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Looking for Love and Commitment at the North Rim

7d ago 38:49

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What is something you’ve dedicated your life to or hope to one day? Listen to North Rim visitors and park employees as they share some of their lifelong commitments—what getting married in a national park is like, hard-earned wisdom, and visions for a better future. And learn where the North Rim Wedding Site is!

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TRANSCRIPT:

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Transcript

Visitor 1: Love and acceptance. For all beings regardless of politics, gender, size, age, beliefs. All of each of us is welcome. Unity without uniformity. Love and hugs.

[“Behind the Scenery” music and speaking introduction]

Kamryn: Thanks for joining us today to listen to “Looking for Love and Commitment at the North Rim.” My name is Kamryn.

Doug: My name’s Ranger Doug and we are rangers at...

Kamryn: Grand Canyon 's North Rim! And today we'll be sharing stories of weddings, different dedications, commitments people have made in their lives, all in response to the prompt: Every year people share wedding vows at this very spot. What is something you've dedicated your life to or hope to one day?

Doug: But first of all, I wanted to share a little side trip we have in mind for you. The main developed area here at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park is the primary destination—lodge, campground, awesome views, Bright Angel Point trail. All of our visitors drive 45 miles on a dead-end road, and they end up at the lodge and or the campground to enjoy those views. But if you’re here for more than a day and you have a vehicle that is 22-foot length or less, then we have an awesome paved side trip, 23 miles all the way out to a very special view. Yeah, I consider the best views in all of the North Rim for their developed area it's called Cape Royal-Point Imperial Road. So I thought we could uh go explore that and check it out. We'll describe what's at the very end which was the source of this podcast. OK let's go. It takes about 45 minutes nonstop to drive all the way to the end of the road, which is what we recommend. We recommend folks drive there, do the walk out to Cape Royal, enjoy the views, and then on the return trip stop at all the overlooks and viewpoints. So here's what you have to see along the road. I really like the first 5 miles or so of the road. We're going through an earlier burn area and the whole hillsides are just loaded with small aspen trees and they're beautiful, brilliant green in early June when we're recording this podcast now. But later on, the third fourth week in September whole hillsides they turn golden color yellow reds all different beautiful hues as we have some of the best fall colors anywhere in the American West. After about 5 minutes of gradual climb we will cross a divide, we’ll drop down into this beautiful canyon and it's actually Bright Angel Canyon. And for folks that have ridden the mules, stopped on a river trip, or hiked down to Phantom Ranch, there's no way in the world you would expect that the very upper end of this canyon looks as beautiful and as lush as you're driving through now. This was the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps work camp in the 1930s. It was so cold they at night they even called it Ice Box Canyon. There's a good book called, “Ace in the Hole,” it profiles Company 818 of the Civilian Conservation Corps if you want to learn more about the North Rim Conservation Corps camps. Then we come to a “Y,” a fork in the road. If we turn left on that Y, it’s about a three mile side trip to Point Imperial which is the highest point on the rim anywhere in Grand Canyon National Park, little over 8800 feet. So let's not do that side trip today, let's continue south and what do we see?

