What's the BEST thing you did at the Grand Canyon?

[FourAM]

OK My dh wants to go to the Grand Canyon and I want to plan the best trip ever. We have not traveled alot so I am not the best planner so any advice and any suggestions are welcome.
Also any attractions surrounding that area would be great too.

I figure this would be a great place to ask this since this is a diverse group of well rounded fit people!

Oh yea and when would be the best time to go...I do not want to burn up since we are thinking about hiking to the bottom and back!

Thanks in advance!

Rachel

 

[expatter]

How are you getting there? Meaning, from Vegas or from Phoenix? I was born and raised in Flagstaff and, if you're coming from Phoenix, have to recommend that you drive up through Sedona to Flag along the Switchbacks. It might take a bit longer (especially if you get stuck behind a slower car on the way up), but the views are incredible!!

As for other attractions, including the Canyon, how old are your children?

Also, though Arizona is predominantly desert, Flagstaff and the surrounding areas are in the mountains, so considerably cooler than Phoenix/Tucson. My dad actually writes hiking books for the area (Flag/Sedona) and, due to his fair complexion, always wears long pants & sleeves as well as a hat.

Now I'm homesick! Maybe I should start thinking about a trip myself

 

[kariev]

I agree with the above post about driving through sedona. Its absolutely beautiful! When I was at the grand canyon, the best thing I did was hike it. There are many tours to do so. It was the most amazing experience. Also, i really enjoyed the tour of the damn; very interesting. Your going to have a great time! Pictures cannot capture the beauty of the grand canyon and i think everyone should see it in person once in there life.

 

[atiman]

I'm going to the Grand Canyon this summer. We are going on a road trip. We will be starting Las Vegas, Yosemite, San Francisco, L. A., and then Grand Canyon back to Vegas.

For the Grand Canyon, get a room as soon as possible, even if your trip is a year away. These sell out fast, especially the hotels closer to the rim. I think there are two or three hotels that are closest to the rim or are on the rim.

The closest town is Tusayan (not sure I spelled this right, but it's something like this) which is outside the park and there are many hotels. I would rather stay near the rim, so that within minutes I could be out to watch the sunrise or sunset.
Since we are only able to go in July, we won't be hiking down into the Canyon. I understand the temps can be high as 114 degrees. Up at the rim there are many areas to walk and shuttle to and from. And it's much cooler.

Also, use www.tripadvisor.com for more info. They have forums set up just for this location.


Oh, to hike down to the bottom requies at least two days. You might want to make a ressie at Phantom Ranch for the nights stay. It takes about 6-8 hours to hike back up. Faster going down. I've read that people start their hikes around 4:30-5:30am.

 

[Soxy]

GCNP-The Highlight of my Honeymoon

My husband and I drove cross country 7 years ago on our 6 month honeymoon and the Grand Canyon was one of the highlights of our trip. I couldn't believe it when I was told that the average stay at the Grand Canyon is 15 minutes! I guess because it looks pretty much the same from all the different look-out points. However, we did the mule ride down into the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail (South Rim) with an overnight stay at Phantom Ranch. It was an overwhelmingly incredible experience. I could go on & on here, but if you want "the best trip ever", look into it on the Grand Canyon website. Hiking to the bottom can take some time. It's 1 mile straight down, but the winding trails to get there are are about 10 miles each way! We hiked around Phantom Ranch once we got there, and we liked the cabin accommodations better than roughing it in a tent.

 

[RapidBreath]

The best is just allowing yourself plenty of time to be in awe. Oh, don't play jump over the cactus, I did and well ouchie my butt (in my defense I was 5 years old and my brother dared me). I think they could hear me for miles

 

[FourAM]

Thanks for all the input...I am getting very excited!

Expatter , We do not have kids so we are not limited on wearing them out! We have not decided quite what we are going to do about getting there. We have talked about several options and I think we are leaning toward flying and I did not think about flying into Arizona. For some reason I just kept thinking Las Vegas. I am not that interested in Vegas but the more natural stuff.
Have you heard of the petrified forest?

Thanks for all the tips.

Oh and how is the weather in May?

Rachel

 

[lkl]

i went whitewater rafting down the grand caynon a number of years ago and it was great. we flew in from las vegas. each day we did hiking trips into the various side canyons and there was such diversity throughout. we were lucky enough to have a geologist on board who knew about the different layering in the walls of the canyon. at the end we flew out of the canyon by helicoptor. a great trip to take if you don't mind getting wet, the rapids were amazing, especially crystal falls (i think that's the one before lava falls)!