Making the Grand Canyon Grand Again: Going Below the Rim
My friends warned me not to go to the Grand Canyon. After leaving Zion, Kanab, and Page, I was nervous that the central three days of my trip would be ruined by a natural wonder of the world that could also double as a tourist trap. However, I couldn’t visit Arizona and not see the Grand Canyon. I dreamed of visiting this place since I was a child; it was the primary purpose of my trip. My friends weren’t wrong. The Grand Canyon can be a tourist trap. It can get downright boring. After a while, the grandiose views of the observation points blend together, and the Grand Canyon starts to feel more like a glorified collection of bus stops with grumpy bus drivers and a menagerie of the worst tourists from America. At one viewpoint, a spoiled preteen said the quiet part out loud. When his father feigned excitement at observing the murky and distant Colorado River, his son replied, “But it’s just water. I can go to our hotel room to look at water.” I laughed to myself. He was right, from such a distance even the mighty Colorado River looked tame and benign. From so far away, the Colorado River was merely faucet water.
I had to admit to myself I was only impressed because my mind was filled with images of Chris McCandless taking a shitty canoe and haphazardly drifting down the Colorado River without a permit or a guide. There was no way a 12-year-old prepubescent boy, with a likely addiction to Slim Jims and a penchant for playing God of War, had enough life experience to appreciate what he was witnessing. From the top, the views are indeed grand, but they become mundane and impersonal quickly. Nevertheless, the key to unlocking the Grand Canyon is simple. Even the touristy South Rim of the Grand Canyon is every bit as epic as Zion if you are willing to venture below the rim. This is the path less traveled by and that made all the difference — it would be the highlight of my entire trip.
Day One: The Eastern Rim and Desert Drive
I approached the Eastern Rim of the Grand Canyon by traveling down Highway 89 and turning onto SR 64. I’ll be honest, driving through this area of Arizona was depressing. It looked dirty, rundown, and unkept, almost disconnected from the perpetual beauty that I came to expect from Arizona and Utah. Before reaching the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon, there is a small stop that claims to be a scenic view of the Little Colorado River. This is an awful tourist trap. Pass go and save ten dollars.
As soon as I entered the Eastern Entrance of the Grand Canyon, the beauty of the West was restored. I did not plan my trip, so I wasn’t aware that there is a 23 mile stretch of road with viewpoints only accessible by personal vehicles. Desert View Drive stretches from Desert View Point to the Grand Canyon Visitor Center. I would spend the remainder of my first day exploring this area.
I would argue that Desert View and Grandview Point are the two best vantage points for the Grand Canyon. If you are planning either a one-day trip or a faster hit and run on the Grand Canyon, stick to Desert View Drive and its observation points. Grandview Point also has the steep and seldom traveled Grandview Trail. This was my first minor journey below the rim. I tested the water here and descended about one mile before coming back up. The further I descended the happier I became. The crowds dissipate quickly, and the Grand Canyon became more impressive the closer I got to its individual features. When I return for a rim-to-rim hike, I will take an extra day to explore this trail. I’m intrigued by the old mining features and cabins that exist on this trailhead.
The Tourist Trap: Grand Canyon Visitor Center, Rim Trail, and all the Shuttles
Due to utter exhaustion from successive hikes in Zion and Page, I finally allowed myself a day to sleep in. This gave me a late start and deterred me from descending into the Grand Canyon on day two. I checked in at the Visitor Center to discuss my plans with a park ranger for day three. She advised me to hike down to Skeleton Point on the South Kaibab Trail, but she was very hesitant to make this recommendation. The park rangers and staff urge extreme caution for anyone descending into the Grand Canyon. It’s obvious they deal with many people who overestimate their hiking fitness or ability to deal with heat. The park is inundated by signs that show the dangers of heat exhaustion and gladly remind you that the best decision you will make today is to turn around.
So, I relegated myself to the typical tourist stuff for day two. I was sooo bored. I took the orange and red shuttle system to the remaining viewpoints and hiked a good portion of the Rim Trail that follows the edge of the Grand Canyon. The views are amazing, but they do grow mundane after a while. The best decision I made on day two was to hike a small portion of Bright Angel Trail. I went to the 1.5-mile Guesthouse and back. I needed to gauge how my body felt descending and ascending the canyon in the heat. The short hike down and up Bright Angel was beautiful and easy, so I felt confident for day three. I took the red shuttle to the remaining viewpoints on Hermit Road and came back to my subpar and overpriced hotel room at the Red Feather Inn in Tusayan to retire for the evening.
