My baby brother came to town this last week to take the Certified Welding Inspector exam & before he had classes and a week of studying, we ran up to the Grand Canyon to look around for the day. Upon arrival we received pamphlets, maps & a bus schedule (all of which had the same information I found online prior to us leaving). We visited on a Friday & it was pretty busy – but we didn’t have to wait for a bus more than 5 minutes & everyone was extremely pleasant. We only had that day to explore, so I picked 3 things that I knew would be worth our time. Here they are (with tons of pictures of course!!)
1. Hike South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point. Approx 1.8 Miles RT.
You can take the Orange shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead. From there it is .9 miles to Ooh Aah point that isn’t really marked (the trail continues on further) but usually there is people taking pictures & a small wooden post that sort of marks it. It is beautiful, steep & doesn’t have any water along the trail – so bring your own! Once we hit Ooh Aah point we sat down to have some snacks & we made friends with a cute little squirrel that kept stealing our nuts. Presley might have gotten bit, but calmed down fast & the clinic we went to said there wasn’t anything to worry about. Phew! Awesome mom moment.
2. Desert View Watchtower
On the way there, there are lots of beautiful places to stop off and take pictures – which we did of course. There are great panoramic shots & lots of places to step out & have some selfie or family picture time. The Desert View Watchtower has a cute little sandwich shop & gift shop. You can enter the Watchtower & climb to the very top – which is amazing to do. There are lots of volunteers in the Watchtower that can answer questions & show you around.
Then, we drove back to the Visitors Center, hopped on a shuttle & took it to the highest point we could to watch the Sunset.
3. Sunset at Hopi Point
The sky was full of clouds so we didn’t get much of a sunset, but it was still beautiful to be in such a still, quiet spot together bundled up as a family. It was absolutely gorgeous.
So, THAT is what you should do if you have only a day to spend at the South Rim.
Thanks for stopping by today & please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about what we did- I’d love to answer them!
[…] week, I shared pictures of our quick trip to the Grand Canyon with Uncle Nicky. We stayed in Flagstaff (about 1.5 hours from the South Rim) and before we decided […]