Kamryn: Yeah so if we take that right in the Y we'll first pass by Greenland Lake. That will be on our right and that's a really cool sinkhole. Right now, there's a good amount of water in there and it will dry start drying up towards the end of the summer. But that's a short hike and you'll pass by the lake and then go towards this old little cabin. And then if we keep going along the road, to our left will be Vista Encantada and that is one of the picnic areas with ab overlook so nice views again of the canyon and the valley there, with a picnic area as well. Along the road, as we keep going, we'll pass Roosevelt Point on the left and that will be after a little bit more of a drive. Some good overlook as as well, a small trail, and then there's this rock with a quote right at the front of the overlook that kind of is Teddy Roosevelt saying to leave Grand Canyon as it is. We’ll continue through the beautiful ponderosa pine forest. It's super open here, very scenic, a lot of burns in this area to maintain that ponderosa pine forest and keep it healthy. Once we go down this little hill, we'll pass the Cape Final trailhead, so off to our left there's this dirt parking lot. There's a couple of trash cans there and that's a nice four-mile round trip hike out to Cape Final where you have beautiful views of the river and the canyon and you'll wind through the forest on the way there. Next, we have the Walhalla Overlook and Pueblo, so we'll pull off to the left here and this is the Walhalla Overlook. We've got awesome views of the Colorado River here and then if we cross the road and go to the right, we'll be at the Walhalla Pueblo and this is the largest village site that has been found on the North Rim from ancestral people whose descendants are still here today. We’ll keep going and just at the bottom of this hill here there's a pull off on the left and this is for the Cliff Springs trail. So if we go down across the road to the right, we'll get on this short trail about half a mile and you'll pass a granary and then get to cliff spring where water is dripping out of the cliff, the rocks there. And this is a little bit in the canyon itself so it's a nice short trail to get a taste of what canyon hiking is like. And then if we continue on the road, the last little bit, this tight turn this tight curve we’ll get to the big gravel parking lot at Cape Royal.

Doug: Well, we just arrived at the awesome view Cape Royal view. Ranger Kamryn, tell us about the trail, how we got here.

Kamryn: Yeah so it's a short trail about 0.4 miles to the end of the trail here. It's paved, it's pretty gradual slope with a little bit of a steeper slope right at the end but it's an awesome little trail. The first 100 yards you'll get to this nice bench that's in the shade most of the time. That's another great river view and you'll see right through Angel's Window so this big hole in the rock and right through there you can see Unkar Rapids. That’s mile 72 from Lee's Ferry where Grand Canyon itself starts but that's a great viewpoint, great place to stop and rest in the shade. As you keep going on the trail, we passed by the side trail to Angel’s Window, so that hole in the rock, you can actually go on top of that there. It's not for those with a fear of heights but it's got some really cool views, very steep drop offs if that is your cup of tea. And then we continued down all the way here to the end of the trailhead and Doug, what are we seeing?

Doug: Oh my gosh this has got to be the finest view on all of the North Rim area. I can look straight across from this overlook and see the Grandview Point area along the South Rim. We see much of the South Rim Road, it’s about 25 miles or so from the South Rim Village in the southwest to the Desert View Watchtower. And if you look over there in the southeast, you can actually see a small bump on the canyon rim. That is the famous Desert View Watchtower. It's probably about nine air miles from where we are here. Grandview Point looking straight south is about eight and if we swing our view over to the southwest it's about ten and a half air miles to the South Rim Village. And we really can't see the village during daylight hours, occasionally you catch a reflection off a windshield but at night you can see the diminished lights and pick out where the main South Rim Grand Canyon National Park Village is. Also, in the southwest corner below the rim we can see a small section of the South Kaibab trail, that's the route, one of two trails that take you all the way down to the Colorado River and the famous Phantom Ranch down at the bottom. We have a couple of cool geologic features right in front of us. We have Vishnu Temple, Wotans Throne is a chunk of the North Rim, a flat chunk that has broken off and tilting off into the Grand Canyon away from the rim. It's not uncommon to hear or maybe even see peregrine falcons flying by. And I've been out on Cape Royal here and once or twice and I've caught a very rare glimpse of a California condor flying overhead. So, let's go back to the parking lot and see if we can find this Wedding Site that was the source of your notebook.

Kamryn: So we're back at the trailhead in the big gravel parking lot and at the north end where kind of the closest part to where you drive in from there's some vault toilets there. And then if you go to the all the way opposite end of the parking lot, the farthest south end, you'll see two metal trash cans right there. There's no signs or anything else so just look for those trash cans at the far end of the parking lot and that is the way to the Wedding Site. So there's a picnic area it's only about 25 yards to the rim but you'll see some picnic tables there on your left and then on your right there's a small wooden sign that says Wedding Site with an arrow to the right with a little heart in it. It's very cute.

Doug: Very classy, I think.

