Thanksgiving weekend, my sister and her husband were visiting from out of town (before she leaves for Japan, hoorah Air Force), so we hit up the Grand Canyon for a hike. It had been far too long since we had been there. We didn’t have a ton of time and just ended up going to Skeleton Point and back (6mi round-trip) on the South Kaibab Trail. While the Canyon is breathtaking from the rim, I think hiking into the depths is a must-do if you can! You gain so many other views and it really gives you an idea of the sheer size of the thing. Pics in the album below!
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- Steep, well-maintained switchbacks on the way in
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- Fossil footprints
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- Impressively stacked cairns
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- LLBean Canteen taking in the view
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- The mighty Colorado is in the shadows
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- Colorado River
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- On the way out
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- Constantly changing shadows near sunset
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- Thirsty elk at the trailhead
great photos! thanks for sharing. grand canyon is definitely on my list.
Looks like a great trail. I’ve done the north to south rim to rim, but went up Bright Angel to have access to more water on the way up. Now that I’ve seen these pictures I would love to work South Kaibab into one of our hikes.
Oh yeah, it’s a fantastic hike. S Kaibab to N Kaibab is pretty good for rim to rim because you get to the river in only 7 miles, it’s early, and you’re not likely to be short on water. Then the lead up to the north rim is pretty friendly/gradual despite being higher. S Kaibab IS steeper than Bright Angel though! I’m sure you know you could hike in on S Kaibab and out on Bright Angel as well, about 18 miles.
I’m considering a rim to rim to rim in a few years starting at the south rim, and going in on South Kaibab will keep it interesting. That will be a good chance to check it out. I will likely do a rim to rim in May 2014 but do it north to south again.