I’ve always wanted to see the North Rim. I’ve heard it’s even more beautiful than the South Rim but now that I’ve seen both, I find them equally breathtaking. I don’t know how to compare overwhelming beauty with overwhelming beauty. I don’t have a favorite.
So, I drove south from Utah into Arizona. Arizona holds a special place in my heart, especially the high mountain areas. My grandmother had a cabin in the Black Mountains when I was a kid and I have great memories from there. Here are a couple of pics from my drive.

Open spaces. Wide open sky.

First glimpse.

I wish I could tell you the haze is from a beautiful morning mist rising from the Colorado River but sadly that isn’t the case. It’s smog, most likely from Los Angeles.

This is a trail to a lookout point….

….from which you can look out.

There had been a light snow the week previously. I feel I visited at just the right time – before the snows made it impossible to get there, but after the high season of tourism. It was so nice and quiet.

The mountains you see way off in the distance are the San Francisco Peaks, the remains of an eroded stratovolcano, named nearly a hundred fifty years before the city in California came into being. Remember that tallest peak – I have a picture of it from a different angle later on.

This picture was taken from a rest area adjacent to the lodge/ranger station.

I took a leisurely hike on this trail, enjoying the sunshine and peace and quiet and, of course, I took more pictures.

There’s those San Francisco Peaks again.
All I could hear out here was the wind in the trees and maybe a woodpecker or two.

The following is what we call “down.”

Wildlife and shadows of wildlife…..

• 

• 

That was my beautiful, peaceful day at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona.

This is part of my drive further south into Arizona.

At about the middle/left of this photo (above) you’ll see the road I was just about to take. It was a long, long, long road but I got to see some truly beautiful sights along it.

I saw this written on a faded road map along the way…..

Yep.
Remember I said I’d show you a picture of the tallest peak of the San Francisco range from a different (not to mention much closer) angle?

Here ’tis. That’s called Humphrey’s Peak, the highest point in the state of Arizona, elevation of 12,633 feet (3,851 m). Sorry ’bout the bugs on the windshield!
I stopped to get gas and saw this message on the station door and thought, “Well, at least some people are smart about this pandemic.”

This is where I parked for the night.

T’was a good day.