lesgrosman

Hi everybody! I am planning visiting Grand Canyon this summer, but, since this is going to be my first travel I am not sure how to chose the best way. Could anybody help me with that? Maybe somebody already had the exactly trip as I am planing? One more thing is that I am a little bit confused about north rim and south rim, from what I have read from internet, south rim is the most popular place, especially for the beginning, but as I can see on the maps, the shortest road from Idaho comes through north rim. Is it possible to rich the south rim without loosing a lot of time? Thank you!

StantonHyde

For summer--I would take I-84 over to I-15 and then south to 20--go on that to Kanab and then take 89-A to the North Rim. It takes me about 6 hours to Jacob Lake from SLC and then there is the time to the North Rim. But it will be cool and lovely and much less crowded.

emalloy

I personally like the south rim better than the north rim, but the north rim is lovely and as it is higher will probably be cooler as well as a bit less crowded in the summer. It will take you about 1 1/2 to 2 hours longer to get to the south rim village area from Boise compared to the north. Both are very long days driving if you go straight through.

If you have the time for a bit more of a trip, you could plan a route with a stop at Bryce Canyon NP on the way down for either park. That is about 8 hours from Boise and could be a nice break in the trip. Or you could do the trip down 191 and stop in Moab for a look at Arches and/or Canyonlands NPs which will probably be quite warm in summer, but are awesome and worth an early morning visit on the way to the south rim.

Plan on drinking a lot of water, have some with you all the time.