Day 8
We were awakened early by the mystic kwa-kwa birds after a good sleep in the clean mountain air. We found out the North Rim camp showers cost $1.75 in quarters for 5 minutes of water. 2 of those minutes were spent in adjusting the water temperature.
We took off to the historic Lodge to view the canyon. It was a lot bigger than we were prepared for... it's the only tourist attraction we'd ever seen that surpasses all expectations.
 We drove along the two roads in the North Rim area to different overlooks and took several trails that pointed out various formations, trees, side canyons and chasms. We walked out along the top of Angel's Window and Lucy learned how to stay on the trails.
We came back to our campsite for a hearty lunch of soup and sandwiches. There's not a lot to do at North Rim but look out over the edge so we went back to the lodge and started out on one of the rim trails. We spotted lightning in two different places over the canyon and in another direction over our shoulders. We began to count the seconds between the flash and the crash of thunder. They began about 15 seconds apart, then 12, then 9, then 7. When they got to 4 we started to head back up the trail. The lightning was becoming really bright and before long nickel-sized raindrops were falling on us. We walked faster.
As we neared the top of the trail we were getting drenched and we started to run. We made it to a little tram-stop concrete shelter and sat and watched the lightning light up the canyon and listened to the thunder get louder. Then came the one right on top of us -- the flash and the crash came simultaneously -- it was so loud we could feel it through our bones, and it set off a car alarm in the parking lot. Lucy didn't think it was quite so fun anymore, but it tapered off and began to move away again. Then the hail started to fall.
|
|
 Everyone had said there's a thunderstorm every afternoon at the Grand Canyon in late summer, but that it only lasted a few minutes. When we realized the rain wasn't letting up, we made a run for the car and drove back to our campsite.
It wasn't a pretty sight. The tent was dripping down all sides and the ice chest out in front looked like it had aged 10 years in the few hours we'd been gone. Our firewood was getting soaked. We decided to wait it out for a little while so we stayed car-camping for about an hour -- drinking beer and watching another family arrive and set up their tent in the rain. We felt entitled to enjoy the show after everyone had laughed at us putting up our tent in the wind at Holbrook.
Rainy day, dream all day
Ain't no use in getting uptight
Just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away
Lay back and dream on a rainy day 
|
 |
We finally braved an attempt to look inside and see how bad it was. Lucy's sleeping bag was pretty wet -- it had been under the window we'd left open for air circulation. The floor was seeping in from the corners and everything was completely DAMP. We dried what we could, rearranged the rest and went back to the car, watched the rain come down and listened to the thunder.
|
