Grandmommy

Help, please. We're flying into Phoenix and driving to the Grand Canyon South Rim soon and I'm trying to decide whether the view along the way would be better if we arrived via the east park entrance (via Cameron) and left via the south (Tusayan) entrance or vice versa? We'll be arriving in the mid to late afternoon for a 3-night stay and will be leaving mid-day.

Also, how steep are the drop offs at the top of the hiking trails? We are really looking forward to doing some hiking down inside the canyon. I've a pesky knee that will, alas, likely keep me on the top couple of miles or so which, I understand is also the steepest.

My concern is that, while I don't mind hiking beside a slope, even a steep one, an abrupt drop-off right beside the trail is more likely to stop me than this injured knee. I do not do "edges of ledges" well. Gulp! So, do I want to hike down and up Bright Angel, Kaibab, Hermit or some other trail that I've missed in my research?

One more question has puzzled me: north of Flagstaff, both Rt. 180 and 64 through Red Lake are marked "scenic" in my atlas but we have to choose one or the other if we go around through Cameron.

Okay, maybe I have a 4th (and 5th) question: driving through Oak Creek canyon, is the view better going north or south? Is there a one hour or so hike we really should allow time for while driving through that canyon? "Grandpa" is the sort who prefers to get in the car and GO with no stopping along the way so will need some convincing.

Thank you, oh wise ones!

(times five)

Bill_H

Better scenery if you come in from the east via Cameron. For about 20 miles you're driving beside the canyon, with several nice overlooks.

Also, how steep are the drop offs at the top of the hiking trails?

Think of it like a sidewalk beside a busy road ... so long as you stay on the sidewalk you're OK but if you move 3-5 ft the wrong way you're in trouble. On most of the trails there aren't too many steep, sudden drop-offs but there are a few places where you just have to pay extra attention and not stumble.

Here's a slide-show of blind people hiking the canyon a couple weeks ago, some of the pics show the drop-offs (slides 4, 5, 11, 12, 13 etc). Many of these are on the north rim but it's similar on the south trails ... if these drop-offs are worrisome then maybe you shouldn't go ... but then just tell yourself that if blind people can do it (with help of course) then so can you ... http://www.azcentral.com/photo/Travel/Hiking/16530

So, do I want to hike down and up Bright Angel, Kaibab, Hermit or some other trail

Skip Hermit, it's non-maintained and more difficult ... 1.5 miles down Kaibab to Cedar Ridge is excellent with great views, or to the first rest house on Bright Angel (easier, views not as good, lot more traffic).

both Rt. 180 and 64 through Red Lake are marked "scenic" in my atlas but we have to choose one or the other if we go around through Cameron.

15 minutes faster to take I-40 to Williams and then 64. 180 takes you thru Flagstaff and heavier traffic but is probably slightly more scenic.

Myer

It's probably more scenic driving from north to south as you're going down hill and the Canyon is in front of you.

There's a viewpoint area at the top that looks down the canyon and is worth the stop.

Westfork is a very popular hike. It's about 10 miles north of the town right off the road (SR 89A).

There are some other very popular hikes just below the "Y" (center of town) on the east side of the same road.

Broken Arrow (most people actually take the Pink Jeep ride for this but I hiked it).
Couthouse Butte.

Or you could just stop at the trailhead and wander around getting views of Bell Rock. That may be a good compromise.


You can go to www.greatsedonahikes.com

As far as entering GC. I got there late in the afternoon and came in the east entrance. I didn't enjoy the viewpoint stops as by then the sun was getting lower in the sky and it was in my eyes since you look west.

MichelleY

Utahtea, an expert on this site, advised me to take Hwy. 64 into the south entrance and exit via the east to Cameron. She felt the view towards the east of the expanse of the Painted Desert was wonderful. We also stopped on the way back at Cameron and Sunset Crater.

Although a little old, here is a link to our trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ip-report.cfmp report:



Good luck and have a great trip.

Clousie

I asked the same questions about the various trails, and South Kaibab seemed to be the favorite as far as views and I wasn't disappointed. I started at 7:15 am and only went to Ooh Aah Point, about 1 mile, but it was perfect. I'm also not a fan of drop offs, but it was wide enough that I didn't feel uncomfortable. Look at your feet when walking, but make lots of stops to look around at the scenery. By leaving early, I only had one brief moment in the sun on my return trip. The 2 miles took just under 2 hours, but that included lots of photo stops and time at the point. By not going too far, I didn't even feel the uphill trek, perhaps something to consider if you have pesky knees. You want to feel like you did something good when you're done and not be in great pain.

We also liked the West Fork Trail in Oak Canyon. Lots of shallow stream crossings though, just in case that's a problem. Great reflections to the right just after your first stream crossing.

