Once we climbed out of the Grand Canyon on the north side we found ourselves on the Kaibab Plateau which is a relatively flat, high elevation forest. It ranged in elevation from 8000-9200 feet. The forest was aspen, spruce, and fir. The spruce and fir trees were tall and narrow. The forest was punctuated with beautiful alpine meadows. We left the bottom of the Grand Canyon with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and found ourselves in a much cooler place with patches of snow here and there.

We came across a fire tower as we reached the northern end of Grand Canyon National Park

I climbed up inside. It was quite windy and the tower was a bit rickety.

After the fire tower we reached a meadow with some rocky outcroppings. These were limestone layers embedded with fossilized shells. It’s hard to imagine that this high elevation forest was once under a body of water with sea creatures in it.

Found a forest creature for my friend Pat.

Setting up camp at the end of the day.

Then enjoying the sunrise the next day (and a nutritious breakfast)

Rolling on,

Junco