Mommypants and I are considering a trip to the Grand Canyon towards the end of May. I know we could do a whole week at the GC, but we are considering checking out Canyons National Park and/or Arches, or a trip to Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. What is the most feasible trip to work into a week with the GC?
Did you mean “Canyonlands” ? I’ve not heard of “Canyons” National Park.
A lot depends on just you want to do at the Grand Canyon, as in do you want to do some hiking (not necessarily down into), but even on the rim ? Or would you be content just driving along and checking out the various viewing spots from the road ? But at a minimum, I would plan on at least 2 to 3 days at the Grand Canyon. It would be a shame not to spend at least a couple days there.
I would normally recommend going up to the north rim, but in May the road won’t be open. They don’t plow the road to the north rim, so it usually doesn’t open until June depending on how cold it has been.
If you did intend on Canyonlands, I would kind of vote against it in your timeframe. Canyonlands is huge. You would easily spend a week just there. And it is a good drive from the Grand Canyon to get there. I’ve not been to Arches, but it is even further.
Some other options:
The “other” canyons: Zion and Bryce. Both are different and beautiful in their own ways. Zion is nice because you drive down into the floor, and get to see the great walls from below. Bryce is much smaller, but has the cool formations. A dayhike through Bryce would only take a couple hours, and is no where near as strenuous as hiking out of the Grand Canyon.
Monument Valley. Kind of out of the way, there is some nice scenery on the drive out there. But it is pretty cool - and familiar. You’ll not only recognize the familiar formations from all the westerns and SUV commercials, but also “Forrest Gump” !
Las Vegas is about a 5 hour drive (if I recall) from the GC south rim village. You might consider flying into/out of Las Vegas for your trip. You could to a big loop through Zion, Bryce, and then the Grand Canyon. You would spend a good amount of time on the road, and you wouldn’t be able to spend more than a night at Zion or Bryce, but this could be done in a week.
In the Flagstaff area there’s a cool little canyon called Walnut Canyon just outside town. Not only is it easily accessible to hike down into, but there are cool cliff dwellings you can check out (walk right by).
A little further east, just before Winslow is the big meteor crater. I had always wanted to see this and made the trip out there over Thanksgiving. It is impressive. You’re not allowed to hike down in, but you can take a guided tour for a stretch along the rim.
You could do a nice loop from the Grand Canyon, through Monument Valley, down to Canyon De Chelly, Petrified Forest, and the meteor crater.
The Wupatki ruins are also just north of Flagstaff, and are some pretty well-preserved pueblos.
I would vote for seeing Zion or Bryce. Both are closer than Arches or Canyonlands. Everything is at fairly high elevations (some areas of the Bryce rim are close to 9000ft which I would think means snow is likely). I believe the south rim is about 7000ft, iirc. The Zion Canyon valley is a mere 4000ft.
One week isn’t very long to explore that area. At the Grand Canyon, I recommend the overnight mule ride down to the bottom and back.
And I definitely recommend Arches and Bryce for amazing scenery.
Thanks for the advice. We want to do “stuff” in the Southwest including the GC. Now I start my research.
You might try a week based in Moab. You have easy access to Arches–easily worth a couple of days. The entrance to Canyonlands’ “Island in the Sky” district (including the awesome viewpoint of Dead Horse Point) is just down the road. The “Needles” district Canyons is an easy day trip; on the way you can check out the funky subterranean “Hole 'N The Rock” and the famous petroglyph panel at Newspaper Rock.
Moab is a mecca for mountain bikers of all levels, and many outfitters offer river and off-road trips. There’s a wide range of lodging choices, some decent restaurants, and a brewpub or two. There are miles of scenic road along the Colorado on UT128 and UT279. You can head into the La Sal mountains if you want a change of climate or scenery. The Grand Canyon is a must see, but Moab offers you a base camp where you can get a broader sample of the wonders of the Colorado Plateau.
PM me and I can bury you with local info. Unless you are a very strong hiker, there is not much more to do at the Grand Canyon that what the Griswalds did in Family Vacation.
Once you’ve explored Zion and Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon is just a big hole in the ground.
But what a hole!