We just traveled east, and we gain an hour, now how is that possible? Now, at this new RV park, we are five miles south of Utah, so every time we go north we lose an hour.
We decided to get full hookups at a campground. When we checked into this RV Park at Fredonia, AZ , I asked the owner, Chris, who is a underground uranium miner, about getting into the Grand Canyon North Rim which is 75 miles away. He lit up, and said he and his family has never paid admission to see the Grand Canyon. So he told us his “secret” routes to visit the North Rim. Why you say? Because the Park is still closed until 15 May. So Chris drew a map using US Forest roads to get to about 5 different viewing points. So we get to see this on our terms, no tourists, no crowds, ……at the Grand Canyon… hardly.
The Grand Canyon is not exactly the most accessible tourist attraction. It’s in the middle of nowhere in northern Arizona, and only has a couple of main highways that lead to it. Even though the North and South rims are only about 17 miles apart as the raven flies, there’s just one 220-mile driving route available to take you between the two sides that will take you roughly 5 hours to traverse. We went to the South Rim in 1994 when we were stationed in LA, so at least for now, we don’t feel the need to see it from that vantage point. We want to see it from the north side, but it is closed remember?
So off we go with our hand written map. It was a slow drive on the wash board dirt roads through the forest. We were amazed and grateful, that all the “roads” and turns were well marked. There are about 6 points along the north rim (that are not in the National Park), five of them all “looking” west into the canyon, just 5-10 miles apart.
So we decided to go to Timp Point first. It is the farthest away from our location, and then we will back track to Crazy Jug Point, which looks east and west.
It was interesting seeing the terrain change as the elevation changed. We knew when we started seeing alot of Alpine trees we were getting there. It took over 3 hours to make the 50 mile trip. Twice, we were stopped by a tree laying across the trail, but we were able to get around them. Good thing, becasue our chain saw is back at the trailer.
We arrived at the trail head, nobody was there. We got out our hiking sticks and started heading towards the point. As we followed the trail, we were getting glimpses of the vast canyon through the trees. Wow, wow, wow, what a view…….
After we took in that view, we had a picnic overlooking the Canyon. Full and ready to see some more, we headed to Crazy Jug Point which took over an hour or so to go about 25 miles.
Again, when we reached the point it was breathtaking. The change of the positions of the sun in the sky highlighted the canyon walls differently. We brought our folding chairs, and relaxed while we were in awe of what we were seeing. Mother Nature at her finest!
On the way home, there was a ford p/u truck on the side of the trail going down the hill. We stopped and lent a hand changing his flat tire. My 20 ton bottle jack would not fit under the Ford, (fits fine under our BFT), but our Dewalt impact wrench made removing and installing the lug nut a snap. We chatted for a while and we headed home.
What a great day, and an awesome way to see the Grand Canyon. Only 10% of the parks visitors go to the North Rim, and that is IN the Park. We visited outside the park, so we are “special”…….(no comments!)
