Best Hiking Trails: Grand Canyon National Park

May 31

We got an early start at The Grand Canyon. I can't believe it's been 15 years since we were last here. We've been to so many amazing places that at first I wasn't in awe but as we walked and looked at this amazing place I wanted to cry at the beauty of it.

We had our baby dog with us and although she couldn't (technically) go on the bus, a woman at the Visitor's Center quietly said to sit in the back of the bus which we did and no one noticed her!

We headed over to the Village, which is seems to encompass much of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We just started walking and chose not to take the bus at that point. We could have gone from overlook to overlook for free but that's not our style so we walked from point to point. The views are indescribable. Some look painted - how could anything be so beautiful? Of course as the day wore on the shades of colors changed and everything took on new looks. We got great views and pictures of Condors - yes Condors. There are 50 tagged Condors that fly over the South Rim. We also saw mountain goats (2 adults and 3 babies) or were they long horn sheep? The baby literally walked on the side of the mountain.

We continued on a hard packed trail and found a place to have lunch. The initial start was uphill but for the most part it was an easy, 5 mile walk to the beautiful Hopi Point. We could easily see the Colorado River from here.

We could see hikers and mules easily but we had binoculars. Even with our naked eye we could see them. My baby wasn't allowed below the rim. At one point we lost the trail because from Maricopa Point to Hopi Point the National Park was doing survey work so we were detoured. Unfortunately we had to walk on the street and had no view until Hopi Point where we got on the bus and enjoyed the ride back.

When we were here 15 years ago without a dog we walked into the Canyon. At the time the youngest kid was 12 and terrified of the walk down. The trail is steep and narrow but with our urging we got down enough of the Canyon to at least feel as if we've had that experience which is a must do.