The North rim of The Grand Canyon

Moving on from the Coral Pink Sand Dune S.P. In deteriorating weather we are now bound for the Grand Canyon, however we plan to make one more stop at Jacob Lake NFS, which is the gateway to the Grand Canyon area. It was an interesting experience driving in the desert in the rain, as you kind of don't expect it, it was also getting colder. However it was only a sort of drizzle, no fancy thunderstorms at all. By the time we got to Jacob Lake it was just wet and cold and miserable. Next morning we got up and left, it was still cold and wet and miserable, however the drizzle was now turning to snow as we climbed the 40 mile road up to 8500ft to the North Rim of the canyon. It was a true winter scene with snow now laying on the road and surrounding countryside. However our trusty Snow tires held out and we arrived without mishap. We eventually found that the site we had booked at the campground was very nicely placed near to the rim of the canyon, however the mist was so thick we couldn't see the canyon. We set up camp and waited a bit and the snow stopped and it cleared a bit, so we set out for the Bright Angel Point to see what we could see, which to start with was nothing. Sally was in her chair and we ventured out along the paved path in the mist, as we traveled along the mist started to clear and every now and then we caught a glimpse of the magnificent Grand Canyon. Sally was very brave and managed to get right to the end, even though the ground dropped away steeply from either side of the path. We waited at the end for about an hour as the mist slowly cleared, leaving patches of sunlight on the Grand Canyon, as well as misty clouds, it was quite unusual. We returned to our trailer and I cooked a nice hot Chicken and gravy with rice dish, just what you need on a cold day. Next day (Saturday) the sun shone bright and clear, though it was still cold, so we packed a lunch and ventured out on one of the paved trails which took us to Cape Royal, an overlook to the East of Bright Angel Point. Here we were able to actually see the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon. The views were amazing, as you would expect. We finished off by travelling up to the Kaibab Lookout, where we could see North East to the Vermillion Cliffs, the Marble Plateau and towards Capitol Reef (though we couldn't see it), though we could see Mount Henry, which is 133 miles away! On Sunday we decided to have another look round ourlocal area, so we took the short trail from the campground to the North Rim, where we got some lovely views of the Grand Canyon, then we revisited the Bright Angel Point to now see it in bright sunlight. e went at about 4.00 so that we could see the sunset over the Grand Canyon. It was quite spectacular, but not as impressive as it could have been as the sky was completely cloudless, so there was not a lot of colour in the sunset, however I took some nice photos and Sally was very brave in just getting out to the Point. Monday was wash day, Sally worked like a trojan to do a big wash in the launderette at the campground, then we hd a quiet afternoon at the trailer. We had booked in to the Lodge for dinner. The food was very good, but the views were amazing, we sat near to a large window overlooking the Grand Canyon and were able to eat our dinner and watch the sunset. Tonight really was spectacular, a bright orange, with a line of purple clouds, then as the sun sank below the cloud line a deep magenta glow spread from the horizon upwards. Later all of the clouds were lined in bright red. We sat and watched it all and felt that it was a splendid ending to our trip to the Grand Canyon.