Grand Canyon

I'm wondering if the Deli in the Pines or the store at the North Rim campground sells ice?

I was under the impression that permits were really competitive but I happened to check and there are bunch available multiple days at camp grounds like Bright Angel and Cottonwood. Am I just misinformed, looking at something incorrectly, or just crazy?

Hey everyone,

I am going to the Grand Canyon in a couple of days. I am driving from Flagstaff in the morning. This is my first time and I am very excited. I have done some last second research on the must-do's and developed the itinerary below.

Morning:

• Mather Point

• Bright Angel Trail (turn around at one-and-a-half mile rest house)

Afternoon/Early Evening

• Desert View Drive (including Grandview Point and Desert View Watchtower)

• South Kaibab Trail (to Ooh Aah Point)

• Hopi Point

For context, I am in good physical shape. I train 5-6 times a week. When I travel, I can average 35,000+ steps easily. But I've never hiked at this type of elevation before, so is doing both short versions of Bright Angel and South Kaibab too much? Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

This is a bus tour that picks you up at the Bright Angel Lodge and is 4 hours. It takes you to Yaki Point, Moran Point, Lipan Point (seasonally), Navajo Point and the Desert View Watch Tower. Is it worth it? We have 5 kids ages 12-19. Advice on the best way to see as much as possible? THANKS!

This is our first time going. A friend brought up the heat concerns so now I'm wondering is there anything I should move around or delete? Is the plan ok? Any other concerns/comments/recs?

Day 1: May 21 - 9pm Arrive in PHX & drive 2 hrs to Sedona. Stay there overnight

Day 2: May 22

• Morning: 10:30am breakfast, hike in Red Rock State Park OR Coconino National Forest
• Afternoon: Visit Chapel of the Holy Cross for breathtaking views of the landscape, art galleries, lunch
• Evening: 6pm dinner, drive 2.5 hrs to Grand Canyon & stay there overnight (or should we drive from Sedona the next morn instead?)

Day 3: May 23

• Morning/Noon: 11am-5:30pm explore the South Rim of the Grand Canyon OR take a mule ride into the canyon. Visit Visitor Center to learn about geology/history
• Evening: Dinner at restaurants near Grand Canyon Village then head back at 6:30pm (4hrs drive)

Day 4: May 24

• Early Morning: 4am hot air balloon ride over the Sonoran desert, breakfast
• Morning: 9am Desert Botanical Garden
• Afternoon: lunch, nap, 2pm Pueblo Grande Museum
• Evening: Japanese Friendship Garden, dinner

Day 5: May 25

• Morning: 11am hike Papago Park
• Afternoon: 12:30pm Heard Museum, 2pm lunch, 3:30pm Phoenix Art Museum, Tempe Town lake
• Evening: Dinner at a downtown restaurant, followed by a stroll thru Old Town Scottsdale for shopping & entertainment

Day 6: May 26 - Depart

Hi all, planning to do R2R2R next week overnighting at north rim lodge. Have gotten a ton of great advice here but was wondering if anyone had any advice on packs, brining of using talon 22 or talon velocity 20 but wondering if any other advice on that front, or anything else that comes to mind, to share?

My boyfriend and I will be visiting both Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks in early October! We will be staying in the area for a week, crashing at various places along the road trip. We plan to go to both the North and South Rim!

Given that we will be on the road for approximately 18 hours in total throughout the week, not to mention the hiking, we are pondering the most convenient and budget friendly way to keep ourselves fed. We have a Yeti cooler and a cooler backpack. Do you think it’s wise to bring both? We are kind of hesitant about checking the Yeti cooler for the flight fearing it might get damaged. I was thinking we could keep the big cooler in the car to store certain items and reserve the backpack cooler for sandwiches and snacks during the hike. We will obviously eat out at restaurants sometimes too but we don’t want or need to do that for every meal.

This will be both of our first times at these two national parks so any road tripping or travel tips for this area would be greatly appreciated!

Hey all, quick question for the Grand Canyon experts here--what exactly are considered the beginning and end points of The Box?

Hey everyone,

I will be camping at the Mather campground in a couple weeks and I was looking at doing a day hike into the canyon. I glanced at some of the day hike trails and I was thinking of doing the bright angel trail or the south kaibab trail but I'm open to any trail that's near the campground.

How difficult are the trails? Any preferences on a particular trail? Any general information/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

They found the guy with the Corgi and driftwood raft that launched on the river a while back, apparently near 6 Mile Wash. There was no mention of the dog.

Hello lovely people,

I'll be visiting the U.S. for the first time during the first week of January 2025.

I have 4 days (starting from Kingman, AZ → Phoenix, AZ) and really want to do the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley areas in these 4 days.

