April 27 – May 1, 2017
Winter semi-retirement is over and I’ve made the move to the North Rim of Grand Canyon for my 10th summer as a Park Ranger at Grand Canyon National Park.
A neighbor helped get the camper off the truck on Wednesday and he will be doing some work on it until I can pick it up in about a month. He also helped me load the 5th-wheel hitch along with the small freezer and the spare tire.
Couldn’t pull in until April 29th so my original plan was to leave Kirkland the 28th and drive to Flagstaff then on the next day to the North Rim. Yet there were concerns if the government shut down I couldn’t enter the park. I was packed and ready to roll but Friday the wind gusts were predicted up to 50 mph so I waited until Saturday with less wind.
Stayed overnight at my usual Flagstaff KOA but at $45/night with discount because of not using their sewer I won’t be staying there again. Too bad because it’s nice park with lots of big pines. In fact maybe too many pines as I almost clipped one with the 5th wheel. Went to dinner with a friend at the Taverna Greek Grill and had the best Greek food since living in the Chicago area many decades ago. Saganaki appetizer complete with flame and a big “Ompah” from other dinners, Souvlaki for main course (photo on link), and Baklava for desert. Of course more than I could eat so had leftovers for two more nights.
Sunday rolled into the North Rim about 1pm. I asked Dave our head of maintenance to spot me backing into my site and instead he did it for me. No complaint as I’m not good at backing the 36 foot monster. Getting level was another issue, side to side being not too bad but front to back was way off. I dropped the front jacks, raised it a bit to get off the truck, then couldn’t lower enough to get even close to level or raise enough to get re-hitched to the truck. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do. Good thing I carry around two one-ton bottle jacks and had help. Finally got it leveled, put out the slides, and unpacked enough to be comfortable for the night.
Monday back to work. A new schedule to get used to getting up in the morning. After work I put the booster up and was amazed with myself when the first throw of a small hunk of wood tied to rope went over the tree branch I aimed for. Wasn’t perfect and still needed a ladder the next day to bungee the booster to the tree. But when I plugged it in I had 4G and four bars. Happy camper. However the signal is still intermittent.
Worked on this post that night for a couple of hours then all open software started to act up giving me the “no response” message. So I shut it down for a re-boost and got the black screen of death. NOOOOOOO……. Thank goodness I have a laptop for backup. However the posts were not accessible along with all of April’s photos I hadn’t yet saved to external drives. I will take the PC to the Old Geezer in Kanab one of these weekends and see if it’s really dead.
Yet even with all the trials and tribulations, it feels really good to be back at the North Rim. Although I haven’t spent much time on the rim to take photos. Soon.
Welcome home!
Thanks Rebecca. See you next month.
Welcome home! Is the cell signal from the South Rim? Would make sense you’d need to have a booster high up a tree then.
Thanks Jeff. Tower on South Rim only and thus the booster.
Glad you are back safe and sound and back on line if intermittent. Take care Diane and Nigel.
Good to be back to the canyon, even if I haven’t seen much of it.
Good to see you are all settled. Nice that you had help getting in and level:) Hope all goes well with getting the computer repaired
So glad I had help along this move. Saved a lot of shoulder pain.
Hello, Gaelyn,
I wish you the very best with your tour on the North Rim. Nancy and I have been thinking of you as you were making preparations for going up there. It was a good move, I am sure, on your part to wait out the 50 mph winds. I just hope for the sake of everyone, including visitors who come thousands of miles to visit the Grand Canyon, that there is NO Government Shutdown. Once was enough.
Thanks George. We are starting out with warm weather and have a great team, minus Jake who went to Glacier Bay.
Looks as if you scored a really nice spot for the season! I am in awe of your ability to tow the 5th wheel. Forget backing up, I wouldn’t even drive forward with it! 🙂 I hope you enjoy a fabulous season at the Grand Canyon and the repeated tourist questions don’t get out of hand!
I do like being under the pines. Not hard to tow the 5th-wheel but a bear for me to back up. Number one question is easy, where’s the bathroom? 😉
The shuttle leaves the North Rim at 7:00 am and takes you to the South Rim by noon. If you were doing this in the fall, you could start hiking then with plenty of time to reach the bottom of the canyon. But in the heat of July, you best plan on hiking in the early morning.hours, so that would mean spending the night and getting an early start the next day.
Unless you can partner up with someone going the opposite direction, whom you trust with your car, the shuttle is probably your only option
I usually recommend people shuttle from the South Rim to the North Rim, camp for the night and take off in the morning.
Friends to help at the end of the trail are some of the best! Great that you have better internet this year, now hopefully you’ll have the PC working too!
A big bonus getting help meant my shoulders weren’t hurting. Computer will happen one of these days.
Is that your site on Norton Ct? I would have thought there would be more snow this year. Good to have help, that is for sure.
I’m one road south, a whole row of new sites, #9 Abbey Way. Very little snow anywhere. Help was a real bonus.
Oh my goodness…….. some trials and tribulations. At least you have a good signal when it’s there and had help on either end of the trip. $45 for an over night is plenty hefty and I’d sure sit out 50mph winds but losing your computer, real bummer. Glad you have the backup. Hope you like your schedule. I’m sure looking forward to my North Rim fix. Wish I had a fabulous ranger blog in all my favorite National Parks.
We’re in training now so I’ll be glad once we’re open and enjoying the canyon along with all the visitors. I’ll bet there’s a lot more Ranger’s blogging.
Dang $45 a night without hooked up to the sewer!! I’m quitting the gas business and opening up a KOA!! It seems like prices have always been high in Flagstaff and general area.
Glad you got settled and somebody backed the camper up for you. I had anxiety just reading about it.
My sister is retiring this week and will start work soon for a private contractor operating a campground in Yellowstone Park. That’ll be interesting.
A profitable pain the neck business. I could have stayed at Motel 6 for the same price and left the dirty linens behind. Would like to hear how your sister likes the new job.