Monday Sep 25, 2023 - Grand Canyon North Rim to Page AZ

Not that cold last night which we can determine by how long the heater runs. Another crisp cool morning. Sure enough, it seems that we got the last campsite but there sure seem to be a lot of empty sites this morning. We made coffee and closed up shop. Refilled the water tank (7.5 gallons) and then drove to the visitor center. 

We took our coffee / tea to the lodge patio overlooking the canyon and drank in the morning sun. Not as busy this morning since the evening sunset is the most colorful, but still pretty nice this morning. We think the difference in the north and south rim views is from the north side you see more rocks closer up and from the south side you see more canyon.

We had contacted a family friend, Jim Blittersdorf, who lives in Page, AZ and said we were welcome to stop by to say hi. Campendium (the best campsite app so far) said there were a couple of forest service campgrounds near him, and a few others either slightly farther away or private.

Rt 89A goes across the top of the canyon and then crosses at Glen Canyon Dam bridge. On the way it spends many miles under the Vermillion Cliffs. These tower over the road to the north and the park service has a few pulloffs with info. Lots of Mormon activity around here.

The Glen Canyon Dam created Lake Powell. The drought dropped the Lake to historic lows, they gained 60 or 70 feet with the big snowpack this last year but now it is dropping again.

We stopped at the Lone Rock Campground which took some figuring out. The entry station had an auto-pay machine which was broken so we just drove in. The “campground” is really just a giant beach and you pick a spot and camp. We could see the pit toilets way up the bank from normal lake level years but now they have movable steel pit toilets they can move up and down the beach depending on the lake level. 

Lots of sand traps and we watched a car get stuck in the sand and then slowly get pushed out. The van did fine as I stayed on more solid looking ground. The traction control did almost bog us down at one point so note to self, stick to the gravel.

We pulled up overlooking the lake on the beach with the van providing a nice shady porch. A few boats, wake boards, swimming, and float boats but not too much action. We walked the beach and met an older tan couple who were swimming so Deb went back and got her suit on and went for a dip.

We left and checked out the other campsite, Beehive, and it was full since it only had 6 sites. Then to the Glen Canyon Visitor Center which gave us all the details about how it was built, who built it, and how much power and irrigation control. It seems this is the second largest dam in the U.S. They really thought big back in the 50’s and 60’s.

Jim works until 5 and we got a text saying he was home a little after 5. We found his house, beautiful, and went into town for dinner. His partner Katie was working so it was just the three of us and we went to Grand Canyon Brewery. Spent a couple of hours catching up with Jim and getting his whole story. He moved out west from Vermont at a young age and has been out here ever since. He is the brother of my best friend Dave and we'd met only once at a wedding. I’ve been meaning to come visit since we live in Arizona and now we have.

He has a nice flat spot in his driveway so that will be our campsite tonight. Another great day.