The Grand Canyon - North Rim: Setting up Camp

The Visitor Center at the North Rim sells a lot of

sweatshirts.  It is often colder at the North Rim than people expect, and we can attest that it's true.  When we arrived, we were barely prepared for the the cool side of 70's, and then we discovered it was 65 degrees!  Unless you are prepared to invest in some Grand Canyon apparel, bring long pants and layers.

We felt very lucky to have found a campsite in the Park.  We'd looked in April for a vacancy in May, definitely late in the game.  The plans in my head had been in place for at least a month before that.  Don't wait.  Make your reservation.  If you reserve and change your mind, cancel so someone else can use your spot.  The spots can't and won't be re-sold unless someone releases the reservations.  We heard one man complaining to the staff about how many vacancies there are in reality when the reservations read that they are all booked up.

The only spot left at the North Rim Campground was in the group section.  We'd just settled into our spot when an entire middle school unloaded beside us.

That could have been the downside of renting a group spot.  As it turns out, the group was great.  The kids were all 8th graders (not the entire middle school like I'd thought) from a private school in Kentucky on their graduation class trip.  Sounded like a lot of fun.

Manuel made another great meal which we all enjoyed.  We are generally relying on three meals when we camp.  One night has to be burgers and dogs.  The boys insist.  Another night is fajitas, our style.  And the third is pasta with meatballs.  We are getting just good enough now with the shopping, storage, and advance preparation to throw in another meal.  If you have any tried and true camping recipes, we'd love to hear them!

We ate S'Mores with giant marshmallows until we were sticky.  

Of course, some of us were less sticky than others.

We have brought brownie mix and oranges on our last three camping trips, but we've never baked the brownies.  S'Mores always win out. 

We cuddled,

poked and prodded the fire until our eyes stung,

played cards and free association games under the covers inside our tent,

and watched a talent show put on by our 8th grade neighbors.

Whatever it is that you've been thinking of doing with your family, do it.  It will be perfectly imperfect.  You will be glad every time you hear one of the kids say, "Remember when ...?"