The first day of the Grand Circle Oil Leak (GCOL) started early. As well as a drive of close to 300 miles, we needed to take into account the hour we would lose when we crossed from Arizona into Utah. This Oil Leak is the largest to date, with 22 cars and 40 participants. For many this is their first Oil Leak, though they are experienced on other car road tours. One participant who has no experience in this area is Cookie Bear.
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| Cookie seated comfortably in the "back seat" of our OTS |
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| Geo and Kathleen lead the way from our overnight stay at the Little American Hotel in Flagstaff |
Our route took us north on US-89 through a barren desert landscape with very little vegetation. Throughout the drive the weather threatened, but we had little more than the occasional sprinkle of rain.
Our first stop was at Navajo Bridge and Marble Canyon. Here two bridges side by side cross the Marble Canyon cut by the Colorado River which runs 470 feet beneath. The newer bridge carries the road we traveled, whilst the older one is now open to visitors to view the canyon and river below.
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| The Colorado River flowing through Marble Canyon viewed from Navajo Bridge |
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| The span of the new bridge viewed from the old |
Having crossed the Colorado River our road took us west to Jacob Lake, where we turned south on AZ67 towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This road varies in altitude from around 7000 ft up to a maximum of around 8800 ft. Much of the earlier part of the road travels through an area that clearly suffered a major wildfire in the past. All that remains of most of the pine trees is charred trunks pointing at the sky. In their place have grown many aspens, which were turning from green to yellow to orange, making a great sight.
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| Aspens amongst the charred remains of pine trees |
As the road climbed to it maximum altitude the meadows by the roadside were covered in a thin layer of snow. The road will probably not be open much longer...
As we approached the rim of the Grand Canyon we drove into low cloud that shrouded everything. Not a good sign!
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| Debbie in front of the Lodge at the North Rim - happiness personified! |
As we feared, nothing could be seen of the Grand Canyon through the clouds.
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| View from the lodge down to an observation point, and nothing beyond |
Many of us took the opportunity to have lunch in the restaurant that overlooks the canyon and wait in the hope that things would improve. Every so often there would be a small break in the clouds, and a few tantalizing glimpses of the canyon below. Then the clouds would roll back, and all would be lost. Finally, after a couple of hours...
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| Close by, through the clouds... |
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| Then a shaft of sunlight in the distance... |
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| Clouds rolling back... |
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| A glimpse of the far South Rim in the top left |
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| Sunshine returns |
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| Getting Clearer |
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| Finally, some idea of what we'd been missing |
This was about as good as it got; soon after the clouds returned. Below I've included 3 photos from a visit I made to the same spot on the North Rim when returning home after the end of the first SWOL Oil Leak in 2011 to give some idea of what a spectacle is there, though photographs cannot do it justice - at least, mine can't!
We all headed north again individually, or in small groups to Kanab, UT for our overnight stay. We ran into snow flurries as we drove over the summit at 8800 ft, and rain squalls lower down. This has been strange weather for the time of year.
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| Snow on the way north |
Tomorrow we visit Zion National Park where hopefully the weather will improve, and we will all get to see less cloud!
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