The mule looked me dead in the eye, then turned around and kicked dust directly into my open water bottle.
My friend Sarah laughed so hard she choked. A ranger walked by, glanced at the mule, and said, “That’s Gary. He does that to everyone.” Gary the mule then ambled off toward the abyss like nothing happened.
We were at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The less famous side. The side that gets about ten percent of the South Rim’s five million yearly visitors. Gary the mule sees more solitude than most tourists ever will.
The math is simple. South Rim entrance fee: $35 per vehicle. North Rim: same $35. But a motel room in Tusayan near the South Rim costs $250 in summer. We paid $110 for a cabin at the North Rim Lodge – shared bathroom, thin walls, but the porch faced a meadow full of deer.
Getting here takes longer. From Las Vegas, we drove four hours to the turnoff at Jacob Lake, then another forty-five minutes down a winding road with no guardrails. Sarah gripped the door handle the entire time. I gripped the steering wheel. Neither of us spoke.
The view at Bright Angel Point is the payoff. You walk five minutes from the parking lot on a paved path with railings. No crowds. No tour buses idling. Just a drop of 3,000 feet straight down into the canyon. A teenage couple asked us to take their photo, then left. We had the viewpoint alone for twenty minutes.
The real hidden spot is the Transept Trail. It starts behind the lodge and follows the rim for two miles with zero railings and zero effort from the park service to keep you safe. We walked it at sunset and saw exactly three other humans – two runners and a geology professor who pointed out rock layers older than oxygen.
Cap off the North Kaibab Trail. Most tourists never make it past the first switchback. We hiked down one mile to the Supai Tunnel – steep, sandy, and full of mule poop. At the tunnel, an older couple from Minnesota shared their homemade trail mix with us because we offered to take their photo. The woman said, “South Rim is a mall. This is the actual canyon.”
For food, the North Rim Deli sells sandwiches for $12. Skip it. We brought a cooler with bread, turkey slices, a bag of apples, and that instant coffee that tastes like dirt but works. Total grocery cost for two days: $28. The lodge’s restaurant charges $30 for a burger. We laughed and ate our sandwiches on a rock overlooking the canyon.
The cheapest thing we did cost zero dollars. Walk the unpaved road to the old fire lookout tower near the lodge entrance. Climb the stairs for free. No ranger checking tickets. From the top, the canyon stretches for miles with no buildings, no roads, no people. Just a line of ravens and the sound of wind.
Season warning: The North Rim closes mid-October to mid-May due to snow. We went in early September. Perfect weather – 75 degrees during the day, 40 at night. The mosquitoes were gone. The crowds were a distant memory from the South Rim parking lot videos we watched on YouTube.
Two days, two people, one cabin with squeaky beds. Total cost including gas from Vegas, food, entrance fee, and the world’s most mediocre coffee: $156 per person.
Gary the mule showed up again on our last morning. He stood near the rim, staring into the canyon like he owned it. Maybe he does.
