Category: Grand Canyon National Park North Rim

I’ll be hiking the Grand Canyon in spirit because my body just won’t let me.  I was recently diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinitis in my left shoulder so no carrying a backpack.  I bought a big fanny pack for work to give my shoulder a rest.  How many decades have I been carrying a too-heavy purse and day pack thrown casually over that left shoulder.  Dam, I just hate when these things bite me in the butt, or shoulder in this case.  And then being sick for almost two weeks made me all weak and wobbly.

So I decided hiking rim-to-rim across Grand Canyon might put me at risk and didn’t join the rest of the staff.  It would be really embarrassing for a Ranger to be air lifted out of the canyon.

Hey, it’s not like I haven’t hiked it before.

So instead I’ve been organizing the library which became kind of a mess after someone left behind piles of books and magazines.

And cleaning the inside of the yurt which you can get a permit to stay in during the winter after hiking across the canyon or skiing in from Jacob Lake to the North Rim.

It would be a cozy place to stay with the wood stove burning and snow all around.  But now it will be closed for the summer.  And on May 15th the North Rim will open.

Getting ready to open the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.  There’s a lot to do, it’s like opening a small town.  The North Rim has been closed since the end of November.  The entrance opens to the public on May 15th, and there will surely be a long line waiting to get in.  Spring is the perfect time of year to hike the Grand Canyon and permits have been sold out for months.

From 1917-1927, visitors to the North Rim had to rough it in tent cabins.

Deluxe rim view cabins and Frontier cabins

Now accommodations vary from the Deluxe and Frontier cabins or hotel rooms which were built by Utah Parks Company over 80 years ago and now managed by Forever Resorts.  Reservations should be made about a year in advance.  In fact they are booked for the season but you could get lucky if someone cancels. So over 100 rooms need to be cleaned and aired out after the winter shut down.

The Grand Lodge offers fine dining, reservations recommended for dinner, and all kinds of good choices at the Deli in the Pines.  Both kitchens have to set up and the lodge furniture moved into place.

There is also a 90 site campground under the Pondersa Pines which requires reservations. But there is free dispersed camping right outside the park in the Kaibab National Forest. That’s real camping with no amenities. And due to the dry forest conditions, please use extreme caution with fire.

Plus there’s a general store that offers basic groceries, beer and wine, and camping supplies.

Everything but the campground and visitor center are readied by Forever Resort employees who will be rolling in next week.

So, what do us Rangers have to do?  We’ll be cleaning and readying the visitor center and getting our talks and walks polished up.  I officially start work Monday except instead I’m going to the Kanab, Utah health clinic.  I’ve been sick for a week, and trust me you don’t want the shitty details.  I have to get healthy so I can hike rim-to-rim next week.  Plus be ready to greet visitors on the15th.  Hope you’ll be amongst some of this summer’s visitors after we open the North Rim.

Friday morning I woke up, opened the blinds and saw the sunlight filtering through the Ponderosa pines.  Sigh.  Home, at Grand Canyon.

Later I went to look in the canyon.  Just had to make sure the Big Ditch was still there.

I love being in the park before it opens to the public, so quiet and peaceful.  Not a soul around, no questions to answer.

The Lodge slowly being unbuttoned.

There’s very little snow anywhere.

So nice to be Home.

The North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park does not open to the public until May 15th.