AZT 2019 Day 42: North Kaibab Trailhead/North Rim Campground (mile 712.4) to campsite north of Little Pleasant Valley Tank (mile 740.1)

27.7 miles

I meant to get up at first light this morning. I even set an alarm, but my sleeping bag was much warmer than the outside temperature and seemed like the better option. I wasn’t able to stay in my bag for too long though, as I was going to cross the section of trail with lingering snow today. The last report was that there was about 18 miles of snow to cross, but it was easily navigable. Talking to some other hikers last night, it seemed that much of that may have melted, and that the remaining snow was patchy and not solid.

When I finally left the comfort of my sleeping bag and packed up my tent, I was in for a bit of a surprise. I had set my tent up in a hurry last night as the light was fading and hadn’t gotten a good look at the hiker/biker campsite. It was right on the rim! I had awesome views right from my tentsite that I didn’t even know where there. I definitely wish I had set up earlier last night, or at least seen the sunset.

How did I miss this last night?

You can even see Humphrey's Peak near Flagstaff!

I walked back to the north Kaibab Trailhead to pick the AZT back up from where I had left it. I ended up wandering around for a little bit before I found where it continued. The trail (and its signs) were tucked away in the bushes across the street. The trail started out as a footpath, then became a forest road. I didn’t see any snow on the trail for about 6 miles. Even the South Rim ranger had said that there was still “deep snow” through that section.

Looks good so far.

After about 6 miles, I crossed Highway 67 and started to encounter more snow patches. They weren’t particularly large patches, and they were easy to cross. There were even large stretches of trail that were totally dry. I was impressed with how quickly the snow seemed to be melting as I had seen pictures of the same stretch a couple weeks before covered solid in snow.

Patchy snow.

No snow at all.

I made it to the car entrance station to the Grand Canyon, then started to hike through patchy snow to the park’s boundary on the trail, another 2 miles. It was about midday at this point, so I was occasionally postholing on the snow patches.

Line to get into the park at the vehicle entrance station.

Patchy snow near the park boundary.

After crossing the boundary, the trail followed a “creek” for a long stretch. I’m pretty sure this creek only exists as the snow melts. It was a beautiful section though. I was walking next to a clear creek with trees lining the slopes to either side of me. I stopped to refill on water and take a scenic lunch break. At times the trail got very muddy, and at other times it was flooded with snow melt. It was fine with me though, at least it wasn’t miles of snow travel.

The trail paralleling the snowmelt drainage/creek.

Eventually, the trail turned away from the creek and back into the woods where there were snow patches again. Here the patches started to annoy me because they were, for the most part, not solid. Luckily, it cleared up by my next water source, Crystal Spring.

Crystal Spring.

I saw Capitan in the distance leaving the spring as I approached. Later, back in the forest, I saw her bag as well as Honeydew’s bag, but I didn’t see their owners. I passed Smiley a little further down at a viewpoint through the trees as he had found a spot with cell signal. I knew I was approaching a viewpoint called East Rim, so I kept going. Not only did I have cell reception there, but I could see mountains and mesas in the distance, as well as part of the Grand Canyon as it turns north. It was amazing that I was still getting views of the canyon 19 miles up trail from the North Rim.

East Rim View and the Grand Canyon.

The rest of the afternoon I walked through snow free areas with rolling hills covered in forest, and green, trees lined canyons. In a couple areas I passed by stretches of birch trees. I set up camp by a corral that had some deer in it (until the saw me and jumped the fence). There was also a nice, flat area for camping there. I had hiked much further than I thought I would since the snow hadn’t been too bad. It is a good thing I had such a productive day as this may be the last “nice day” I have on the trail. Tomorrow, another multi-day weather front moves in.

Birch trees