Bucks Point AZ, North Rim

Monday July 5, 2010

The temperature here during the day is in the high 70's with zero % humidity. At night it drops to the 40's. Awesome! (I've not blown dry my hair in almost 8 weeks now). I cant believe we have been on the road since May 15th - almost 2 months!

Today we ventured out to Bucks Point. It is a peninsula on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, accessible by ATV only. I seriously doubt no more than 1000 people in the entire world have ever been where we were today. We were miles from civilization. We were 30 miles from the highway, but another 40 miles on the highway to the nearest little town. It is so untouched, and natural, and yet so beautiful.

The trail was a little over 30 miles long and it took us from the cool thick green Pine and Quaker trees in the forest to the hot and dry desert. We stood on the rim of the canyon in awe.

We spent almost an hour in solitude at the rim, and we both walked different ways. It is so beautiful and so peaceful and so eerie, and so calming, and yet so surreal. If you ever need to 'go find yourself' this would be the place to go. Me? I'd rather stay lost - its alot more adventurous. There was probably 20-25 minutes where we could not see each other at all. It was really cool. It was just beautiful. You can see the Colorado River from where we were. It was twisting and turning and really really green. Not sure abut that. I was hoping to see a scorpion but no luck. Just lizards and chipmunks.

On the way back we saw a forest fire on the mountain next to the one we needed to get home. The one we needed was north of the fire and the winds were blowing south so we were in luck. It was pretty scary though. I kept thinking I would see a helicopter fly over to make sure no one was in the direct area of the fire. But that never happened. We would have been on our own - with all the wild animals to eat us at night! But, yes, we had the gun that I don't know how to use!!!

We ran over a snake on the way back and the funny thing is - we stopped to see if it was okay and the darn thing laid there. Our tire tracks hit him perfectly. He was in between the treads. How lucky was he? He crawled away eventually.

We decided to spend another night here in the forest and leave on Wednesday. Then we will head towards Lake Powell for a few days and on to the painted desert and eventually by Friday, make it to the south rim to meet my sister and her family. I cant wait!

Thanks for reading.