North Rim Grand Canyon - Late June/Mid July

[Razrrila99]

Im starting to put plans together for a trip up to North Rim Grand Canyon. Looking for advice from campground locations (state land/BLM land, etc) to cant miss things. This will be a recharge my batteries weekend. I will have a Jeep Wrangler JKUR with a Turtleback in tow.

Anyone been up there? Give advice?

 

[A-Aron]

I can help you out, been planning a trip near there myself, and have been in that area multiple times.. how many days are you spending in the area? do you have some pre-determined sites you want to see? I've attached the camping restrictions for the Kaibab National Forest .. Demotte Campground is the only established campground you have to worry about along the North Rim road. What are you interests? I could ramble off a long list of things to check out depending on your time and ambition. Let me know... good luck!

 

[A-Aron]

My trip will be taking place July 3-7 in the same general area.. maybe we can even meetup sometime.

 

[Razrrila99]

Im planning right now heading up on a Wed/Thurs night and coming back Sunday, 4 nights. It really hinges on how easily my bulldog takes to camping and spending time in/around that kind of environment. Being a bulldog short hikes are good, but he enjoys riding in the Jeep. Im open to any and all ideas, more scenic, short walks (<2mi).

Ive been reading about the kaibob Forest area as well. Will be my first camping foray up there, I MIGHT head up just to check things out once the open Jacob Lake (Hwy 67) in May.

 

[A-Aron]

2 weeks ago we visited White Pocket in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.. we towed our trailers in.. people looked as us like we were crazy.. but we know our limits.. your turtleback would do great, but there are 2 routes.. and one portion is recommended 1 way (due to deep sand. we went the wrong way and didnt' have any issues). I can send you some GPS tracks if you're interested.. and a spot for an awesome campsite. White Pocket is amazing, also, Lees Ferry by Marble canyon where the Paria river enters the Colorado.. and of course, spend a day at the North Rim proper for sure. Let me know if you'd like any details in any of these spots.. Pics below are from white pocket...

 

[TOUGE]

I did GC early July last year. For free rim camping Timp Point north to Parrisawampitts Point has campsites most points from memory. Further north Crazy Jug Point to Bill Hall(FR292A) has some pull outs off the road for dispersed camping. To camp right on the rim in the national park(Point Sublime, Swamp Point, Fire point, ) you need a backcountry permit($18) from the backcountry office near the North Rim Visitors centre. For me the national park campsites had much better views than the national forest spots.

Also FR250 was an awesome drive going through pine forests to aspen groves with old homesteads hidden in the forest. I did it in the rain and it was easy.

I did a write up for my trip here if you want to see photos of a few places I camped on the north rim.

 

[A-Aron]

I did GC early July last year. For free rim camping Timp Point north to Parrisawampitts Point has campsites most points from memory. Further north Crazy Jug Point to Bill Hall(FR292A) has some pull outs off the road for dispersed camping. To camp right on the rim in the national park(Point Sublime, Swamp Point, Fire point, ) you need a backcountry permit($18) from the backcountry office near the North Rim Visitors centre. For me the national park campsites had much better views than the national forest spots.

Also FR250 was an awesome drive going through pine forests to aspen groves with old homesteads hidden in the forest. I did it in the rain and it was easy.

I did a write up for my try here if you want to see photos of a few places I camped on the north rim.

Nice write up! Any idea how long your ride was (time) from pavement to point sublime? Considering a day trip from a base camp setup in the Kaibab.

 

[TOUGE]

Nice write up! Any idea how long your ride was (time) from pavement to point sublime? Considering a day trip from a base camp setup in the Kaibab.

For some reason I didn't record it on Gaia so I am just going off photo time stamps. I did Point Sublime Rd from just north of the visitors centre, which is the quickest but hardest way but still easy compared to a lot of trails, I did it all in 4HI. I also stop a lot to take photos and when I did it was was pissing down with rain 90% way. It took around 2-2.5 hours I think.

Kanabownits Rd and the most the roads in the NF very easy and average speed is much higher.

 

[A-Aron]

For some reason I didn't record it on Gaia so I am just going off photo time stamps. I did Point Sublime Rd from just north of the visitors centre, which is the quickest but hardest way but still easy compared to a lot of trails, I did it all in 4HI. I also stop a lot to take photos and when I did it was was pissing down with rain 90% way. It took around 2-2.5 hours I think.

Cool, that is what I was thinking to budget for time each way.. sounds pretty reasonable, especially for the view! Thanks