Utah Trip - Days 1 to 3

Brad and I left Edmonton early on the morning of Friday October 16th.  We pushed south from Edmonton, and eventually made it as far as Idaho Falls by about 8:30pm.  We found a cheap hotel and something to eat, and crashed for the night.  In the morning we were up early once again, and after a quick breakfast we hit the road.  By mid afternoon we made it to our destination, the rental house in Kanab, Utah.  Our friend Rob had departed from his home in the interior of British Columbia a week earlier.  He had explored further east in Utah, around the Moab area, in Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Capital Reef National Park.  Rob arrived in Kanab just and hour or two before Brad and I did.  He had e-mailed us and advised us to bring warm weather clothing as eastern Utah had been sunny, with temperatures in the 80's.  That favorable weather came to an end about the time Brad and I hit the road and it was cool, overcast and rainy for most of our week in the southwest.

We picked up a few groceries when we rolled into town, as did Rob, and met up at the house.  We put together a BBQ supper and relaxed and unpacked after the long drive.  We were optimistic about the days ahead, but concerned about the poor weather.  Utah was experiencing significantly more rainfall than usual and the forecast for the week was not good.  Many of the backroads were closed and there were flash flood warnings that cautioned against entering any of the slot canyons.

We got up early the next morning, which was Sunday October 18th.  It was heavily overcast and the forecast was calling for rain.  After breakfast we decided to drive roughly 90 miles south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The National Park was still open, but park staff were in the process of packing everything up for the winter.  The Lodge was closed, and everything would be shut down by the end of October.  The north rim at 8200 to 8800 feet above sea level is nearly 2000 feet higher than the south rim.  The north rim is heavily treed with pine forest, scrub oak, and quaking aspen, among others.  There are numerous burnt areas, the result of regular lightning strikes.  On this day the skies opened up a bit and we were provided with limited views of the massive canyon.  We are also dumped on by some heavy rain showers, and shrouded with clouds.  

We wandered around the viewpoints near the main lodge for a while, and then drove over to Point Imperial [at 8800 Feet the highest viewpoint at the Grand Canyon] and then on to Roosevelt Point, Walhalla Overlook, Angels Window and Cape Royal.  The clouds were heavy, as was a passing rain shower at Point Imperial.  Conditions improved somewhat as we drove out onto the Walhalla Plateau to the other viewpoints.  At Cape Royal the clouds socked in again and we marvelled at the speed at which they were rising up out of the canyon and streaking past us.  It was like cars rushing by on a highway.  Then the rain began pelting us and lightning started striking, so we made a dash back for the cover of the truck.

Despite the unsettled weather I managed to set up the view camera five times and exposed about 10 sheets of film.  Here are a number of digital snapshots taken on this day.

Once we packed up at Cape Royal, it was getting to be fairly late in the day.  We made the long drive back to the rental house in Kanab and settled down for the evening.