June 7, 2017
When a friend who likes to get outdoors shows up at the canyon and I have a day off we decide to go hiking on the Cape Final trail. One of my many favorite trails on the North Rim, 4.2 miles round trip over relatively gentle terrain through one of the best examples of a Ponderosa pine forest and to amazing views at the rocky rim.
There’s been just enough fire in this area to make for a healthy forest, open, park-like, grassy, and covered with lupines. It’s not nasty or charcoaled. A Ponderosa pine forest should experience fire every 3-8 years to thin out the small saplings and burn off the down material.
Yet humans suppressed fire for so long, we altered natural ecosystems for our own selfish reasons. I, like you, don’t visit public lands to see char but I believe we have a better understanding of the important role fire plays in forest ecology. So there is evidence of burn along the trail.
Motion from a tiny Horned Lizard caught our attention. These docile creatures blend in well with the forest floor.
The forest opens to a canyon view looking almost due east to the mouth of the Little Colorado River, not the river itself.
This is the area that has been proposed by a Scottsdale-based developer to build a tram that could potentially move up to 10,000 visitors a day to the bottom of the canyon on the Navajo Reservation. The Grand Canyon Escalade development would also feature hotel, restaurant, and other resort attractions. The proposal at the confluence seems to go on and off the table regularly. I don’t think most of the Navajo and Hopi people want it so near sacred land. The Park Service certainly doesn’t support the idea. It would be quite visible from several overlooks along the Cape Royal Road including the Cape Final trail. Many people and organizations want to Save the Confluence.
We sat in one of the two campsites for lunch. Yes, you can get a permit to camp on the rim at Cape Final.
Then we walked a bit further for another canyon view and a piece of the Colorado River.
We had lollygagged out to the rim taking about two hours but then booked back in an hour as we’d been invited to a neighbor’s BBQ.
Beautiful!!!
Thanks Sally.
Wow amazing photos of the canyon. A tram and a hotel, I don’t thinks so, hope the plans get turned down!! That Lizard is well camouflaged, lucky that you saw it. Get better soon, Diane
Thanks Diane. The Horned Lizard is said by the Navajo to bring good luck. Feeling better every day.
A beautiful hike! I agree Save the Confluence, it’s just not the kind of economic growth for such a pristine area. Hotels are avail nearby.
I’d rather they build a casino in Tuba City.
The last thing the canyon needs is more people! Glad to hear so many are against it. Love the views from that campsite – pretty sweet spot to wake up in.
Already too many people at the canyon. A friend is going to camp out there tonight.
What simply divine pictures of the canyon. You are so right about the importance of fire in all sorts of environments and our parks and monuments have learned this and do the necessary prescribed burns. We preserve these areas for themselves as well as for us so if we have to see the land blackened sometimes….well, I think, that’s the least we can do. Love your lizard. Great eyes to see him. I’d definitely “book it” for BBQ.
PS Gorgeous lupines. So pretty! AND developers who would do such a thing have clearly lost their souls. Save the Confluence is right.
Thanks Sherry. Most visitors I talk to get the need for fire. I hope that development project stays on the back burner until people loose interest and give up on it.
4 miles is a nice hike. Long enough to be interesting but not long enough to wear you out.
It seems like a similar development project is featured in Anne Hillerman’s latest book about the Navajo nation. I think it would be a gigantic mistake.
Even my old school Forest Ranger dad agrees that way too much money and manpower went into suppressing fires. Here in Tulsa, on Turkey Mountain there were fires several years ago and those are some of the better areas still with a lot of the brush gone.
Another great post!
I’m sure Hillerman is writing about the Esplanade project. Thank goodness we are learning about the importance of fire.
What a nice way to spend a day off
I need to do that more often.
This is a magnificent trail! Thanks a bunch for the idea and the motivation!
Yes it is. Yet seems like inner canyon hiking would be more your style. Thanks for stopping by.
Spectacular hike!! Amazing views:)
It’s a goodie but then you find lots of those.
What a great hike — beautiful post about a beautiful area, but scary that there is a chance that some rich dude could spoil its beauty. What is wrong with people?
Seems many who don’t appreciate nature can only think about the money.