Kamryn: And you'll follow that sign to the right there, another short walk and you'll come to the Wedding Site itself. So there's five or six wooden benches there and then this small rock right in the middle that serves as an altar.

Doug: So Ranger Kamryn, you came up with this idea to put a blank notebook at the Wedding Site. Tell me how you came up with this idea and exactly how you presented this empty notebook what the prompt was and whatnot.

Kamryn: Yeah I've heard of other rangers in the past putting out notebooks with prompts in other places since parks are such a great place for reflection and sometimes, especially at the North Rim, you might not see a ranger in your travels, so it's a nice way to kind of engage with the place. I was thinking about the Wedding Site since we were out at Cape Royal doing programs every single day and the picnic area is a good place to have a snack or to have lunch and the Wedding Site is not very often visited. People have their weddings there, but other than that not too many visitors are able to find the spot or know that it exists. So, I was thinking about weddings as these dedications for people to each other, to their future together, that shared life together, and I was interested in hearing what else people have dedicated their lives to. It's been really interesting working with so many different people with all kinds of different experiences and life paths to kind of hear what drives them, what that through line is through different seasonal experiences, through different jobs, and different places, what are those things that people dedicate their lives to, what's that commitment over time?

Doug: So you came up with this idea so how did you make that happen?

Kamryn: Yeah so I got a blank notebook out, typed up a prompt, and taped that onto the notebook, wrote it inside, and then put that in a plastic bin, since we do get a lot of rain here, put some colored pencils and pens in there so that people could kind of express how they wanted to. But took all of those things out to the Wedding Site right by that big stone altar at the front and just put the notebook or put the bin down, put a heavy rock in it so it wouldn't go anywhere hopefully.

Doug: And how long did you have it out there?

Kamryn: I think it was a few weeks, maybe just under a month, it was out there.

Doug: And how often would you check on it?

Kamryn: I tried to check at least every week.

Doug: And what kind of responses did you get?

Kamryn: The responses were really meaningful they were very thoughtful. All kinds of things about people’s own weddings and marriages and lives, to other things about just their personal journeys and things that they've learned over time and where they want to be spending their time and energy and then lots of just fun silly things as well and the big aspirational hopes for the future that we have together.

Doug: So you have that out there and you collected it towards the end of the season last year and then coming back for the summer of 2025 you had a chance to process some of these quotes, lump them, group them, and pick out the best of the best and you turn this into a podcast. Now we do have an employee here in the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park who has experience being married at a national park. Let's invite in guest volunteer Ranger Laurie. How you doing?

Laurie: Great! Thanks yeah my name is Laurie and I'm a retired occupational therapist that was married at Grand Teton National Park 35 years ago this year.

Doug: What can you tell me about, first of all, why did you pick Grand Teton?

Laurie: We picked Grand Teton for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons was that we were living in Alaska and we wanted our families to be together for our wedding and our families lived on different coasts and Grand Teton was a great location for us to join there as a family. And it was also the place where I met my husband.

Doug: Hopefully that was good.

Laurie: That was a good experience yes. He was a ski bum and then when we met when he was in college in Idaho, we went to Grand Teton often for skiing and hiking so it's very special place to us.

Doug: So once you have the idea to get married at Grand Teton, what were the steps to make that happen?

Laurie: We did all of the planning from Alaska so that was a little bit interesting, but you need to contact the national park. You need to apply for a permit to become married in a national park and there's different rules that you need to follow to do that which weren't too difficult. Our wedding was very small, I think there were 35 people, and it was really a time for our families to join together and so we rented cabins for our families so that we could do a bunch of different activities together to get to know each other. So that took a little bit of planning. We planned the venue, which was Jenny Lake Lodge, and finding somebody to marry us was really interesting. We found the Teton County judge who agreed and we needed a piano player and we found the gift shop a gift shop volunteer who played the piano for us.

Doug: Wow and who put together the actual ceremony?

Laurie: We wrote it.

Doug: Okay. And it was legal so you had a judge marry you?

Laurie: Yeah we had the judge, the county judge.

