Who's been? What's something I can't afford to miss?

North Rim of Grand Canyon? There is also a route called North Rim of Yosemite. I assume you mean Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon from ANY direction, is something every backpacker should put on his bucket list. I have been down from the south in winter- great trip!

I hae had some great trips to Thunder River and Tapeats Canyon. There are really fine caverns in that area. The trail to TR comes close to Deer Creek, which I have never seen; I suspect it is pretty near.

What you want to find is the nice trip that is unpublicized. The North Rim is a pretty good spot for such a find.

Unfortunately, these sorts of North Rim trails are not maintained, can be hard to follow, are exposed, have long hot and dry stretches and can be deadly for the inexperienced. For starting out, I would recommend either the Bright Angel Trail from the North Rim to Cottonwood or getting some experience on the more traveled South Rim trails first.

Thanks for the input guys! I'm working at a lodge on the north rim... do you think they have topos available for purchase... or do you think i should stock up before i leave?

A topo in the hand is worth two that might be there. There is a really useful geologic map I would recommend. In the Grand Canyon, you tend to reference yourself with respect to the various geological formations.

Pika is perfectly correct. You will have the entire summer so you can explore cautiously and seek advice, especially if you can find a ranger who knows what he is talking about - some can and some can't.

The Thunder River trail I mentioned is easy to follow and rather straightforward. It has no water until you reach Thunder River. I should put these comment in past tense. They were correct in the last millenium, but I haven't been on the trail in quite a few years.

Thanks a million for the advice. I'm jotting down these trail names, and I will check out some if the outfitters here in Salt Lake for Topos. Any thing else?

One thing I have done on the Thunder River Trail,when I was going all the way down, was to start with a gallon jug of water carried in my hand, specifically to be cached along the trail for the return trip. If you should be venturing down a trial in the GC for the first time, leaving a stash somewhere along the trail could be a very worthwhile move (assuming you are returning along the same route,obviously)

Just a suggestion. I see that you have three posts regarding the North Rim. The problem with spreading out posts is that one will probably get further back in date as others are answered. So IF you want to keep this subject in one place and up front it is better to keep adding to your original post instead of making new ones. Someone else might want to chime in regarding the best stragegy when posting several associated topics.