With a reputation as one of the most spectacular sites in the world, and the accolade of being one of the seven natural wonders of the world to back it up, the Grand Canyon sure has a lot to live up to. And boy, does it deliver.
After arriving in Vegas following approximately 26 hours of travelling including three flights from Perth, Australia, we wasted no time in getting straight into sightseeing mode. A mere 14 hours after first setting foot in Vegas after our epic transit (and that included a night’s sleep!), we were meeting our tour guide from Red Rock Canyon Tours, Tom at 5:45am on Friday morning.
Tom is a sole operator and clearly loves his job as a tour guide for the Grand Canyon. We had researched a load of different ways to visit and explore the Grand Canyon, and as we had four solid months of travel ahead of us, were keen to find a way that gave us maximum bang for our buck – we were on a budget but certainly not at the expense of seeing the best on offer.
Red Rock was a fantastic balance – our tour group consisted of only 11 people and we were chauffeured by Tom in a luxurious minivan that comfortably fit us all no worries. Part of the big sell for this tour though was the fact we would actually get four and a half hours at the canyon and even better, on the harder to reach South Rim, plus we would be able to hike a number of different tracks – something you don’t really get to do in the standard North Rim tours.
After a 6am departure, a quick 15 minute toilet and snack break at 8am, we finally reached the Grand Canyon National Park at around 10:30am. Tom ran us through the hiking options, gave us maps, and told us to be back for a 3pm sharp departure.
Given his descriptive overviews of the various tracks during the ride, we confidently set off first on the Bright Angle Trail, which was a 12km hike down the side of the Canyon all the way to the Colorado River. This hike in full (return) is usually a two day trip, with camping at the bottom, but we knew that wasn’t possible to do for us, so we decided to just head down about 2.5km before making our way back as Tom recommended.
The views as we made our way down was incredible – it felt like we only been walking five minutes and yet, when we looked up, it looked like we had already come so far!
Views from the top of the Bright Angel Trail
With no handrails or guardrails, it was pretty dangerous, and with some ice still on the tracks, you really had to watch your step. But the weather was perfect, beautiful blue skies and enough of a breeze to keep you comfortable as you worked up a sweat. The Bright Angel Trail winds down and around and was only about 1.5 metres wide, so as you can imagine, its single file most of the way!
A rare Californian Condor
Views from the trail
Along the way we saw all kinds of hard core hikers – kids aged about 6 carrying their own camping gear and sleep mats, grandparents ambling up the steep track and barely breaking a sweat, the typical too cool for school dude with no shirt on and a skull bandana … my favourite though had to be the Amish girls we saw, with their long flowing dresses and little hats on, they kept up a good pace too!
Some of our fellow hikers
After our venture down Bright Angle Trail, we took the second option of actually hiking around the top of the Canyon’s South Rim. This was phenomenal – the views were just breathtaking, photos really do not do this place justice.
The South Rim Hike (Hermit’s Trail)
Looking down and down and down, and seeing the winding track we had just been on off in the distance was quite humbling. You really feel quite insignificant and small as you stand on the edge of a path looking down over this massive, exceedingly beautiful, naturally formed masterpiece.
Thats the Colorado River you can see running through the bottom of the Canyon, hard to believe its ancestor spent 17 million years wearing down the rock to form the Grand Canyon all those years ago!
We walked a number of kilometres around the South Rim track, following the markers and didn’t really see many people at all which was nice, there were no helicopters or planes allowed in the South Rim as its a national park and protected from noise pollution, so we could really enjoy the serenity. There was a shuttle bus running however which stopped and picked up / dropped off people at the best viewing platforms along the track.
About half way along, we jumped on the shuttle to catch it to the next stop so we could see the views of the mighty Colorado River from a different viewpoint – if we hadn’t, we might not have made our 3pm deadline!
Visiting the Grand Canyon was awesome, it wasn’t completely what I expected and I think that was a good thing. This was largely due to the way that Tom runs his tours – taking you to the further side of the Canyon, away from the helicopter rides, the numerous planes, the hoards of tourists, the ability to hike off on your own without hundreds of babbling people.
All in all, it was a surreally enjoyable experience, and if I had the chance I would love to go back and do the overnight hike down and camp by the river overnight before hiking back up the 12km the following day. Actually no, although I really enjoy hiking down … hiking up, not so much. So if I was to come back, I would hike down and ride a mule back up – yep, that’s a thing!
Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world – loved it! And highly recommend seeking out Tom at Red Rock Canyon Tours if you decide to visit someday! Here are the reviews on him from TripAdvisor if you’re interested.
Tour Cost – US$119 per person.