Doug: And what were some of the restrictions? Do you remember any of those?

Laurie: I remember something about flowers and wildflowers and I do think that we couldn't have rice. And I think those were the 2 main ones. The the size of the group. It wasn't too restrictive, but it was something that you needed to be mindful of.

Doug: Okay and indoors or outdoors?

Laurie: Outdoors.

Doug: Describe the actual venue and view.

Laurie: Okay so we got married on the back patio of Jenny Lake Lodge.

Doug: Jenny Lake or Jackson Lake?

Laurie: Oh Jackson Lake Lodge! Yep I'm sorry Jackson Lake Lodge. Which is beautiful with a great view of the Tetons. It was a glorious day and it was just a gift that both of our families could be together to experience it.

Doug: Did you drag a piano outdoors for that?

Laurie: Uh no the gift shop worker did.

Doug: Really? Oh electronic keyboard?

Laurie: It was a piano.

Doug: Oh wow okay. And what are some of your best memories of that venue and that day?

Laurie: I think the best part of the venue was that it was a place that was absolutely spectacular, in a national park which we adored. Um and another part that we just loved was having our families meet each other and spend several days together, experiencing each other, and the beauty of the national park.

Doug: Now obviously did you write the actual vows yourselves?

Laurie: We did write most of the vows, we took some of the information some of the vows from a a unitarian book of wedding ceremonies.

Doug: Okay and obviously you dedicated your lives to each other, I assume that was part of it?

Laurie: Yes.

Doug: So what is something else you've dedicated your life to or hope to someday?

Laurie: I think we just continued the tradition of dedicating ourselves to our families, and growing our families, supporting our families. As well as teaching our families and our children to enjoy the outdoors and national parks and that's something we continue to believe in today.

Doug: Okay very good. Well thank you for being our guest and have a great summer!

Laurie: Alright thank you happy to be here!

Kamryn: Let's hear what some others had to say.

Visitor 2: Cape Royal holds a special place in our hearts, as it was at this very spot, that five years ago, we took our wedding vows. We've dedicated ourselves to each other and trying to make a positive impact on others while being stewards of the land. While the breadth and majesty of this landscape reminds us just how small we are, our individual contributions and actions matter. Thank you, Grand Canyon, for offering us such important reminders. We will continue to return here, each time in awe.

Visitor 3: At this point, among many others, I dedicate myself to the miracle that came into my life. My best friend and wife. Every day she shows me how beautiful life is, if we look for it.

Visitor 4: What a beautiful place to celebrate a marriage ceremony. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at the North Rim this year, so I can say we dedicated our lives to each other. Living life with your favorite person is a great adventure. Here's to many more adventures to come!

Visitor 5: My wife and I have been together for many years. And the quote that we live by is, always be each other's cheerleader. The world may try to bring us down, but you need that one special person to lift you up every single day.

Visitor 6: Visiting 23 years after our wedding, after which we took a road-trip honeymoon that included our first trip to the North Rim. Hopefully we have 23 plus years to go! Dedicated to protecting nature and wildlife, in addition to more adventures.

Kamryn: So we've heard from Laurie about her awesome Grand Teton wedding, um but I know we have a special wedding also here. Doug, can you tell us about your unique Grand Canyon wedding?

