We had some friends in town from Kansas City who had never been to the Canyon before. After spending the morning in Flagstaff, we headed north and were able to pickup the last available campsite at Mather (more comfortable for the out-of-towners than forest road camping ).

We did a short stroll along the Rim Trail to Hopi Point in the afternoon. I had never been on this (mostly) paved trail before. I had tempered my expectations, knowing we would be walking between large tour groups and not have much solitude. I was wrong though. The views were, of course, amazing. And that overcame any problems I had with the lack of solitude. It doesn't really matter that you're on a paved highway with minimal elevation change because...you're at the frickin' GC.

The Rim Trail provides a walk along memory lane: from the first time ever visiting the canyon to the first long backpacking trip below the rim.

first time to the grand canyon for my bro and Sierra

hiked a nice chunk of the rim trail from bright angel towards hermit's rest. great weather and wonderful views. everybody was pretty amazed

rain started on the tram ride back. had lunch at maswick then headed home. any trip to the canyon is worth it.

Sunset looked to be promising so I parked at the BA TH and caught the bus out to Maricopa Point. The bus driver nearly missed his stop at Trailview Overlook because he was looking at the rainbow . I walked from Maricopa to Powell to Hopi, then when the sunset died out, I decided to just walk back to BA as the buses looked like they were gonna be packed. Had a nice peaceful stroll back in the twilight.

Note: 500th triplog

The tour I was supposed to give got cancelled when I arrived at Tusayan but I was still on call so I decided to head into the park and go for a walk. I decided to take the Rim Trail west from the BA Trailhead and either hike back or catch the bus back. The cloudy skies and cool temps made for great weather. I hadn't gone past the fossil site for a few years so I really enjoyed getting some Canyon views that I don't already see on a near daily basis It's very peaceful in those stretches between the main viewpoints and bus-stops when there isn't anyone else around. Since I just did the Hermit-Tonto-BA Loop, it was cool looking down on the route and picking out the landmarks from above that I had passed while hiking down below a month ago. I also forgot how many rapids you see along the way out here. Great views of Pipe Creek Rapid, Hermit Rapid, and Granite Rapids for sure. Don't think Horn or Salt Creek Rapids were ever visible, but I think I saw a rapid where Ninety Four Mile Creek enters the river (can't be sure about all that because I didn't have my map along on the hike). At the Abyss I decided to save the rest of the way to Hermit's Rest for another day and hopped on a super-cramped westbound bus. Got off at Pima Point and enjoyed the views there for a couple minutes until the eastbound bus pulled in. It was a spacious enough ride from there until Mohave where it promptly filled up and I battle motion sickness and tight quarters all the way back to the village. Good hike, but the crowded bus left me in a funky mood. Ate my standard lunch of a delicious meatball sub at We Cook Pizza in Tusayan before heading back to Flag.

Chumley and 9L accompanied me up to my new Home here in GC Village our plan was to tackled some insane hike (see 9L's triplog from the same day! ) but Uncle Chumley and I were still sick and feeling cruddy so we hopped the Rim Trail instead.
There is a shuttle bus that leads to every view point but you see so much more of the canyon in between these bus stops....and less people too!

Not gonna lie, it wasn't too much of a sacrifice for me to "get to the know the area" with Chums, it was an easy, laid back day and sometimes it's kinda nice to slow down, take in the views and chat with your best friend. (Also the slow pace was due to Chum's taking photos of EVERY benchmark thing along the trail... ) Not a bad way to start my new life here at the GC. Thanks for the great day, Chums!

Hippy and I were both feeling pretty sick and a strenuous hike was not in either of our best interests, so we decided to just stroll along the Rim Trail for a while. Once you get past the first mile and all the people, this is actually a beautiful hike! The middle few miles are absolutely great. The last 3 miles or so the path is paved and open to bikes. There's not much in the way of hikers or bikers all the way out here, but the pavement takes away a bit from the experience of the nice dirt path that exists for several miles in the middle.

