Grand Canyon NP

#arizona #grandcanyon

Greetings from below the rim!

Today we traveled from Sedona to the Grand Canyon (2 hours one way). Only the south entrance is open now as the North Rim is closed for the winter, and the east entrance is closed because the Navajo lands are closed because of COVID.

We were able to easily find parking at the visitor center and avoid the crowds at Mather Point by hiking right on the Rim trail towards the South Kaibab Trail. We hiked about 2 miles from Mather Point to the South Kaibab Trailhead which sits at an elevation of 7,260 ft.

To hike into the canyon at the South Rim, hikers can choose from one of the most famous hikes in the world- the Bright Angel Trail, The South Kaibab Trail, Hermit Trail, or Grandview Trail. All these hikes take you into the canyon- hiking rim to river and back in one day is not recommended as it takes twice as long to hike up as it does down. The Bright Angel Trail is 9.9 miles (one way) to the Bright Angel Campground, South Kaibab is 7 (one way). There is the North Kaibab Trail from the North Rim, only open in summer, and that's 13.7 miles (one way). The infamous Phantom Ranch lies past the Bright Angel Campground and is apparently one of the hardest hotels in the U.S. to get reservations for.

We hiked a mere 1.5 miles down to Cedar Ridge on the South Kaibab Trail and another 1.5 back up, but it only took us an hour and a half! + some time for soup on the trail. This 3 mile hike had over 1000 ft elevation change.

Fun fact- The Apollo astronauts trained for their mission at the Grand Canyon. They hiked the South Kaibab Trail all the way down, slept overnight, and hiked back up. Apparently, NASA wanted to train them in geology so they could better identify rocks on the moon/be better scientists, so they came to the GC!

It was great to experience more of the GC this time around. I would love to hike the whole thing one day! Especially after only really getting to see the sunset and hike a little around the rim the last time I was here in the summer, I really appreciate it more this time around. I didn’t realize there was so much to do, definitely moved up my list as favorite parks.

We were able to see the mules on their way up!