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Arizona
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Karen
& Jim's Guide to the Grand Canyon, Havasu Falls, and Sedona
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Grand
Canyon National Park - Hiking
The
rim trail offers numerous named and unnamed overlooks of this
natural wonder. Most of the rim trail is relatively level
with very little change in elevation. This is an ideal spot
for hiking especially with children. Most of the trail in
the vicinity of Grand Canyon Village is actually paved which
provides great access for the disabled. The rim trail is also
a great place to hike while you acclimate yourself to the
thin dry air. The elevation at the south rim is about 6900
feet.
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Grand Canyon near Bright Angel Lodge
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There
are two trails that will take you into the canyon from the
South Rim; Kaibab and Bright Angel. We decided to walk part
way down the Bright Angel trail to get a better look at the
canyon. In late March much of the upper trail was still covered
in compacted snow and ice. The park recommended that hikers
wear some sort of cleats or crampons for safety. The snow
get densely packed into ice by the mules who ply the trails
each day. When ice conditions exist even the mules wear special
"horse shoes" that have cleats on for sure footing on the
ice.
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other issue you have to be aware of is the omnipresent mule
poop. It thoroughly covered the ice in some areas creating an
extra slippery coating on the trail. Don't fall down in this
stuff! Karen posed next to the sign near the trail head that
explains the various ways you can die while hiking this trail.
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Karen reads warning sign on Bright Angel Trail
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Original
art work copyright © 2001 James Byerly. Photographs copyright ©
2001 Karen and James Byerly. To avoid violation of the federal copyright
law, please contact the copyright owner in advance to obtain permission
for the use of any image or text from this Arizona Web site.
Direct queries to Byerly at ourtownusa.net
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