Our goal for the day was to get as close as possible to the border of the national park. As we didn’t have permission to spend the night in the national park, we were constantly switching back and forth between the hiking trail and the road, depending on the conditions. The trail was still heavily covered in snow in some places, which made progress difficult. We mainly used the road, especially in the afternoon, as walking on the thawed snow was very time-consuming and tiring.
The landscape behind the North Rim is definitely worth seeing. Unfortunately, I had the feeling that we had missed some of the most beautiful spots due to the many kilometers we covered on the road.
Around 7 p.m., we looked for a dry place to spend the night. The result was not encouraging and we spent one of the coldest nights on the entire trail.
After a cold night near the national park, we spent the whole day on the road towards the North Rim. Our sleeping bags, shoes, socks and clothes were frozen and it was very cold overall. Fortunately, the sun was not long in coming, so we were soon sitting at the side of the road drying our sleeping bags.
We climbed through the gated entrance and followed the masses of snow to the edge of the North Rim. There are still 12 miles (about 19 km) between the park entrance and the North Kaibab Trail. So it takes quite a while to see over the edge. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were disappointed that we couldn’t look straight down into the canyon. So we walked a few meters along an adjacent trail until we could take a look into the canyon. After a long break, we turned around and went back the way we had come.
The weather had deteriorated and it was now thundering, drizzling and chilly. That may sound unpleasant, but after a while we realized that we were actually quite well off. After a few kilometers, it looked like it had hailed. There were pea-sized balls of ice everywhere.
We were very lucky that after a while someone who works in the Grand Canyon gave us a lift. So we were driven all the way to Jakobs Lake and didn’t have to walk all the way back.
To celebrate the day and because of the rain, we treated ourselves to a night in the rather expensive hotel in Jakobs Lake. A room cost a hefty 179 dollars.
After breakfast, we set off from Jakobs Lake towards the end point. Only 50 km to the finish. We were both relieved that it would soon be done and sad that the adventure would soon come to an end. We started late and covered 25 km. We pitched our tent on a dirt road that was no longer used and watched the storm clouds as the sun set. There was even some rain at the end.