The last time I went to the Grand Canyon, I had big plans. Chandler and I were going to come back someday and camp – yes, camp – at the base of the canyon. Well, after three weeks on the road, we certainly weren’t going to do that. We were going to get a hotel like normal people, wake up early, and hike a reasonable amount into the canyon. And that’s exactly what we did.
We had debated about whether we wanted to return to the South Rim or explore the North Rim this time around. According to the National Park Service, only 10% of visitors go to the North Rim. Despite the fact that the North Rim is at a higher elevation (which gives it amazing temps in the summer), the major vistas are all from the South Rim.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so we decided to join the other 90% and stick with the South Rim. Last time we had stopped for photos at the Desert View Watchtower, this time we were going to pick a hike. We considered Plateau Point, but then discovered it was closed until 2025 (and honestly, at 12 miles, was way too ambitious for us anyway).
I then discovered the South Kaibab Trail. The great thing about this trail is that it has multiple natural “stopping” points. So you can go as far as you’d like down into the canyon. The first stop is Ooh Aah Point (1.8 miles round trip), then comes Cedar Ridge (3 miles round trip), followed by Skeleton Point (6 miles round trip).
Hiking below Skeleton Point is not recommended by the park service as a day hike due to the long distance, extreme temperature changes, and an approx 5,000-foot (1,500 meter) elevation change each way. However, further down is the Tipoff (9 miles round trip) and Phantom Ranch (15 miles round trip).
My initial goal was to shoot for Skeleton Point, knowing that we could always turn back sooner.
To even start the hike, you need to drive to the Visitor Center and hop on a orange shuttle bus, since there is no public parking allowed at the trailhead. We got off to an early start because it’s about 5.5 degrees warmer than the temperature at the rim for every 1,000 feet you descend and Skeleton Point has an elevation change of 2,040 feet.
In almost no time at all, we made it to our first break spot: Ooh Aah Point. This was more of a ledge than an actual stopping point and we soon continued our trek down.
While still fairly shaded due to the time of day, our next stretch was considerably more tiring, even though it was half the distance we had already hiked. We made it to Cedar Ridge realizing that we weren’t making good enough time to hike down to Skeleton Point and be back before the noonday sun (on average, the hike takes between 4-6 hours and we were not on track to be the shorter of those two numbers).
We decided to kick back and enjoy our time at Cedar Ridge so that we could have a leisurely return to the rim. I don’t do especially well during ascents (I prefer mountains to canyons because you do the hardest part up front!), so I wasn’t too keen on adding more elevation change to our return hike.
Also, perhaps you already guessed this, but our hike between Ooh Aah Point and Cedar Ridge hadn’t revealed drastically different views. I was realizing that you’d get a different viewpoint at the base of the canyon, but we were never going to make it that far, so we’d seen about as much as we were going to anyway.
I photographed some exotic wildlife (see the squirrel above for proof!) and gave the camera to Chandler as I made my way closer to the edge. But before too long, we were making the rather arduous return trip. For someone who likes hiking (me), I’m always rather envious of Chandler (who dislikes hiking) because he has a much easier time on the uphill bits than I do.
But we made it back to the rim in good time and decided that we could spend some time hiking along the top of the rim as well. We shuttled back to the Visitor Center and started off for Mather Point. Once there, we took an obligatory selfie before continuing our walk.
After that, it was a simple 0.7 miles on a paved path while Chandler hassled me about why all of our hikes weren’t as convenient : ) At Yavapai Point we turned around and made our way back to the car park.
We’d had a great return to the Grand Canyon – I couldn’t believe it had already been ten years. And I wasn’t at all upset that our time back didn’t include sleeping in a tent that I’d hiked down into a canyon with!
Abroad With Ashley 