Hiking the Grand Canyon and Zion

One of the seventh wonders of the world. People say that the first time you see the Grand Canyon it can be difficult to grasp its expansiveness. I'd say that I definately felt amazement the first day in the park. But not until the second and third days and an opportunity to walk a good portion of the south rim and hike into this beast that I began to understand the intensity and beauty of this natural wonder.

We camped just outside of Tusayan village at Kaibab National Forest. We had a 10 minute motorcycle ride to Grand Canyon village, this set up couldn't have been easier.

The village itself is huge with a couple of hotels, campground, numerous gift shops a couple of museums and of course the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

We spent our first day becoming familiar with the village and walking the East side of the Grand Canyon Rim.

Mather Point, tourist hot spot! We googled that 1-3 people per year fall from the rim!

Looking into the canyon you can see the different layers created by the Colorado River receding. Its fascinating how seemingly perfect the lines are and how straight the horizon is.

Imagine that the tiny river below used to fill this whole canyon!

South Kaibab Trail We didn't expect to hike into the canyon. We assumed the only hikes in were to the bottom and this in a day is not recommended and deemed very difficult. Permits are required to hike all the way down to the basin and difficult to come by on the fly, not to mention what would we do with Benny. There are 3 seperate maintained trails that one can access. We choose South Kaibab based on the fact that you are hiking on more of a ridge. We assumed it would provide some pretty spectacular views. I like this picture from the rim you can see the ridge we hiked.

South Kaibab allows for 3 stop points before the last leg to the river. We chose Skeleton Point the last stop in before needing a permit. 2000ft descend, 13kms round trip, that took us 4.5 hours. The concern with hiking into a canyon is that it usually takes twice as long to climb out and the heat of the desert can cause complications. But if your careful, stop often, eat adequately and drink lots(3litres is recommended) its totally doable. We were surprised at how many people were hiking, the crowds of people definately thinned the further down you hiked. I had feelings of nausea strolling down the canyon but watching people pass us as they hiked out, knowing that soon was going to be me struggling..ha!

You can rent mules to take you into the canyon

Also if you chose the permit hike to the river they feed you a steak supper at the bottom. These mules are packing supper out from the night before out.

Resting in the shade.

The many, many unbelievable view points

Such a feeling of accomplishment finishing strong as we hike out, Paul rewarded my good behavior and hard work with a Snickers bar!!

Our third and final day we explored the west rim. Again this area provided completely different views.

Below is the Bright Angel trail this also leads down to the river and allows you to hike it in sections.

El Tovar Hotel Built in 1905, as you walk through the lobby you can almost imagine the old time piano playing in the corner as cowboys on horses pull up to get a drink at the bar!

We felt that walking the south rim trail and hiking down into the canyon was a great intro to the Grand Canyon. Maybe some day we will get a permit and hike all the way to the bottom!

Zion National Park

An early settler of the canyon said "A man can worship God among these great cathedrals as well as in any man made church- This is Zion"

Zion is one of the busiest parks in the states. In an attempt to reduce emissions and preserve the breathtaking views you must take a shuttle to almost all trailheads. It becomes a nice way to hop around, we did ride the shuttle all through the park. We used the bike to drive into the park and then shuttled around. Driving into the park you have to access a 1.1 mile tunnel dividing Mt Carmel and Zion. This tunnel has been etched into the side of the mountain, with sporadic look outs throughout. Its pretty exciting to be seeing the first glimpses of the giant mountains through windows in the mountain. And after what feels like miles in the tunnel darkness it opens up to this world that can be described as Jurassic Parkesque....

The road winds down to get you to the visitor center to park.

The Great Arch, this 600ft arch of Navajo sandstone is a definitive welcoming point as you wind through the switch back roadway.

Our second day at Zion we hiked Angels Landing. I have seen this particular hike described in a documentary and was pretty amazed and intimidated then. Before you hike there is a sign posted describing the hike. Since 2004, 7 people have died on this trail....like I wanted to know that!! Here are the specs. 2.7 mile hike to the base of Angels Landing by means of a 21 switchback trail called Walter's Wiggles.

The next section is a 1/2 mile up a narrow sandstone ridge with 1500 ft drops often on either side, there is a chain to clutch to! This is the most popular hike in Zion. It is usually fairly busy and difficult to navigate around people. I only did maybe a 1/4 of the chained hike before I tapped out. At one point I was feeling really good about my confidence, then we slithered down the rock face to expose a very narrow section with an open view of the face of this mountain.... and that was pretty much it for me. I gave Paul the camera and found a wide section under a tree to hang out. For Paul this type of hike is no big deal. He summited and came back to where I was and said "so do you want me to take you up".....bugger!

The red middle rock face is Angels Landing, Paul hiked up the right side ridge

Top view

From the top

We chose a slightly less intimidating hike just off Angels Landing. This short hike gave us spectacular views of Angels Landing!

The third day we did a more casual hike to the Emerald Pools, which sounds lovely...but the pools were pretty small and not really emerald. However we did get to see this beautiful waterfall and nice opening to the lower pool.

We also spent a day, as requested by the Ranger, biking a loop to Kolob Canyon outside Zion Park but still part of Zion. We found a short hike that exposed this underappreciated section of Zion.

On this bike ride we drove through Dixie National Forest and over a mountain range and look at what we found. A strong realization that we are now the most North we have been in a long time.

Utah is a state for campers having so much open public use land. We have had zero issues finding places to stay. Here is a few camp spots we have found along the way.

Benny is still practising his hiking skills

There has been a shift in the weather, snow and freezing temps are in the forecast. We planned to see Bryce Canyon as it is so close to Zion. But as we drove higher in elevation towards Bryce we encountered snowy conditions and intense wind. So, until next time Bryce.

At this point we are 2 weeks away from our end in the States. We are planning to head back to the coast and enjoy the ocean and some National Parks and Forests on the Pacific Northwest. Sending love from the Road.