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Grand Canyon - North Rim:
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 23 -25, 2017
More details will be provided as we get closer
to this event. In the meantime, here's the route guide:
TOUR
GUIDE FOR JUNE 23 - 25, 2017 GRAND CANYON TOUR, NORTH RIM
We are splitting the 39 cars into 2 groups,
creatively named "Group 1" and "Group 2," of 19 cars each and staggering
the start times by 30 minutes. This is necessary in order to make the
scheduled fuel, comfort stops and the lunch period more efficient.
Making a comfort stop with 68 people is insanity; ditto for the lunch.
We are grateful for the assistance of Mike Hunt, Ron Linder, Andrew
Navik and Keith Kandrashoff who helped us solve some major issues of
this tour.
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The door to door transit time for the tour is
approximately 9 hours and the distance is approximately 330 miles from
our starting point. About 60% of the time is driving and the other 40%
is comfort, fuel and lunch stops. If we somehow reduce these times on
the actual tour so much the better.
The Albertson's
center is the starting point and it is
located on Carefree Highway about 1/2
mile east of interstate 17 on the
north side of Carefree Hwy. We meet at
the far east end of the parking lot near the bank.
There is a restroom and coffee
available in Albertson's.
At the starting point
please have a full fuel tank, your club name badge, your club radio with
extra batteries or a charger, and you will be handed a packet of
information you will need.
Handing out the packet of information to each participant at the start
will take time so please come to us for your info packet.
The packet will contain a copy of this text agenda and an Excel print
out of the tour summary with times, locations, highways, etc., your
dinner seating for both evenings,
a list of the driver's in your group
and an updated cell phone list; if you have an emergency or issue of any
kind and you are out of radio range the cell phone list will be a good
thing to have.
Group 1 will arrive
at the starting point no later than 7:10 AM and depart at 7:30 AM SHARP.
Please have your coffee and comfort break completed well before
departure time so we don't have a "straggler" holding up the start.
Group "2" will arrive
no later than 7:40 AM and depart AT 8:00 AM at their leisure. There will
be a designated leader for each group who will be in charge.
If you have never
been on this route previously we recommend you carry an Arizona state
map and give it a review before starting the tour but other than the
transition from Interstate 17 to US 40 and US 40 to Hwy 89 it is quite
simple. Keep it handy just in case there is some confusion about your
navigation. There is nothing more frustrating than to have a driver make
a wrong turn or get confused or lost; it will really ruin your day.
Our first scheduled stop for each group will
be in Camp Verde, 66 miles, for a comfort break. The next waypoint
but not a stop is
Flagstaff. As we approach the south end of
Flagstaff, we will exit from
Interstate 17 to US Hwy 40 eastbound.
When
transitioning from 17 to US 40 look for the signs directing you to
Albuquerque and follow them. Once on I-40 you will look for the 201 off
ramp exit,
which is about 6 miles to the east.
That exit will put you on Country Club Drive. Turn left on Country
Club Drive and stay to the right lane because Hwy 89 comes up quickly.
Turn right on to Hwy 89 to Cameron. It is about 56 miles from there to
Cameron where we will get lunch & fuel.
After lunch continue north on Hwy 89 and in
15 miles there is a junction of Hwy 89 and Hwy 160 that goes to Tuba
City & Kayenta,
This
is just a navigation waypoint; not a stop.
DO
NOT TURN RIGHT ON HWY 160, but
instead continue straight ahead on Hwy 89 to Bitter Springs
which
is 42 miles north of you. Bitter Springs
is
not a stop, just a navigation
waypoint.
Hwy 89 forks at Bitter Springs
and you want to bear left and pick up
ALT 89. If you continue on
89 it will take you to
Page and you will really be in a mess.
The next stop after passing through Bitter
Springs is Marble Canyon &
Lee's Ferry 14 miles from Bitter Springs; at that point hwy
ALT 89
turns toward the west; stay on it.
We will be stopping for a
comfort break at the Park Service at Lee's Ferry, a very basic
facility at the west end of the bridge. Following this comfort break we
head to Jacobs Lake
which is 41 miles from Lee's Ferry.
We stop at Jacobs Lake for fuel and another comfort break.
From Jacobs Lake we pick up Hwy 67 south and it's 44 miles to the lodge.
This is a beautiful, scenic drive.
There is an admission fee into the
Grand Canyon park, if you have a Golden Age Passport bring it with you
and admission is free.
The return
trip on Sunday morning will be discussed with everyone on either Friday
evening or sometime Saturday and everyone can decide what they want to
do. I am sure not everyone will want to leave at the same time but it's
a good idea to travel with at least a few other members for safety
reasons. Many of us will elect to have breakfast and depart some time
after that. The return trip is considerably less structured but no doubt
Carol and I will lead a group of cars and we'll make stops for lunch and
fuel as needed. There will probably be others leaving in a group at
different times. Just make it a point to ask around and hook up with
whatever bunch works for you.
Paul Ebeyer, President
Arizona BMW Z Series Club
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