My Favorite Spot at the Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is amazing but one spot in particular is *it* for me
Happy Thursday! Will here again. First off, thanks so much for all the fun feedback from last week’s post about summer trip ideas in the least visited parks! It was fun chatting with so many of you about your experiences & recommendations!
This week I figured I’d spill the beans on my personal favorite spot at America’s second most visited national park. I love the Grand Canyon. Some of my best national park stories & memories are from here. Like the time Jim and I along with a couple friends and our youngest brother decided on a whim to hike to the bottom and almost didn’t make it back out (sounds like future substack fodder).
When I became tired of the crowds at the South Rim I decided to finally visit the North Rim (I wrote a comparison of the two rims here) and wow, talk about love at second rim. It was kind of like visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time all over again. The scenery at the North Rim is so similar and yet oh-so-different.
Staying in the lodge or cabins at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon should be on everyone’s national parks bucket list (also fodder for a future substack). Now back to the main event here – my favorite spot at the Grand Canyon.
Cape Royal - My Favorite Spot at the Grand Canyon
Of the many great things to do at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, my favorite is easily visiting Cape Royal for sunset. For me, it’s the best overall view of the Grand Canyon and certainly the best sunset spot. If you disagree I’d be curious to hear your favorite spot!
As the southernmost viewpoint on the North Rim, Cape Royal has the greatest panoramas of any of the overlooks. Sunsets here are absolutely magical and seem to last forever. Looking out, you can see the epic Walhalla Plateau immediately before you and the South Rim in the distance.
From the Cape Royal parking area, the hike to the overlook is about .4 miles down a paved trail, which amounts to a 10 – 15 minute stroll.
The way the plateau curves out into the canyon is just wild – there’s nothing really like this on the south rim. If you’re a night sky enthusiast the southern facing landscape views over the canyon make for epic milky way viewing.
It’s worth mentioning that the road to Cape Royal is really beautiful as well. The 23-mile Cape Royal Scenic Drive winds past many of the best trails and viewpoints along the Walhalla Plateau before coming to an end at Cape Royal.
In fact, there’s an epic sunrise spot from an earlier turn-off on the Cape Royal Scenic Drive – Point Imperial.
Hope you enjoyed a lovely Juneteenth and are staying cool out there! I’m in New York City where the weather is getting quite toasty this week which means it’s watermelon season in the Pattiz household. This time of year it seems like we go through a large watermelon every three days!
Hope you enjoyed this little nugget!
-Will
We like and prefer the North Rim. We hiked out Widforss Point so it's our favorite overlook! Its extremely quiet with less than a dozen folks at any given time.
Wonderful excursion!