I don’t know how I got away with calling myself an American for almost 40 years without having visited the Grand Canyon. If you haven’t been, then you need to start planning a trip. Right. Now. I can in no way do justice with words or photos to the majesty that is Grand Canyon National Park. Believe the hype. I’m not sure if it helped to solidify my belief in a higher power (aka God) or space aliens or what, but there is just something so awe-inspiring and breathtakingly otherworldly about this place. It’s hard to believe that it exists on the same planet as (let alone practically down the street from ) your typical Walmart/Target/Lowes/McDonalds shopping centers. We spent a couple days at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with the kids, and I was blown away by it.
Hiking in Grand Canyon National Park with Kids
I was unsure of the ‘ideal’ ages for bringing my kids to visit GCNP. I thought that they might be too young to appreciate the scenery. The truth is, I’m not sure anyone, at any age can really fully appreciate the wonder of this place. So it worked out perfectly, and the kids (ages 7 & 9) were within a good age range for a first visit. I think if they had been younger, the trip would have been different, yet still enjoyable. At their ages, we were able to do relatively short hike down the Bright Angel Trail into the canyon. Â We just turned around when we felt that we had gone as far as we could. It is VERY steep and feels a bit dangerous, so I don’t think I would have felt comfortable hiking down if they had been younger.
However, the views from the rim & the Rim Trail (the top of the canyon, looking down into it) are spectacular, and are worthy of a visit without hiking down at all). You can walk around the rim of the canyon, getting different views from different angles. It is not a physically difficult thing to do, and we saw people of all ages there enjoying the scenery. I have heard that people with vertigo can become overwhelmed though, and I could see why.
New on my bucket list is the adventurous hike where you can take a mule down to the very bottom of the canyon and stay overnight at the Phantom Ranch. I’ve never been a particularly outdoorsy/rugged kind of a person, but now I want to pretend that I am. Although Grand Canyon National park with kids is a great must-do kind of a trip, I think I will wait until they are teenagers to do the whole hike to the bottom thing. I’m not sure how old they would have to be to endure that kind of activity, but I know that we are no where close yet.
Getting around in Grand Canyon National Park
The South Rim of GCNP has an extensive shuttle system that will take you to various places throughout the park so you can hike or just check out the views. America the Beautiful National Park Pass). The park is enormous, so there was no way that we could see or experience it to the fullest in only 2 days. We picked some points of interest and things that sounded interesting to us & just went with it.
Watching the Sunset on the Grand Canyon
One of the highlights (pun?) of our visit was watching the sunset from Mather Point. We noted the time of sunset and made sure to get there (by shuttle) with plenty of time to find a place to stand and watch. It was crowded, but amazing.
Wildlife in Grand Canyon National Park
Out of all of the national parks we visited on this particular trip, we saw the most wildlife in Grand Canyon. We were surprised by this, as we hadn’t expected such accessible wildlife in what we had perceived as a rocky, rugged, inaccessible place. We were totally wrong. There are so many places to spot wildlife, and I am sure that we would have seen more if we had more time. We saw California Condor soaring above the canyon (wow!), almost bumped into a huge elk in the dark, spotted a bobcat crossing the street. We saw mule deer and sheep. Tons of birds and small mammals. Here is a list of the mammals alone that you can find in the park.
Where to stay in Grand Canyon National Park
We spent 2 nights at an average Holiday Inn right outside the park. We had read that it was best to stay right in the park (it is), but we were on a really long trip visiting many different national parks and other places, and we needed to be able to use hotel points when available in order to save money and make this trip do-able for us financially. I would not change our decision, but I do think that staying within the park at one of the lodges would have been better in other circumstances. With that said, the Holiday Inn was pretty close to the park entrance, and it was not a big deal to just drive into the park from the hotel. And it was also a great deal for us, as we had gotten 80,000 IHG points from the Chase IHG credit card. The hotel (at the time of our stay) was 20,000 points per night, but was selling for close to $300 per night. It is nowhere near “worth” that much money based on the hotel itself, but you are paying for the location and high demand.
The park itself has several different lodging options that you can find campgrounds, which seems like a great choice if you are not afraid of huge elk attacking your tent during the night (that doesn’t really happen).
We had such a great visit to Grand Canyon National Park, and the kids still talk about it as one of the coolest places to see. We would go back soon (and I’m sure we will at some point because I need to fulfill my overnight hike to Phantom Ranch goal) if the United States wasn’t so full of places we haven’t been yet. So much to do….so little time!
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