S. Kaibab TH Shuttle Update

[montezumawell]

Way back on April 14th, we posted a topic about our problems understanding how to access and use the S. Kaibab TH Shuttle. The problem back then was incorrectly placed signage. We have retitled the topic and deleted the words in our first post to the topic. The most recent information (obtained 9/18-19/02 during a visit to the S. Rim) now appears in the last post in this topic.

J&S

[evenstarx3]

When I was at the GC last October, shuttles (think it was the Blue route) stopped regularly at the New Canyon View Informations Center from where it was a short walk to catch the Green Route shuttle to South Kaibab TH. Also short walk from the Center to Mather Point. Has that changed?

Blue Route shuttle at that time, ran every 15 minutes or so with stops all the way from the Hermits Rest transfer point to the Canyon View Center with stops at BA lodge, El Tovar, RR Station, Trailer Village, Market Plaza, Canyon View Center and then back to Market Plaza before heading back toward Hermit's Rest TP to start the loop again.

[lobo41]

Does anyone know when the shuttle buses stop running?

[Peter Kosednar]

Delete Post

[MaryPhyl]

There is a picnic area where you can park which is just east of the turn off going to the South Kaibab trailhead. A short walk from there will allow you to skip the shuttle system.

[montezumawell]

Due to circumstances, we went off for a very quick trip to the S. Rim on 9/18-19/02.
Confusing signs have been eliminated (at least as far as this issue anyway) and here's the scoop:

The S. Kaibab TH Shuttle bus can ONLY be boarded from the Canyon View Information Center
EXCEPT for the morning "Hikers' Express" that departs from the Bright Angel Lodge and the Backcountry Information Center.

The regular S. Kaibab TH Shuttle runs year round, even when the Yaki Point road is open to private vehicles from 12/01/02-2/28/03. It begins an hour before sunrise and ends an hour after sunset.
The shuttle is supposed to run every 10-15 minutes. Drivers get a break ever hour so once in awhile you might be waiting quite awhile for your bus to depart.

The tabloid newsprint "Guide" distributed at the entrace gate says that the shuttle service begins at:
4:45 a.m. in September
5:15 a.m. in October
5:45 a.m. in November

We won't list the ending times since, if you needed to know that, you'd be up there and could figure it out for yourself.

OK--Th "Hikers' Express" leaves at these times for the upcoming three months:

September: 5:00, 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.
October: 6:00, 7:00, and 8:00 a.m.
November: 8:00, 9:00 ad 10:00 a.m.

Now, here's some advice that can possibly save you a LOT of hassle.

1) Do not park in the Mather Point lot and walk over to the Canyon View Info Center to catch the shuttle. There is a one hour maximum parking limit in the Mather lot and it IS enforced. On September 19th, the lot was very near full at sunrise and we observed it to be totally full twice during the day. If you are hiking, it is highly unlikely you would be returning to your vehicle in an hour.

2) Do not attempt to drive to the Canyon View Ctr. This is a BIG no-no and will get you in a LOT of trouble.

3) Avoid boarding the Village Shuttle (the one that takes you to the Canyon View Info Center) very far away from the Info Center itself. The Village Shuttle's route is very twisty-turny and VERY slow because there are often a lot of people getting on and off at each stop. For example, if you park at Yavapai Point and board the Village Shuttle there, you will go past the old HQ and all the way down to the Hermit's Rest Road gate and then back through the Village, into Trailer Village and around the Market Place! You could lose as much as an hour of hiking time by making this choice.

Here's you best plan. We've tested it twice. It works. Trust us.
Drive directly to the parking area for guests staying in the rooms of the Yavapai Lodge.
Turn as if you were going to the Marketplace and take the very first left turn and follow a sign that says, "Yavapai Rooms," NOT Yavapai Lodge. Take the second left into the parking lot and you will
observe two bus stops, one for the eastbound and one for the westbound. There appears to be ample parking west of the eastbound stop's signboard. Don't worry, it is not illegal to park here, they just don't advertise it much. It's OK. At this point, the bus goes directly without stopping to the Info Center and the trip takes 4-6 minutes depending on the driver.
It takes another 4-6 minutes to get off the bus and hotfoot it over to the S. Kaibab bus stop which is all the way on the other side of the Info Center. Don't worry, just follow the signs.

One last caveat--yes, you can park in that picnic area not far from the TH but we asked a Ranger about it and there is a possibility that they might ticket cars that sit there OVERNIGHT. This ranger wouldn't say they would tow cars, but he wouldn't say they WOULDN'T tow cars either. We got the idea it's a discretionary thing.

Hope this helps.

J&S

[joebartels]

Great info! I went ahead and dropped that on the GC 101 article comments

[GTG_AZH]

Great information to have since I am going to be there soon.
Thanks for sharing.

GTG
The boy from Rocket City USA

[MaryPhyl]

It must be new that they will tow you. I was up there yesterday and there was no sign. I have parked in that lot half a dozen times and it was OK

[montezumawell]

We don't think there would ever be a problem getting towed by parking there if you are day hiking and not parking overnight. Our post was referring to overnight parking--not day parking. Hope that clears up any confusion.

Here's another issue--actual picnicing. Have you ever noticed that there are few traditional places to actually picnic at the Canyon? Susun and I like to actually find traditional picnic places and actually have an old-fashioned, gen-you-ine picnic. Table cloth and the whole she-bang. Most people don't realize this point of esoterica, but there are precious few places to drive up to a picnic table and have a picnic at the South Rim. Sure, there are lots of scenic pullouts that are fine places to grad some grub, snag a sandwich, choke down more grop, et al. But, next time you are roaming around the South Rim, attempt to do a "head count" of available actual, real traditional picnic tables. Danged few. It's not all that far out of anyone's way to use the S. Kaibab shuttle and leave the picnic parking spaces for the purpose for which they were intended.

J&S

[MaryPhyl]

It would not hurt those bozos to let people with hiking permits park in that good sized parking lot at the top of Kaibab trail. When I get out of the canyon I like to have dry clothing and water. If you hike out late you have to call for a taxi. I talked to the rangers about this last Feb when I went to a program for trip leaders. They said there were no restrictions about parking there but suggested as you did that we not do it because some people like to picnic there. This is a mess of their own making. I don't do much day hiking--I can see where the shuttle might be fine for that. The South Kaibab is the quickest way to get to Clear Creek or Phantom Creek and so on so it is used by a lot more people than just those staying at Bright Angel. I will see and talk to rangers again the end of next month and I will protest more loudly this time.

[Sredfield]

Mary,

That would be great to know, we are doing a Rim-Rim the weekend of Oct. 13th, and having a place to leave the car would be nice. On last year's N-S trip, when I came out at S. Kaibab, feeling just a little tired , waiting for the shuttle, and the connections, to get back to the car was a pain. Give 'em heII.