September 5, 2016
Left home about 8:30 am and headed west on Hwy 62 until we hit OK Hwy 59. We took that to I40 and traveled west through Oklahoma. Stayed the night at a KOA in between Elk City and Clinton. Was an okay RV park. It was very windy today which made pulling a trailer a little difficult. This is our first big trip with our Jay Flight camper.
September 6, 2016
Left camp at about 8:00 am. I started out driving. It is different driving and pulling a trailer. It was hot and windy. We saw a bunch of wild turkeys in a field and about 24 pronghorn in Texas. It rained hard the last couple of hours we were traveling. At bedtime we discovered that the trailer leaked a little, getting the corner of the bed wet. We spent the night at a KOA in Albuquerque, NM. It was a really nice RV park. So level we didn't even have to unhook.
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| Our 'cute little camper' at the RV park in Albuquerque |
September 7, 2016
Drove to Flagstaff, AZ today. While I was driving, the mirror that Mike attached to the driver's side so that we could see around the trailer came off. It made such a loud noise as it was banging against the side of the car that we both temporarily thought that we were having a blowout. I pulled off and we discovered that the elastic cord for the mirror was still attached and the mirror was just banging against the side of the car. No harm was done though luckily.
We stopped at the Petrified Forest Visitor's center and drove through a small part of the Painted Desert.
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| Painted Desert |
We spent our last night on the road at a KOA in Flagstaff. It was very nice and even had a short hiking trail that we went on. This RV park is at the foot of a mountain and had very pretty scenery.
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| View from our campsite at Flagstaff |
September 8, 2016
Got up early and took showers since this would be the last free shower we would have for a while. We ate breakfast at the campground kitchen, and got on the road by 7:30. We are pretty eager to get to the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Safeway in Flagstaff (a really nice grocery store BTW) and headed on to the Grand Canyon. I drove first today. We took Hwy 89 North out of Flagstaff. It is a good highway, but it was very windy. This road goes through Indian Reservations and by the Vermillion Cliffs which are very impressive. I drove until we got to the view for Glen Canyon. This is a Navajo Walking Bridge actually over the Green River in the Glen Canyon. We ate lunch there then Mike started driving. It is a good thing, because shortly after that the road became very curvy and went up into the mountains. Mike is a better driver under those conditions than I am. We got to the campground about 1:30 in the afternoon. It was a little tricky getting the trailer level, but we finally got it done. We walked over to the canyon side of the campground and looked at the views. It is pretty, but there will be other views that will be better.
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| Glen Canyon |
 
View of Vermillion Cliffs from the Navajo Bridge
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| Campsite at the North Rim |
September 9, 2016
I got up early and while making coffee saw 3 mule deer and I watched them feeding for about an hour. After breakfast, we packed a lunch and walked the Bridal Trail to the Lodge. We ate lunch while sitting at the veranda of the Lodge. The views from this area are amazing. We went to the visitor's center and walked the Transept Trail back to camp. We can tell that the elevation here is over 8000 ft. We have to go slow because we run out of breath.
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| View of Roaring Springs Canyon |
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| On Bridal Trail |
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| At The Lodge |
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| Relaxing at The Lodge |
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| View from the trail |
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| View from Transept Trail |
We made chili and cornbread for supper. The cornbread was good, but the chili was super spicy. After supper we built a fire and sat out watching the stars. We both saw a shooting star. The only bad thing about today was that I sat on and broke my Kindle. I'll have to get something to read.
September 10, 2016
I got up early again and made coffee. It was very chilly this morning. We saw 4 mule deer behind our campsite playing, jumping , and chasing each other. After breakfast we packed supplies and drove to Cape Royal. We hiked 1/2 mile to the Cape Royal Point. Best canyon views yet. After that we did the side trail over Angel's Window. Also, great views. Then we drove down to Walhalla Overlook where we ate lunch before walking and viewing. Next stop was Roosevelts Point then Vista Encantada and finally Point Imperial (which is the highest point at the Grand Canyon). Saw some amazing canyon views. We were out driving for over 5 hours. An amazing day.
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| Views of the Grand Canyon from Cape Royal area |
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| Angel's Window |
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| Another View |
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| On Cape Royal Trail |
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| One more view |
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| On Angel's Window Overlook |
September 11, 2016
After breakfast, we packed supplies and drove to the Widforss Trail and hiked 2 miles out and back. Some more beautiful views of the canyon and it was a nice hike. We are both really tired, probably a combination of the long drive to get here and the altitude. We stopped at the showers on our way back to camp. The shower cost $1.50 and was supposed to last 6 minutes, but we think we were shorted time. We both ran out of water before getting completely rinsed off. After lunch, we drove over to the Lodge. We sat looking at the views then listened to a 45 minute Ranger talk about California condors. These have been reintroduced to the Grand Canyon area and other national parks in Utah. It was a very interesting program. After that we bought sandwiches for supper. It had become so cool that we ate in the trailer and read inside before going to bed. I bought a book about the John Wesley Powell expedition floating the Green and Colorado Rivers.
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| Some views from Widforss Trail |
September 12, 2016
Our last day at the Grand Canyon. This has been a really enjoyable 5 days. We slept in then walked to the Lodge area where we bought pizza and a beer at the Rough Rider Saloon for lunch. We sat outside at the Lodge one last time. It was very windy. We walked back to the trailer and organized things for leaving in the morning. Later we did laundry. The campground at the North Rim is very quiet and although it was full every night it didn't feel over crowded here.
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| Last time sitting at the Lodge |
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| View of Aspens from our campsite |
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