South Kaibab Trail
On day three, I woke up at 3:00 AM and caught the first shuttle at the visitor center headed for the South Kaibab Trailhead. I was the only person waiting for this punctual bus. The shuttle driver opened the door at 3:59 AM and asked me “what the hell are you doing up so early.” On the five-minute transport to the trailhead, he warned me to be careful and told me about other hikers who were in good shape but still died from dehydration in the canyon. Wonderful. But I was prepared. I brought my headlamp and started the trail as early as possible to mitigate any risk from the heat or my lack of hiking experience.
Hiking in the Grand Canyon at night is surreal. I was under a full moon and could barely make out silhouettes of the massive structures around me. Still, I was awestruck. Anyone within two miles of me could have heard me screaming and cooing with delight during my descent. Within 24 minutes, I passed a sign for Ooh Ahh point. Within an hour, I was already at Cedar Ridge, two-thirds of the way to my goal with minimal effort. This is when the sun appeared, and I stayed on Cedar Ridge for the next hour to enjoy and photograph the most spectacular sunrise I witnessed in my entire life.
Someone finally passed me by 7:30. She was a nice lady of British origins who currently lives in the Alps. The previous day her husband hiked down the South Kaibab Trail to the Colorado River and back up the Bright Angel Trail in under seven to eight hours. She said it wasn’t a competition, but I could tell she had every intention to keep it close. We were both surprised with the ease of our hikes and talked about how the park likely catered to the “average American” with their proliferation of death warnings. Longer hikes into the canyon were probably very manageable for people who were accustomed to hiking, but the park is better off playing it safe. I will note, I did not encounter any Americans under Cedar Ridge, only visitors from Europe or Asia. I think that is an incredibly sad observation.
In about another hour, I reached Skeleton Point. The park ranger warned me not to go farther the day before, but since I hadn’t even touched my water, I proceeded to the Tip Off. I could hear it. Unfortunately, I had to check out of my hotel by noon. If I did not have this time constraint, I could have been face to face with the “faucet water” responsible for this monumental geological wonder in a mere 45 minutes. I took the majority of my photos on my way up and the return trip only took about three hours. I was surprised that I did not find this challenging. I also got lucky as the temperature was around 95 degrees and any shade or wind made it feel like a cool Florida day. As soon as I arrived at the start of the trailhead, I ran into an old friend, the same shuttle driver who picked me up earlier that morning. He was shocked that I made it as far as I did, but all I could think about was how much farther I still needed to go.
This hike was spectacular. I really can’t describe the wonder or the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. In my two-week adventure, this is the day that I remember the clearest. Occasionally, I come across a place that is so special to me that I take a mental snapshot to store in my conscience like spiritual soul food for stormy days. One of these special places is Llig-Lligan Beach in Boracay. Now, my favorite beach spot is joined by Cedar Ridge from the South Kaibab Trail. Needless to say, the Grand Canyon is epic if you are willing to venture below the rim.
I used part of this quote in an earlier post, but now the whole seems appropriate to help describe the Grand Canyon with any modicum of accuracy.
The desert is the environment of revelation, genetically and physiologically alien, sensorily austere, esthetically abstract, historically inimical. … Its forms are bold and suggestive. The mind is beset by light and space, the kinesthetic novelty of the aridity, high temperature, and wind. The desert sky is encircling, majestic, terrible. In other habitats, the rim of sky above the horizontal is broken or obscured; here, together with the overhead portion, it is infinitely vaster than that of rolling countryside and forest lands. … In an unobstructed sky the clouds seem more massive, sometimes grandly reflecting the earth’s curvature on their concave undersides. The angularity of desert landforms imparts a monumental architecture to the clouds as well as to the land. . . To the desert go prophets and hermits; through deserts go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of the great religions have sought the therapeutic and spiritual values of retreat, not to escape but to find reality.”
Paul Shepard “Man in the Landscape: A Historic View of the Esthetics of Nature”
Jacksonville Rising 