Through my online research/reading, this is what I've come up with:

---

Day 1: - Kingman → Grand Canyon Village (~3.5 hours drive) - On this day I'm planning to do:

1. Grand Canyon Village → Desert View Watchtower → Back to Grand Canyon Village (~50 miles roundtrip). Of course, not planning to walk too much/cover too many viewpoints. My plan is just to visit a few easy viewpoints and capture the sunset from one of the viewpoints.
2. Night stay at one of the motels/lodges in Grand Canyon Village

---

Day 2: - Grand Canyon Village → Page (~3.5 hours drive) - On this day I'm planning to do:

1. Drive the South Rim again and leave early to capture the sunrise at one of the viewpoints. Also, visit a few easy viewpoints.
2. Horseshoe Bend
3. Antelope Canyon Guided Tour
4. Night stay at one of the motels/lodges in Page

---

Day 3: - Page → Monument Valley (~2.5 hours drive) - On this day I'm planning to do:

1. Monument Valley Guided/Self Tour
2. Forest Gump Point
3. Mexican Hat
4. Night stay at The View / Goulding's Lodge

---

Day 4: - Monument Valley → Phoenix (~5.5 hours)

---

I am aware that due to elevation, the Grand Canyon gets too cold (up to -10°C / 14°F) during the Christmas / New Year time. So my obvious major concern is Snow! And how can it affect my plan above?

• Does it snow too much to even visit any of these areas? Or even a road closure?
• What are the chances of clear skies even though it snows?
• Does it snow much in Monument Valley too?

Any help or suggestion is appreciated! :-)

(Note: I'll be driving a 4 x 4 Jeep Wrangler)

Greetings!

I’m doing a rim to river tomorrow. Hoping to park at the Backcountry lot and taxi to SK. Called to book the taxi and I didn’t realize there’s just one taxi available and it’s first-come-first-serve, no reservations accepted. In hindsight this of course makes complete sense.

I’m worried a bit that it may be ‘booked’ up ay my desired departure time for of 4:30am, so I’m looking for contingency plans. The first shuttle isn’t until 6am, which is def later than I want to start. Curious where the closest legal parking is to the SK trail in case I need to drive.

Also, if anyone had any anecdotal evidence experience using the taxi I’d love to hear it.

Thanks all, much appreciated!

Mike

Hi, hoping for some input if you don't mind. We'll be staying in Flagstaff for a few nights with a large group, some kids, some older folks. Looking at the day train in from Williams and things to do at the South Rim village (riding the train we won't have a car that day). Then stuff we can maybe drive to and see for the 2nd day at the Canyon. Might do the skywalk on the way back home if possible.

Any idea on what to see and do? Thanks.

We will be vising USA for tourism. We have booked 3 day stay in Vegas, We were looking to take a tour of Grand Canyon. Since we only have 1 day for grand canyon, we were confused which part to cover.

Should we book a tour of south rim or should be book a tour of upper antelope canyon?

Appreciate all the help.

I'm doing a trip to the north rim of the grand canyon. Will be in the area next week, May 20-25. I'm from BC, Canada so this will be very different from what I'm used to up here. I have a lifted gladiator on 37s with a GFC/winch/ battery system/fridge setup. I have some spots and areas marked up that I want to explore mainly the national forest around the north rim; If anyone has any tips or advice for this trip I'd really appreciate it. Would a winch be sufficient, or should I also invest in some recovery boards; any tips for dealing with wildlife etc? It'll be my first time in this type of climate so any help at all is appreciated. Oh also, I will be doing this trip solo ( one vehicle, me and my brother). I'm really looking forward to this trip, it'll be my first longer camping trip. Any input from locals or those who have done a similar trip would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Hello, I’m hiking R2R on Thursday May 16 and I have pretty much everything I need, but I’m still narrowing down food and electrolytes. I bought some salt stick electrolyte fast chews and I have some drink mix and I plan on bringing salty snacks as well. I was hoping someone could shed some light on exactly how often I should be consuming electrolytes alongside water so I don’t do too much either way. I know I’m probably overthinking this, so some reassurance is appreciated haha. A little background I’m 5’4” 130 lbs and average fitness. I’ve been training the past few months doing cardio, longer hikes, and lots of stairs. Any advice appreciated, thank you!

We plan to drive from Vegas to the south rim. We don't want to do the west rim because I read it's a tourist trap. What else is there to do & see between Vegas and the south rim? Willing to drive maybe an hour out of the way, but we need to drive back to Vegas for our flight home.

Any advice on places to go is appreciated.

Hello Everyone,

I am planning to visit the Grand Canyon (GC) for the first time on May 27th or May 28th. From what I have read from the website, we need drive to the GC visitor center to park our car. I would love to bring our small dachshund with us as well. We are not planning on doing any heavy hiking activities, just there for the view and short hike. Since they are not selling tickets online, I do not know if I can buy tickets from the the GC visitor center or anywhere on-site. Please give me some advice on how to make our trip go smoothly/ How to make the best of our 1 time visit given our situation. Thank you in advance.

Planning on spending four days (Friday-Monday) at the Grand Canyon next month. There will be four adults and one four year old. We enjoy hiking but would prefer beginner to intermediate trails because of the kid. We also love eating local food while traveling. Two of us have been there before, but it was about 20 years ago when we were kids so we don't remember much.

Given that, what view points, trails, restaurants do you recommend? Thanks!

I don't have an all-wheel drive car anymore (rip my 2008 Subaru Forester), but I really miss camping and I haven't been in ages. I am AWARE that it is hot. I'm aware. That's why I'm thinking about doing the North Rim.

Does anyone have recommendations for a 1-2 night campground, near the North Rim (a bit of a drive is expected and fine) and any advice about how to make the best of a short trip? Is it even worth it, or should I wait till the fall? TY!!

Hi There. Canuck looking for some advice. What would someone recommend for someone traveling from Page early in the AM, hoping to see the grand canyon and hit Vegas later that day? Where would you recommend I visit? Greatly appreciated.