The roads from Vegas to the GC are all fine for any rental car. Multi lane, divided highway most of the way, and 2 to 4 road (high speed) the last 50 or so miles.

From Las Vegas there really is only one route

I-215 to Henderson NV,
US-93 across the Hoover Dam, to Kingman AZ
I-40 to Williams AZ, then
AZ-64 to the Grand Canyon.

QED.

A second route convenient from Vegas is to the north rim of the GC via Utah. Most people combine stays at Zion and/or Bryce National Parks with the north rim.

All four of these (Bryce, Zion, GC north rim, GC south rim) are very different from each other and worth visiting.

I called Xantera last week and got a room with a canyon view when their website said there was nothing available where I wanted to stay. So, my advice is to call directly. Good luck.

The only mule rides are all day affairs down to the bottom of the canyon and back the next day which need to be booked months ahead of time. There aren't any one hour rides, which is kind of too bad as they might be fun, but there is a stable nearby offering horseback rides of an hour, though not into the canyon.

If you want to splurge and wow your kids, take them on a helicopter tour of the canyon. There seem to be dozens of them.

Have fun!

In addition to the rides to the bottom of the canyon, there are also 3hr rides through the forest to the Abyss overlook.

http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/mule-trips-716.html

The only mule rides are all day affairs down to the bottom of the canyon and back the next day which need to be booked months ahead of time

This sounds like the south rim trips to Phantom Ranch.

In addition to these, on the south rim there are mule trips to Indian Gardens/Plateau Point and back, which are day trips.

Also, on the north rim there are several flavors and lengths of day trips using mules, but no overnight trips.

Unfortunately there are no longer mule rides to Indian Gardens and Plateau Point. These were cancelled last year.
The only trips into the canyon are the overnight rides to Phantom Ranch. And the NPS is proposing to limiting the number of mules to 10 a day. So they are drastically cutting back the mule rides. Pretty soon you won't be able to do it at all. #$%^&*!!!!
Giddyup

There is a 3 hour mule ride at the South Rim and several rides at the North Rim.

Nice catch Gilbert56 ... here's an article in the Phoenix paper from last month describing the new options (this article makes it sound like things are still in 'discussion stage' though).

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ule-rides.html

An earlier article mentioned that it costs the Park Service over $2,000,000/year to maintain the Kaibab and Bright Angel trails, with most of the damage coming from mules due to their heavy weight and sharp hooves. Xanterra takes in $2,700,000 from the mule riding concession but paid only $100,000 of the $2.7M in concessionaire fees in 2008.

http://www.azcentral.com/travel/arti...mules0927.html

As a strong hiker who often had to wait behind mule trains if there was no place to pass, and who hated walking thru/around the small lakes of urine and crap the mules left on the trail, I won't miss them much, especially on Bright Angel with all the Plateau Point traffic. But they will be missed as a historical link to the early miners.

I personally would skip the Abyss ride on the rim. You can take the west rim shuttle to the Abyss and get the exact same viewpoint.

I find it hard to believe they spend 2 million a year on a trail.

I find it hard to believe they spend 2 million a year on a trail

One of those articles said "Thirty employees work full time on maintaining the trails year-round. Sixty more are used seasonally and part time."

I'm just guessing at wages but if full-time government employees make $30,000 and part-timers $10,000 then that's already $1,500,000 in wages alone.

I used to hike south-to-north rim in late May every year (when the north rim lodge first opens), spend the night and hike back the 2nd day. Twice in years of heavy snowfall large sections of the north Kaibab simply fell off the face of the cliff and up to 1/2 mile of the trail thru the Supai formation had to be rebuilt. One year they didn't open in time and we had to cancel the lodge, another year they opened the day we went through and there were 20 mules and two little front loader Bobcats still working when we passed. Looked like 50 people digging and grading and stacking stones when we went by. I wouldn't want to be the guy to drive the Bobcat down that trail, too easy to flip it.

Also every few years Bright Angel creek floods and washes out parts of the trail, and once when I was hiking rim-to-rim a rockslide destroyed one of the footbridges across BA creek in the Box (just above Phantom Ranch). So a lot goes wrong due to erosion and flooding on all three maintained trails, and it's very labor intensive to fix since almost everything has to be done by hand.

The NPS says they are still in the "discussion" stage, but I can guarantee they have already made the final decision.
This "discussion" stage is to make it look like everybody gets their say.
No more Plateau Point mule rides and only 10 mules allowed down to Phantom Ranch.

Giddyup

Gilbert,

I hope you are right but from watching how these eco-friendly vs big-business dramas play out at the GC over the past 20 years I've become a bit cynical. Big bucks usually wins out over more ecological concerns because of the politics.

Example # 1 was the flight-seeing fiasco, where because of safety and noise pollution problems the Park Service wanted to cut back heavily on flights after a spate of fatal crashes. This *almost* became law but was blocked by politicians from Az and Nevada at the Federal level. Some good changes were made (higher overflights, no flights over heavily used corridors, quieter choppers, etc) but the net effect was actually MORE flights than before as the Park Service compromised.

Example # 2 was the river rafting regulations 'discussed' a few years back. Park Service wanted fewer motorized rafts to protect beaches and for noise reasons, fewer trips allocated to concessioners, and more trips allocated to private boaters, who face a 10 year wait list.

When it appeared this might get implemented politicians stepped in and the Park Service backed off. As an example of the pressures, one Utah US senator has a bill blocking park funding if motorized trips are eliminated. Look at the list of concessionaires and you'll see his family name listed (xxxxx River Expeditions) as owners of a company doing mostly motorized trips. The Park Service backed off the more radical changes, basically widening the season to get more people thru even though the weather is often too cold during the new early dates.

So maybe there isn't enough money involved with the mule trips to warrant bringing in the politicos, but if they get involved because of the $$$ lost you'll hear a song and dance about Brighty the Mule and his historic importance, and PETA will raise hell that these new rules will mean 100 hard-working mules are out of a job and destined for the glue factory, and the Park Service will get a few more bucks for trail maintenance, and little will change.

Bill,
I hope you are right, but "me thinks not".
More than 1 flightseeing company. Many voices.
More than 1 river rafting company. Many voices.
Only 1 mule operator. Only 1 voice.
I have done 4 mule trips to Phantom Ranch and hope to do more in the future. I hope the NPS sees fit to keep them.

Giddyup

One of my very favorite things I have done in a National Park is Canyoneering in Arches with Desert Highlights. They were the only concessionaire and have operated there for 13 years without any accidents or incidents. New Park Superintendent isn't allowing them in this year. They really stressed staying on the trail and not damaging anything.

Bill_H, thats really interesting; thanks for posting. For years i subscribed to the 'official' Nat'l Parks magazine but have been out of the loop for awhile. Not sure it's even still published? Wonder what else is happening to our other beloved nat'l parks that we don't know, in addition to the public "loving them to death".