Wow, friends, thanks for all the tips. I'll keep posted. A great start for me.

I am not very familiar with the North Rim -- visited there once as a car-traveling, shorts-and-sandals tourist about ten years ago. A friend of mine and I would like to backpack the North Rim for 4-5 days, maybe 20-40 miles total, maybe in September next year. We want to pretty much stay out of the ...