Grand Canyon Rim Trail

Going to the Grand Canyon allows you to drink in the immensity that is nature. I wrote previously about my first view of the Grand Canyon and the thirst that it inspired in me. When you first go you will likely have the same experience and one of the best ways to satisfy that is by taking the Rim Trail on the South Rim.

How to Get There:

The Grand Canyon Rim Trail extends over 10 miles of the South Rim from South Kaibab Trail Head to Hermits Rest, which means that it is easily reachable from almost every major tourist stop on the South side. We got on from Mather Point which is just a short walk from the South Rim Visitor's Center. You could get on pretty easily from any parking lot on the South Rim.

What You Will See:

Obviously you probably won't hike the entire Rim Trail. Although that would be awesome, we certainly did not. But even just a short way along it will afford you amazing and changing views of the Grand Canyon.

The Rim Trail is a paved flat path. It is accessible for strollers and wheelchairs from several parking lots, including Mather Point. From the trail you can see the Grand Canyon well enough, but all the way along it you can walk out on outcroppings of the canyon's edge to get truly spectacular views. Many of our favorite portions of our Grand Canyon music video were shot along the rim trail.

We walked from Mather Point up to the geology museum. This is a great hike to do with a family because it is short and beautiful and the geology museum provides a nice rest point with restrooms and a chance to learn more about the geology of this wonder. It is also easier to park at the main visitor's center than at the geology museum. Along the trail itself you get a chance to touch rocks from different layers of the canyon, I tried to touch them all. The trail also attempts to help children and adults grasp the enormity of geological time by placing year markers along it, in the millions of years! It is an awesome chance to be able to place all this information in context since the Grand Canyon is right there in front of you displaying it.

Sum Up:
The Rim Trail is a great activity for any Grand Canyon visitors. It is especially great for those who cannot do a below the rim hike. I imagine that it can get pretty crowded some days, but when we were there it was pretty quite. You can find out more about it here.

Desert View Watchtower at the Grand Canyon East Rim

I will never forget my first view of the Grand Canyon.

I dreamed of going to the Grand Canyon for a long time, ever since I was a kid (I wrote a tall tale about it in school) and then more so after reading Through Painted Deserts by Don Miller. I had dreamed about it so much that when we finally were heading down to see it I was jumpy with anticipation and a little scared that it wouldn't live up to my imagination.

Something you need to understand about me is that I have an extremely robust and well exercised imagination, so it is understandable that I might have thought the Grand Canyon would underwhelm. I couldn't have been more wrong; my first view of the canyon took my breath away and each view after that continued to do so. My eyes simply could not drink it all in. My imagination had been taught a lesson: God can create wonders beyond what I can dream.

Perhaps that is why the Desert View Watchtower has a special place in my heart, because it is where I first beheld this long anticipated wonder.

How to Get There:
Once you get to the East or South rim of the Grand Canyon reaching Desert View is not difficult. We entered from the East side and Desert View Watchtower is the first large turn off, the ranger at the gate told us that we would be the best place to stop first. It is clearly marked where you should turn off and when you do there is a large parking lot. Besides the Watchtower the parking lot is one big advantage of stopping here for your first look if you come from the East side, there will be many turn offs as you drive to the South rim, but most of them have very small parking lots and your may not find a place to park, especially if you are driving an RV or hauling a trailer.

What You Will See:
From the parking lot you will head in towards the Canyon rim. you will be able to see the Watchtower on your left. You will almost immediately encounter a set of faucets that dispense the Grand Canyon spring water, piped over from the North Rim, so if you've been traveling for a while (which of course you probably have) you can refill your water bottles here.

There will be a building on your right that houses the Desert View visitors center and bookstore, but, of course the main attraction is getting to the canyon rim. I was so excited to get down to the rim that we didn't even go into the visitor center.

Paved paths lead all the way down to the Watchtower. At the towers base the rim juts out and there is a completely accessible lookout area. This is where I first saw the Grand Canyon and started snapping photos.

From the lookout area, which is similar to other outcroppings around the Grand Canyon, you enter the watchtower which is a unique experience allowing you to view the canyon vistas from 70 feet above the rim. You enter at the ground level (the stairs and ladders on the outside are just for show). There is a small gift shop on the first floor and from there you climb up narrow stairs to the first tower level. This area opens up and there are murals on the walls and ceiling with windows around the edge. From here you can enter onto another main lookout area that is over the gift shop. You can also continue up to the higher levels of the tower.

Looking through plexiglass windows isn't my favorite way to see the Grand Canyon, but it is cool to see it from up high.

Sum Up:
I would say that Desert View Watchtower is close to a must stop for visiting the South rim of the Grand Canyon. If you come in the East entrance then it makes perfect sense to stop here first, and if you come in on the South it is not very far away (about 30 minutes) and gives you a completely different view of the Canyon.

Tusayan Ruin at the Grand Canyon

Located on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon on the road between the Desert View Watchtower and the Grand Canyon Village is a small piece of ancient history, the Tusayan Ruin.

How to get there:

The ruin is not hard to find since it is located between the the Village and the Watchtower and there are signs showing where it is. We passed it on our way West to the Village from the Watchtower, but we were in a hurry to get to our campsite and hike so we decided to stop later on our way out. Either direction it is not hard to get to and has it own parking lot. 

What you will see:

At the site there is a small building that it is best to visit first. There is a small museum inside and there you will find out when the next ranger tour of the ruins is beginning. The museum is of artifacts related to the people who lived in the pueblo. The museum is interesting but the main event is to see the ruin. We went on a ranger tour to learn about it and that is what we would recommend doing to get the best experience, but you can just go wander on your own. A path encircles the entire site.

Low portions of the building walls are still in tack and have been excavated so you can get a feel for the size of the pueblo. There are three buildings, the main u-shaped living and storage building and two round kivas, thought to be for religious meetings. The ranger tour will help you to think about what life would have been like for the people who lived here and teach what archeologists best guesses are.

The tour takes about half an hour. On the other side of the museum building you can also see a garden  that shows how and what the people who lived here would have farmed.

Sum Up:
This site is a fun change of pace from the normal hiking in the Canyon. It is also a great educational experience, especially if you have children. The ranger we had was very friendly and engaging. It is definitely worth the time to check it out.