Top 5 places to see:
- Hermit’s Rest
- South Rim Trail
- Mohave Point
- Pima Point
- Grand Canyon Village
The Grand Canyon was #6 on our National Park visit. When you hear people talk about the wonders of the USA, the Grand Canyon is always mentioned. This meant we had high expectations for the park. We were traveling from Canyonlands NP and ended up stopping in Navajo Nation to stay the night. Since we were traveling during COVID, there were some crazy regulations in Navajo Nation when we arrived. There had been another spike in cases the week prior to our arrival so the president of Navajo Nation implemented a curfew. This meant that none of the restaurants or stores were open and there was a stay at home order in place. We arrived late at night and hadn’t eaten dinner but luckily the hotel had a few food options available. We weren’t very picky about our accommodations or pitstops on this trip because we were mainly focused on seeing as many parks as possible so it didn’t bother us that the city was on lockdown. The hotel staff was friendly and the beds were comfy! The next morning we drove into the Grand Canyon. The south entrance was the only entrance open due to COVID so we headed in to the town of Tusayan. When you enter the town there are a few hotels, restaurants and visitor centers. Be aware that the visitors center on the left in Tusayan isn’t the official visitors center for the park. I have a national park passport book that I carry with me to get stamps from all of the parks and when we entered this station to get a stamp, they notified us that it wasn’t the official visitors center so they didn’t have a passport stamp station. We continued our drive into the park and found out quickly that it was BUSY. There are multiple parking lots when you enter the park but almost all of them were full. My husband dropped me off at the visitors center so I could go get my stamp. Once I reached the official visitors center, it was closed. Most of the shops were closed due to COVID but the bookstore was open and had a stamp center. I waited in line for about 10 minutes to get inside (they had limited capacity due to COVID). Once I had my stamp I headed back outdoors. There were so many people at this park.. I got back in the car and we thought about heading to Mather Point but since it was the first real observation point at the entrance of the park, it was very crowded. We opted to skip it and head further into the park to see if we could get more space. We drove into the Grand Canyon Village and finally found a parking spot after a few spins around the lot. At this point we were a bit flustered because of how crowded the park was. We were used to having a lot of space and it was quickly starting to feel more like an amusement park than a national park. We saw the South Rim Trail and decided to start walking along the path. The Grand Canyon has multiple rim trails and it’s essentially a paved walkway that leads you along the edge of the canyon. This was the first time we set eyes on the canyon. It was beautiful. We walked along the trail and passed by Mary Colter’s Lookout Studio. There’s a porch lookout at this location but we opted to avoid it as there was a line to get in. Most of the “self drive” roads were closed and since we had limited options, we decided to get on the red bus route to take us up to Hermits Rest. The bus route has multiple stops along the way and most people get off on the first few stops. The issue is there are limited buses and they only go one direction. That combined with the COVID capacity limits meant that most people got off on bus stop #1 (Maricopa Point) and when they were ready to get back on the bus to see the next stop, they were waiting an hour+ to get on the bus. It makes sense.. if 50 people get off at the same stop, 50 people want to get back on the bus 10 minutes later. The buses coming downhill were already full from passengers from the top so they couldn’t take any additional passengers (plus most people wanted to go further up and not back down to the village). Then the buses coming uphill were already full of people that chose not to get off at stop #1. We quickly noticed this trend and decided to ride the bus all the way to the top. We knew that the buses going downhill were less crowded and we wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck at a stop for over an hour. We passed by all of the stops and had decent views from the bus. Our bus driver was very curious about our plan and eventually asked us if we were ever going to get off. Once we reached Hermits Rest, we hopped off the bus and walked around a bit. There is a small gift shop with a cafe at the top. We grabbed a few pre-made sandwiches and climbed down the canyon to have lunch. There are portable toilets at the top as well. It wasn’t near as crowded at the top as most visitors were at the first 3 stops on the bus route. Our plan had worked. We walked the rim trail down a few stops and took in the scenery. We were able to see wildlife tracks, hawks, the river running through the canyon and lots of sunshine. It was great to have some space and open air after being so crowded in the village. We walked down to Pima Point and got back on the bus to head into the village. On our drive out we saw an elk and it was huge! This was the first time my husband and I had ever seen one and we were pretty shocked by it because there were so many people in the area we weren’t expecting to see any wildlife roaming. We thought about trying to see Mather Point on the way out but it was honestly still so crowded that we decided to head back towards Las Vegas. We weren’t expecting the park to be that crowded (especially in the winter during COVID). It was tough after seeing places like Canyonlands, Arches and Bryce Canyon being so wide open and accessible by personal vehicles but overall it’s still a beautiful park and I think its worthy of visiting.
