LIFE LIST UPDATE – No. 272: Hike the Grand Canyon

The view from the Grand Canyon's Powell Point.

I scratched another item off my “life list” on Monday of last week when I finally got the chance to go hiking in the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is famous for its many hiking trails, and this is something that I’ve wanted to do ever since reading an article about those trails in an issue of Backpacker magazine a few years ago. My family took a two-day trip to the Grand Canyon last week, and we hiked portions of the Grand Canyon National Park’s Rim Trail on Monday of last week.

One thing that I learned pretty quick about hiking at the Grand Canyon is that there is a huge difference between hiking along the rim of the canyon and hiking to the bottom of the canyon and back to the top. Since my wife and I had our two young children along on the trip we decided not to attempt to hike to the bottom and back because the park staff doesn’t advise you trying to do so all in one day due to the difficulty of the trail. We’d only planned to spend two days at the park, so we decided to limit our hiking to the Rim Trail, which was still pretty nice.

The Rim Trail is one of the most popular trails in the park. It’s 13 miles long and is at an elevation of 6,820 feet. The trail is relatively flat, and most of it is paved with asphalt. We got on the trail just north of the Grand Canyon Visitors Center and got our first real view of the canyon at Mather Point, which is the closest overlook to the visitors center.

The trail will also take you to Powell Point, which was named in honor of Grand Canyon explorer, John Wesley Powell. Powell Point even features a large memorial to Powell and the men who accompanied him on his historic survey trip through the Grand Canyon. That point also features a Masonic monument that was erected by Flagstaff Lodge No. 7.

There were a fair amount of hikers on the trail, but it wasn’t overly crowded. We also encountered more than a few people with young children in tow. In addition to hikers on foot, cyclists also made use of the trail and you’d often hear them before you’d see them coming because they’d ring their handlebar bells when rounding a blind corner.

I hope to return to the Grand Canyon some day, and if I’m able and have the time, I hope to hike to the bottom of the canyon. After spending the night there, and soaking my feet in the Colorado River, I’ll hike back up. That would definitely be bucket list worthy trip as well.

In the end, how many of you have ever done any hiking at the Grand Canyon? Which trails did you hike? How far did you hike? What did you think about the experience? Let us know in the comments section below.