Summiting the Kaibab Plateau

The day after the last post was spent entirely shopping and running errands, trying to squeeze in all the things we needed to do before once again parking ourselves in a very remote area.

The dry cleaner delivered on their promise to have our bedspread finished in 24 hours, it looks great.  We knew it needed cleaning but were surprised at just how different it looked.  Five months in the desert took its toll.  Sam’s Club and Walmart were thoroughly scoured for everything we thought we could find a place to store food and dry goods we will need for at least the next month, and more if possible.  Big Gulp is packed to the gills with three large thermal bags and an ice chest as well as big packages of paper goods and 40 pounds of oranges and 25 pounds of apples.  The space in the bed of the truck not being used by the 5^th wheel hitch has cases of water and I lost count of how many six-packs of bottles of Coke Zero.

One last stop at the mall on the way home from grocery buying to get the batteries replaced in two of Cyndee’s watches.  The jeweler was able to get the back off of one watch but not the other.  Looks like her everyday “dress” watch is going to have to wait until we find someone a little more skilled at working on difficult to remove watch backs.

The next morning was a ‘scratch our hitch itch’ day.  We were prepping the camper for travel, Cyndee doing the pink jobs, John doing the blue jobs.  While John was outside disconnecting the utilities the folks in the motor coach next to us came out and, surprise, it was the campground hosts at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend.  We had left Big Bend a month apart and ended up side-by-side at a campground 800 miles away!  While we were headed due north they were headed for the Pacific Northwest.

Today’s route is almost five hours of some pretty tough driving.  We’ll gain several thousand feet in elevation and negotiate roads that are narrow, with no shoulders and rough from frost heave buckles.  Most of the elevation change comes all in one climb, from the lowest point at Navajo Bridge in Marble Canyon up to the top of the Kaibab Plateau, a little more than ten miles of steep grades that see our speed getting pulled to below 35 mph in the steepest climbs.  Thankfully there was virtually no traffic.  We were not responsible for backing things up for miles on end.  The best part was that all of Big Gulp’s temperatures (exhaust gas, water and transmission) stayed below, well below, what they were last year.  The cooling system repairs seem to have made a difference.  But we had weather to our advantage this time too.  Coming up in early May instead of late July saw outside temperatures 20 to 30 degrees cooler.

Something we did different this year was to plan stops along the way.  Last year we started from Winslow, AZ and gutted out a nearly non-stop drive until we arrived almost six hours later.  This year starting from Flagstaff put us an hour closer and we knew what to expect as well as where it was possible to pull in with a 60 foot long rig.  One of those places was Cameron Trading Post.  When we were there last year the place was so jammed packed with tourists (we’re talking multiple bus-loads of tour groups and individuals) that you could barely move.  Consequently we did not get to take in everything there was to see.  So this year we are stopping well before the tourist season ramps up and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  The handmade Navajo, Supai and Hopi jewelry, blankets, rugs and pottery were something to see.  They also have a restaurant that is famous for its Indian Taco, a piece of Indian Fry Bread bigger than the plate it comes on, smothered in taco meat, cheese and all the rest of the goodies a taco has on it.  It is customary to order one and split it between two people.  We had one last year but it is pretty early in the morning when we are here this time and neither of us are hungry so we will just have to make a trip later or catch them on our way out in October.

Cameron Trading Post

The next stop is a quick one.  There is a gas station and convenience store just after crossing Navajo Bridge, it is about half way between Flagstaff and Jacob Lake and perfectly spaced for a bathroom break.  We missed it last year and came to regret it.  Not this year.

Jacob Lake, the last services before entering the 45 mile long road into the North Rim, came into view just as we finished the climb onto the plateau, a great place to take a break, let the truck cool down and have lunch at the Jacob Lake Lodge.  We are in familiar territory now.  Jacob Lake Lodge is the jumping off point for the North Rim.  Like the Grand Canyon Lodge of the North Rim, Jacob Lake Lodge stays booked full from the end of May until the Beginning of October.  This early in May they are thinly staffed and the dining room is still closed for the season.  But the diner counter is open and we get a couple of hot sandwiches.  We were also happy to see that their bakery was in full swing.  They make some pretty good cookies, lots of flavors, but you have to pace yourself because they run $18/dozen.  The park staff at the North Rim has a custom that whoever goes to Jacob Lake has to bring back cookies for everyone.  A dozen of them go in the blink of an eye.

Back in the truck for the last leg of our day’s journey it is only a mile down the national park road that we encounter the first of two locked gates.  Our volunteer supervisor had sent us the combination for the padlocks so it was just a matter of getting the locks off, swinging the wide gate aside and getting the rig far enough through so we could close and re-lock the gate.  It was not long before we crossed a cattle guard that we remembered was a landmark for where you really had to start watching out for mule deer.  And as if on cue there were three big ones on a slope right next to the road no more than five lengths of our rig in after crossing the guard.  A few more miles in and we were in the miles long meadow.  Instead of seeing three or four deer at a time we were now seeing multiple herds of 15 to 30, all taking advantage of the lush grass in the meadow.  All ears and eyes raised and turned our way as we rumbled by but they held their ground and quickly returned to grazing as we shrank from sight.  Something we both found strange was that we did not see a single fawn.  You would think this time of year they would have been frolicking all over the meadow as their mothers recharged.  I guess they are still small enough that the does keep them hidden in the trees at the edge of the meadow.

About ten miles of meadow leading up to the North Rim Entrance Station.

The second gate is at the park entrance station, it is to one side of a really large cattle guard, well in this case it is a buffalo guard.  It keeps the Grand Canyon herd from using the convenience of the paved road to get from one meadow to the other.  There is fencing all along the park boundary but it is not very substantial, if the buffalo decide they want to be on the other side they can pretty much just walk through it.  But for the most part the national herd seems to keep to the park.  With it being mid-day we did not see the herd today, they usually only make an appearance in the meadow near the entrance station from late evening until early morning.  You have to be super careful coming through this section after dark; they’ll be bunched up on the road where it runs near a small watering hole.

Just 15 more miles from here and we are done.

We’re home now.  It is just 15 miles to the campground where we will drop anchor for the next five months.  When we left (actually kicked out) last October when the government shut down we thought if felt pretty eerie because the place was so empty, but it was not as empty as it is today.  It is almost a week before opening day and save a few maintenance people from the Forever Resorts concessionaire there is not a soul in sight.

But one thing I do see is a couple of shiny new power pedestals in the camp host sites.  Bless Jude’s heart!  He upgraded the wiring and connections while we were gone.  Last year the power was so bad that the power management system on the coach was constantly “clipping” the service to protect the electrical equipment from low voltage damage and the amperage was so low that we could use only one appliance at a time.  Now we have a modern, 50 amp connection and it is working great.  We’ll have to wait and see how it does when the lodge opens and starts sucking down copious amounts of power.