Clouds rolled in and it got blustery and cool, making the bus ride back a welcome shelter. Probably won't do this one again, but not because it wasn't amazing. Just because when I make the trip to the Canyon, I'm usually looking for some more elevation and solitude. If that's not your thing, this is a great alternative. Every mile you go completely changes how the canyon looks.

Sometimes it's nice to stay on top of the canyon and just soak in the splendor of the whole thing. The walk along the south rim is not physically demanding, but it is 7+ miles and offers spectacular views.

It was an added treat seeing all the animals, the Elk family was new since I had been here last, and the Condors seem to be thriving.

No matter how many times you've been to the canyon, it's never enough.

Due to changing vacation plans, my annual trip to the Canyon was at the end of July. I knew it was going to be hot at the river. The high at Phantom ranch was going to 107! I started hiking down the S. Kaibab at 5:30am. I made it down to the river by 8am. I stopped by the Phantom ranch for water and to send out some post cards. I started the journey up the Bright Angel by 8:30 am. By 9am the temps already broke 100! I took a short break at the rest stop by the pipe creek / Colorado river intersection. One good thing about heading back so early was that there was still a lot of shade on the trail. I took my time coming out of the Canyon. I took a lot of short breaks in the shade. I made it to Indian Gardens by 11am. I had a small snack, rested and then hiked to the end of the Plateau Point and back. There was a couple of clouds now in the sky. I got lucky and I had shade on the trail about 1/3 of the time. I made it back to the Indian Gardens by 12:30. I had lunch now. As I had lunch I noticed a guy waking around in Speedos and saddles. I hoped he wasn't hiking that way, and just playing in the Gardens creek! Now here's one bad thing about starting so early. The hot afternoon sun was on my for most of the trip from Indian Gardens to the TH. I did have an occasional cloud provide me shade.

Right below the 1.5 mile rest house, I ran into (almost literally) a bighorn sheep. He was sitting of to the side of the trail eating grass. The bighorn sheep was not scared or concerned with me. I keep a 10 foot distance from him. He wasn't going to budge, so I took my pack and took a break. After 10 minutes a park ranger came down. She tried to scare the bighorn sheep away, but he didn't care about her either. Eventually the ranger told me just to pas the sheep. She also mentioned that they had problems with the bighorn sheep hanging around the lodges.

On one of the last switchback near the top, there is four blue poles that stick out of the ground and there are two cross connects on them. (It almost looks like two blue Xs sticking out of the ground. I've always noticed a spur trail at the switch back. I had some extra time, so I decided to follow it this time. It is a defined trail that goes somewhere. I took this spur trail about a 1/4 mile out. The further I went out, the more rugged this trail became. The trail was heading towards the Maricopa lookout point(About 500~800 below it). I stopped here because I was alone and I didn't tell anyone that I was going on this trail. I heard stories of there being a decommissioned trail from the Bright Angel to the uranium mine. I wonder if this is it. If you know please let me know. I headed back to main trail and went back to the TH. I was so curious about this spur trail that I hike about 3/4 mile down the rim trail to see if I could see the trail below. I had no luck spotting the spur trail from above so I turned around and went back to the car. This was a fun hike, but I'll try not to do it again in the middle of the summer.

Took a canyon noobie on the shuttle out to Hermits Rest. Along the way we got out at Maricopa Point and walked as far as Mohave Point before hopping back on and getting off again at Pima Point & Hermits Rest. Great views, but its much more rewarding to venture into the canyon itself.

I took Harry de Bruyn (visiting on business from the Netherlands) on an ambitious weekend tour of the Grand Canyon and environs.

Saturday hikes included;

1. Kachina Trail http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3719
2. Lenox Crater http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3721
3. Wupatki Ruins http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3722

Sunday hikes included;

1. Little Colorado River Gorge Overlooks http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3727
2. Desert View Rim Trail http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3732
3. Tusayan Ruins http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3730
4. Grandview Trail http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3736
5. Village Rim Trail http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3735
6. Hermit Rim Tail http://HikeArizona.COM/photocodeZOOM.php?ID=3739

We even managed to catch the spectacular sunset Sunday evening as we drove up to Snow Bowl and parked between the Humphries and Kachina TH.

http://hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=43287

How's that for packing in a full weekend???