Doug: Thank you yes, I did get married at the Grand Canyon and I'm really proud of that what a way to start your your married life right on the rim of the canyon. It wasn't on the North Rim, it was on the South Rim, a place called Shoshone Point. And I think I sent away for a national park permit I think it was 75 bucks or 100 bucks at the time and they gave us the key to the gate. It's a one mile, unpaved road to the canyon rim, to get to the picnic area at Shoshone Point and at that time which was 1984 there was no shelter I don't think there were restrooms I think there were a couple of picnic tables a couple of the trash cans and that was about it. Our wedding was small we had less than 50 people but we did have folks from Florida, Ohio, family from Massachusetts, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and California all converged uh to help me and my bride Donna start our married life together. Since there wasn't an altar, and we had some seniors, so I didn't go all the way out to the rocky point, but we picked a point right on the canyon rim that was a little bit more accessible for the seniors. I took a metal trash can, took the liner out of it from the Park Service, I turned it upside down right on the rim and that was our official altar. Where I put a Navajo rug on it, we put a cassette tape so we could record the ceremony and it had a double neck Pueblo-style wedding vase sitting on our altar. Both my sisters were there, they performed some live music, some songs that they had written. I solicited my uncle from Ohio who is clergy, a Methodist clergy, he volunteered to come out and do the a non-denominational service for it but he did have to check with the county and make sure his license would be good so he could sign our marriage license that I got in Flagstaff at the County Courthouse. And once he realized that he could perform the ceremony, then we put it all all together and it was a grand day in fact tomorrow is the actual anniversary day of the June 7th when we got married out on the rim. You know it's kind of cliche people to say the wedding getting married is a best day of your life, but I feel that way. It was one of the best days of my life to commit to a life partner, to finally find somebody you're compatible with and you feel like you want to spend their whole life with it's a blessing if you can find somebody, like I was able to find to be your life partner. My wife comes from a Buddhist tradition, I came from from a Protestant tradition, so I asked my uncle to come up with a non-denominational, kind of a generic wedding ceremony, which he did did a great job. We contributed to them my wife and I did and after the ceremony was over then my wife and I drove all the way to the North Rim and we spent our first married life together as a married couple in a cabin right here at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. So besides you know a formal declaration as a wedding ceremony is to dedicate your life to your partner, I also wanted to dedicate my life to trying to honor my mom and dad. I was very fortunate to have some of the best parents that you could have for role models, for teaching good values, and I wanted to dedicate myself myself to transmitting those values on and showing respect and honoring my mum and dad. So I felt like I wanted to be as good a husband and a father as my father was for me as a role model and you know I I just wanted to be a good person in this relationship. And then I also was already working in my park career, my wife was a former ranger at the Grand Canyon and elsewhere, so I wanted to continue my park career I feel very fortunate to still be living the dream working in the park career today.

Kamryn: Thank you, Doug, for sharing your story and reflections. Let's hear what else people contributed.

Visitor 7: I hope to one day be confident in who I am and to not apologize for following my bliss.

Visitor 8: Being a five-year breast cancer survivor, I realize we are all on borrowed time. I always wanted to do a cross-country trip. It was always gonna be “someday.” I realized that I can always get another job, have a relationship, but I cannot get more time, so I no longer wait for “someday” I learned to do it anyway. I am currently in month nine of a year-long solo trip on way back from Alaska, started in Florida, headed to Mexico. I am living my life while I am alive.

Visitor 9: I want to keep exploring all around the world. Listen to stories and share mine. I want to always remember that you have to live in the moment and be grateful for it.

Visitor 10: What will it be like to go back home? I'm not sure, but I think that we're strong enough to figure out it this time around.

Visitor 11: I'm almost two years clean and sober now doing things I never would have thought possible. Now a road trip across the West with a friend. I'm calm and present and finding bits of joy, little “Julias,” every day. I dedicate myself to this always—the growing, the loving, the coming to know myself. There is so much world to see so much love to have if only I let myself. “Julias”: all those beautiful, serendipitous moments that keep us going.

Visitor 12: On a ten-week road trip with my best friend, Ohio to Texas. After so many beautiful moments, a new flip phone, and a newfound love of mule deer, I am happy to say that I am dedicating my life to desire, both honoring mine and journey to reach it.

Visitor 13: Giving every day an honest shot to be the best day ever. To make a difference. To be a better version of myself.

Kamryn: Parks and natural spaces are really great places for self reflection and introspection, and I found it really interesting to hear how people have grown and changed over time and how they've decided to live their lives. A lot of these quotes and entries had little bits about finding joy and appreciating joy and what's around you and some other entries leaned a little bit more towards that joy and fun so let's hear what they had to say.

