Grand Canyon

In October of 2024, my boyfriend and I flew down to Las Vegas to embark on a road trip across Arizona and Utah to see all the national parks. The first national park stop on our road trip was the Grand Canyon.

We got a later start to the day than we had hoped, as we were stuck in a long line of cars waiting to enter the park. We arrived at the visitor center at around 1130 and caught the next shuttle to the South Kaibab Trailhead, which was a quick 10 minute ride. The South Kaibab Trail goes all the way from the south rim of the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River on the floor of the canyon. An informational sign at the visitor centre had warned that hiking the South Kaibab Trail beyond Skeleton Point is not recommended as a day hike due to the long distance, extreme temperature changes, and ~1500m elevation change each way. We heeded the warning and decided that Skeleton Point would be our destination for the day. We set off at 1200, right in the peak heat of the day.

South Kaibab Trail to Skeleton Point

Distance: 9.5km

Time: 3 hours 45 minutes (total); 2 hours 45 minutes (moving)

Elevation gain: 620m

I always worry that iconic tourist destinations won't live up to the hype, but the Grand Canyon did not disappoint. The views of the Grand Canyon from the South Kaibab Trailhead were epic! I was eager to start hiking down into the canyon, imagining how it would feel to be standing at the bottom looking up instead of standing at the rim looking down.

The beginning of the trail is a series of switchbacks, which makes light work of the descent and we were dropping in elevation quickly. It felt strange to be starting with the descent, as I am much more accustomed to summiting peaks. The further down we went, the more uneasy I became, knowing we would have to climb back up it all later.

About half an hour into our hike, we finished the switchback section and reached Ooh Ahh Point!

After another half an hour, we reached Cedar Ridge, where we stopped to use the bathrooms and have a snack under the shade of a tall shrub. While we were taking our rest break, my boyfriend spotted a California Condor, which were previously extinct in the wild but have since been reintroduced thanks to conservation efforts. We felt blessed to have caught sight of such a rare bird.

After Cedar Ridge, the trail was much less busy, so it seems Cedar Ridge is wherer the majority of people turn around. The trail became straighter and a more gradual descent as we carried on deeper into the canyon. O'Neill Butte rising high above us on our left provided a welcome section of shade as we passed.

It had only taken us about an hour and a half to reach Skeleton Point, so I was tempted to push onwards to The Tipoff, which is about 2km further and 240m elevation loss. My boyfriend was not too interested, reasoning that the trail would essentially be more of the same view but worse because of the lower vantage point. I'm used to climbing mountains, where more work results in more reward; however, in this case, he was right that more work would not actually pay off. Sticking to our original plan, we turned around at Skeleton Point.

The first part of the hike back up out of the canyon from Skeleton Point to Cedar Ridge was not too demanding. We were managing to keep a similar pace to our descent, though perhaps this was, at least in part, because we were taking less photos on the return trip. We were back on Cedar Ridge in under an hour.

After Ooh Ahh Point, our pace dropped because we were back in the switchbacks. As we were winding and grinding our way up, I was imaging how much harder this would feel in the midday sun and was very glad to be making our way out of the canyon in the later afternoon.

Right as we were about to pop out onto the rim, a storm began to let loose. Moments ago we were sweating under the sun and now suddenly we were getting pelted by rain and blown around by wind. We hurried to retrieve our rain jackets out of our backpacks and then sought what little shelter we could as we waited impatiently for the shuttle to arrive. We had finished the trail just in time!

Closing Thoughts

While the best views of the Grand Canyon are undeniably from the rim, I still feel that hiking down into the cayon is worthwhile. Being surrounded by the towering walls of the canyon really makes you feel small and walking for hours only to have the Colorado River still look far away really highlights how deep the canyon goes, both experience of which further impress the true vastness of the Grand Canyon.