Where else are you going? I hope to post a trip report soon for the area.

Grandmommy

Thank you all SO much! You have been very, very helpful and have given me precisely the information I needed. I am really excited about this GC visit--something I've wanted to do for decades!

Bill_H, as long as the trail is not both slippery AND sloping toward a drop-off, I "should" be okay. I hope.

I'm not too worried about a non-maintained trail, I love scrambling over rocks--we have hiking poles and good boots--as long as the scramble isn't right at the edge of a drop-off... Actually, I'm more concerned about stamina going from sea level to elevation so don't want to bite off so much that we have to finish the climb out by headlamps.

We'd originally hoped to do an all-day (for us) hike to Indian Gardens and back but I'm not sure this tricky knee will be up to it so we're staying an extra night and looking to scale back and do more short hikes instead of one long one.

We'll definitely drive Oak Creek Canyon north to south and, at the very least, stop at the viewpoint at the top and hopefully be able to hike at least a bit of the West Fork Trail--hopping stones across a stream sounds like great fun! Of course that will depend on how much time we spend stopped along the way out the GC east entrance for photos. (We'll definitely go out that way thanks to MichelleY and Utahtea.)

Myer, your experience with the sun in your eyes coming into GC from the east in the late afternoon was one of my concerns about this trip so thank you.

Clousie, reading about your experience on the South Kaibab has considerably eased my worries about being able to handle hiking the top part of that trail. Whew!

We'll be at the GC en route to Scottsdale for business meetings but are coming early to fulfil my decades-long dream of seeing (and hiking on) the Grand Canyon. We got to see the North Rim last summer and take a tiny, appropriate for preschoolers, hike and it only whetted my appetite for more!

NCPat

Hope you are using hiking poles - they help the knees tremendously.

emalloy

On your first afternoon, a walk along the rim trail will help you see if elevation is a problem for you and will be easy. If you go from Bright Angel lodge towards Hermit's rest, there are shuttles that stop along the way if you do tire so you can hop on and ride for a while, then hop off and walk for a while. Do remember to drink lots and lots of water, it helps me adjust from sea level.

Grandmommy

Our "best laid plans" did, in fact, take a bit of a detour as our arrival was delayed several hours by an afternoon spent in an urgent care facility north of Phoenix. Thanks to a wonderful doctor (and a couple liters of IV fluids!) we were finally able to resume our trip north, but it was nearly sunset. So, we just took the most direct route to the Grand Canyon. So much for worrying about the best scenery, lol.

Anyway, it was well after dark when we checked into our cabin near the Bright Angel trailhead for some much-needed sleep. The next morning (Friday) we noticed that if we hurried, we'd just make the last hikers' express bus to the South Kaibab Trailhead. So we threw on our boots, grabbed our poles (and layers--it was very cloudy and cold) off we dashed for our long-awaited hike--without even a glimpse of the canyon!

The South Kaibab Trail was wonderful! For all my worrying, as long as I stayed on the trail I wasn't scared a bit. Whew! We were just VERY happy to be there as there'd been talk of a possible hospital admission the afternoon before. We hiked (fairly slowly--we kept stopping to take pictures!) the 1.5 miles down to Cedar Ridge. We hung out there for awhile, eating, drinking water and talking to other hikers before starting back up. Someday, I want go back and hike farther down that trail. I loved it!

Surprisingly, it didn't take us much longer to go back up than to go down. Whenever I started to feel the slightest bit out of breath, we'd pause for 10 seconds or so for a mini-rest to let the heartrate return to normal so our climb out was every bit as fun as the walk down. We met more hikers coming down than we'd seen earlier in the morning but the trail never felt crowded.

I can't say that about the Bright Angel Trail which we attempted on Saturday morning. It was so crowded that it felt like solid people, lots of people were doing stupid stuff like hanging way over the sheer drop off right beside the trail and a pack mule train crwded the trail even more). We saw neither mules nor evidence of mules on the South Kaibab trail. Perhaps that was because we were there in October? Anyway, we just made it to the first tunnel on the Bright Angel trail when I was so spooked that we aborted that hike completely.

We then checked out of our cabin and took the shuttle bus out to Hermit's Rest, stopping at all the overlooks--even though there was so much mist in the air that we were never able to get an iconic "Grand Canyon" photo. We hiked about 30 minutes down the Hermit Trail and then back up. That was fun, too, and a welcome relief from the weekend crowds!

We spent that night in the Best Western lodge (highly recommend) outside the park and spend Sunday morning driving to the park's east entrance--stopping at every overlook and for an hour or so at the museum and the tower. Yes, indeed, the view of the Painted Desert on the way south was spectacular. The mists and clouds finally clearing likely contributed to that, lol.

Thank you fodorites for your help in making this trip such a memorable experience.