Visitor 14: My birthday! So as I turned 47, I hereby dedicate my life to pure chaos and joy and adventure. XOXO leave no trace unless the NPS says it's okay.

Visitor 15: Visiting all of the amazing national parks. Choosing to be happy and eat burritos every day.

Visitor 16: We want to dedicate ourselves to finding awe every day. Grand Canyon is the ultimate awe-some, but our world is full of awe big and small, we just need to pay attention to it.

Kamryn: Our world really is big and small depending on the scale that you're looking at. And a lot of folks reflected on community and care and loving and learning at all kinds of different scales whether it's the world, the big picture, or just in everyday life, so let's hear some of those reflections.

Visitor 17: Sounds trite, and sadly possibly unrealistic, but how about world peace?

Visitor 18: I hope to be a source of love to the earth and her creatures, especially those most vulnerable. Grateful to be alive.

Visitor 19: Service. As a partner, mother, grandmother, and ER nurse of over 30 years may I always find the joy and strength in serving others. Right now I am doing it on the Navajo Nation and feel blessed to be welcomed by the natives. To find peace within myself and heal others with the care and grace that every person deserves. The Grand Canyon heals me every time, knowing there is something bigger than us all.

Visitor 20: I hope that when people meet me, they know that they are loved.

Visitor 21: I've always wanted to make the world a better place even if it's just for one person or if it's just for a moment.

Visitor 22: I want to always have a kind heart that strives to make someone's day better. I also want to experience all the joy life has to offer.

Visitor 23: I hope that one day I'm able to make a true difference whether in my community or just for one individual. I’d love to work in the field of ecological restoration or preservation one day. Just something to give back to our world and preserve the good karma left in this world.

Kamryn: As we start to conclude here, I do have two more surprises for you all. But first, thank you to everyone who engaged with the notebook and prompt last year out at the Wedding Site. Thank you for sharing your stories and all the ways that you've committed to things, what you care about, the ways that you've grown, it was really wonderful to be able to see all those different responses and then work on this podcast and share that with other people. Thank you to all of the visitors and other people here at Grand Canyon that read out those responses from the notebook and contributed to this podcast. Thank you to Ranger Doug for really motivating this project, coming up with the idea of turning those notebook responses into a podcast and making it super fun along the way and also for sharing your story about getting married here at Grand Canyon. And also thank you to Ranger Laurie for sharing your wedding story as well.

Doug: We gratefully acknowledge the Native people on whose ancestral lands we gather as well as the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today. Thanks for sharing your homeland with us and being good stewards of the land.

Kamryn: We have one last quote here for you all. And I'm curious, what is something you have dedicated your life to or hope to one day?

Visitor 24: We are all on a hero's journey, but we have to remember the cast of characters that help us along this journey. Those who lift us up or give us challenges, it's how we learn that gives us courage to enjoy life. With all the love in the universe...

Kamryn: To close us out here, we've got a special last surprise. A parody song, sorry to the Grateful Dead, but we've got Rangers Doug, Ranger Han, Ranger Houston to sing us out. Thanks everyone for listening today and we hope to see you at Grand Canyon soon.

Doug, Han, Houston: Let’s look for love, at the Grand Canyon. Let’s build a life, a house and home. A love that will grow, at the Grand Canyon. Would you hold it near, as it were your own? The path can be tough, with thoughts unspoken. Perhaps, they’re better, left unsung. Let’s work this out, and show we care. Life’s new and fresh, and we’re still young. Married at the canyon. When there is a life to grow. To live and love. Reach out your hand, if you want my love. If you want, to life, a life to bind. Let’s tie the knot, along the rim. A life of love, a life combined. There is a road, no simple highway. Between the dawn and the dark of night. Let’s take a stroll, that road together. The path will be fine, filled with love and light. Married at the canyon. When there is a life to grow. To live and love. You and I, with a life together. A life, filled with joy, and a life of love. If you can stand, along my side. Our life will be good, fits like a glove.

59 episodes

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Looking for Love and Commitment at the North Rim

Behind the Scenery

published 7d ago