Grand Canyon – a trip you must make if you are in Las Vegas

Grand Canyon has been on my bucketlist for some time now and the feeling only got stronger post I received these pics from the traveling couple 🙂 Special thanks Rishi and Suchi for sharing their travel stories on Composed Volcano. In this post Rishi Menon, captures beautifully the powerful and overwhelming landscape of the Grand Canyon almost transporting you there. Suchi Menon, his travel partner tell us about her adventures and exploits. She talks about their experiences both good and bad and lots of interesting trivias 🙂 Have fun reading…. Grand Canyon in Arizona state is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.  The canyon was caused by the erosion of Colorado river that started 17 million years ago.  It is best seen at sunrise or sunset when the light falling on the canyon causes shadows to highlight the ridges.  On the west side of the Canyon there is a glass bridge walkway called “Grand Canyon Skywalk” and it’s true to its name. It’s about 4,000 feet above the Canyon and extends 70ft over it.  

There are seven lodges inside Grand Canyon, but you have to book much in advance to get a room. For folks who don’t get reservations inside the park, they can stay in Williams or Cameron. There are several hotels in Williams. There is only one hotel in Cameron called Cameron Trading Post which also has a huge gifts and souvenir store. We picked up few Native Indian home décor from there. When staying at the Cameron Trading Post, one important thing to remember is if you reach after hours in the evening, the front desk is closed. There is a gas station next to the lodge where the security guy sits and will check you in. I would not recommend staying in Cameron.

Grand Canyon tour has two rims, north and south. North rim is always closed during winter months. South rim is open throughout the year. If you are short of time, you can just do a scenic drive of the south rim stopping at interesting stops. There are also free shuttles which will take you to all the interesting points including certain trail heads which are otherwise not accessible for private vehicles. People can even camp at the bottom of the Canyon. Camping overnight is advisable if you plan to trek till the bottom of the canyon or do a rim to rim hike, since it’s very difficult to attempt going down and coming up the same day especially in the hot summers.

Check NYC hotel rates! Read reviews & find the lowest prices at TripAdvisor! There are several hiking trails in Grand Canyon. One of the hikes we did was South Kaibab Trail.  This trail begins south of Yaki Point on Yaki Point Road. We originally planned to do till Cedar ridge point which is 1.5 miles one way, but because there was snow and ice on the trail and we didn’t have chains on our shoes we could go only till “Ooh Aah Point” which is 0.9 miles one way, 1.8 miles roundtrip. It’s an apt name because the view is stunning, in fact throughout the trail we were hit by stunning views. And yes we saw people slipping and falling on the trail including me 🙂 The next day we went and bought chain fixtures for our shoes 🙂  And please carry water especially in summer months, people have known to die of dehydration in the canyon.

Grand Canyon Helicopter ride is another exciting way to experience the magnificent canyon. They take you over the canyon and also descend into the valley where you can get down and breathe the crisp fresh air! There are many companies which offer this tour and you can take off from Grand Canyon village or Sedona which is a city down south within few hours of Grand Canyon or Las Vegas, Nevada. Shreya Nair had the good fortune of experiencing and exploring the Grand Canyon from high up in the air. Here’s a shot taken by her… (thanks Shreya :))

  (post to be continued…)